Welcome
to your monthly newsletter

Welcome to ChEWS News, the monthly bulletin for young people and families who are awaiting or accessing support from ChEWS at Northorpe Hall or CAMHS at SWYT. This bulletin will hopefully provide some information, resources and tips to help you reflect on your self-care and emotional resilience.

Calling all parents and young people: Do you want to contribute to this newsletter? Do you want to share your experiences of mental health and emotional well-being or tell us about things you have found helpful and share them with others to try? If you have anything you feel would be helpful to include in the newsletter please email Rosa Forrest. Also please let us know if you have any suggestions of topics you would like to see in future newsletters.

My Intense Emotions Handbook
by Sue Knowles et al

Recommended
by Rosa

This is a guide to the vast range of emotions we may experience throughout the day, packed with advice and real-life stories of hope and resilience from people in similar situations. This book will help you to gain an understanding of your emotions using tried-and-tested strategies, drawn from a range of psychological approaches and evidence-based strategies. This book also looks at how emotions can affect our relationships, with a focus on building empathy for others, getting what you want out of friendships and relationships and dealing with the hard parts like boundaries and saying no, making amends when needed, and recognising and breaking problematic relationship patterns. With personal stories and resources throughout, this is a guide to refer to as little or often as you like, helping you to understand your emotions and find the strategies that work best for you.

Sing with us & Shine

Join Young Creative Minds' FREE singing groups for people aged 11-18 who are from Kirklees, Wakefield, Calderdale and Barnsley and who want to have fun and improve their wellbeing. You don’t need any previous singing experience.

For more information, click here to view their leaflet.

Kooth is an online support service providing self-help and online counselling for children and young people aged 11-18. To access the service visit the site www.kooth.com and sign up with your location as Kirklees.

ChEWS Waiting Times

• 21.4 weeks for Counselling support
• 31.2 weeks for direct support with an Emotional Health Worker
• 23.8 weeks for direct support with a Senior Practitioner



This is from the date of the original support request.

Emotions and Feelings

We all experience a wide range of emotions and they are all valid as there is no such thing as a bad emotion, not even anger. It only becomes difficult when it gets out of control and affects our everyday life and possibly the safety of ourselves and others. Emotions can be hard to describe because one minute we can be happy and then feel incredibly sad and this can change throughout the day. A bit like being on an emotional rollercoaster. We all have a baseline where we feel at our best, but then it might not take much for something to make us feel wobbly and finally overwhelmed, which is when we react to how we are feeling in our behaviour and usually not in a good way. This is a bit like a traffic light system, with green being good to go, amber being a little bit shaken and red completely losing it. This picture helps us to understand that everyone has feelings which can change throughout the day making it easier to understand the behaviour of ourselves and others. For some people rather than explaining how they are feeling, it is easier to give it a numerical value. For example, rating how they are on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being rubbish and 10 being good. Another way we can understand and manage some of our intense negative feelings is by acknowledging them and spending time focusing on the positive things however small by showing gratitude and optimism, which can help our overall emotional wellbeing.

Chill 'n' Chat

Chill N Chat is a group to discuss any concerns and get advice and support around challenges facing their children and young people’s emotional and mental wellbeing.

The next Chill 'n' Chat will be held at The Northorpe Centre, upstairs in The Packhorse Centre on Thursday 2nd December 2021 from 10am-12pm.

Click here to sign up to attend

#LetsTalkAboutSelfHarm

Did you know that at least 1 in 12 young people will self-harm at some point in their lives? Self-harm can be a very secretive behaviour and something that people can find very difficult to talk about. Through the campaign #LetsTalkAboutSelfHarm we want to raise awareness, increase understanding, get people talking and promote helpful responses.

Visit our website for more information and resources.

Night OWLS

Night OWLS is a confidential support line for children and young people in crisis. Helping them, their parents and carers living in Bradford, Leeds, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.

If a child or young person you care for is in a crisis contact Night OWLS. This service is for ALL families including those with children/young people who are Looked After, Adopted or with any additional needs. They're available 8pm-8am

Call this number for free:

0300 2003900

Text:

07984392700

Visit their website

Workshops for children, young people and their Parents/Carers

We offer a range of workshops online and face to face to explore a number of common mental health concerns providing information and useful things to try to support. Please click the link below to book onto sessions available for children and young people and their parents/carers. For online sessions we will be using Zoom and you will need to sign up with an email address we can contact you on and have access to a computer/laptop and a quiet space at the time of the session for 45mins.

Create

Create is a supportive social group for young people with learning difficulties (and other additional needs).

We currently have spaces in our Junior Group for ages 8-12. The group runs on a Weds evening 5-6.30pm in term time, activities include craft, games, chatting, painting and generally having fun!

Please contact Northorpe Hall and ask to speak to the Create Project Leader to find out more.

"Self-Care Station"

Every Tuesday at Northorpe Hall, Mirfield

First Drop in - 4:30pm to 5:30pm (Ages 11-14)

Second Drop in – 6pm to 7pm (Ages 15-18)

Northorpe Hall are offering a self-care drop in for those young people who are currently waiting for support. The drop in includes some check in time, getting to know one another and has a focus each week to build on your emotional resilience and the importance of self-care – looking after yourself! This could include strategies to help manage anxiety, low mood, anger, self-harm and building relationships with others. It can also offer a safe space to talk and explore what may be holding you back. Please note these sessions are for young people only and not parents.

The Self-Care Station offers a relaxed and engaging way of learning new ways to help manage and cope when life feels difficult. We aim to make it an inviting safe space to come and relax, learn more about yourself and meet others who may be experiencing the same difficulties. You don’t need to book on, just turn up at Northorpe Hall at the times stated.

Jo, Lydia & Annrose look forward to seeing you at the Self – Care Station!

Chathealth

Please see the link below to learn more about Chathealth, a text service available for young people and parents/carers through Thriving Kirklees.

For parent/carers: 07520 618867

For young people aged 11-19: 07520 618866