The Derby City TaMHS Project was part of a government-funded initiative to identify and support children and young people aged 5 to 13 years who may be at risk of, and/or experiencing, mental health difficulties. In Derby, the project involved a total of six primary and two secondary schools, with a core focus on improving the quality of mental health support for young people and their families through: a) universal provisions to support well-being in all pupils; b) focused group interventions for those needing additional support; and c) more specialist support for individuals with specific mental health issues. This work involved a partnership between the Derby City Healthy Schools and PSHE team, the Specialist Teaching and Educational Psychology Service, Specialist CAMHS staff, School Nursing, and family workers.

Robin Banerjee and Mark Wright worked closely with the TaMHS team in Derby, establishing an approach to identifying pupils’ needs through online assessment tools (self-report, sociometric peer report, and teacher ratings) and evaluating changes over time from before to after interventions. At every time point, the assessments are used not only to build up a profile of the social and emotional experiences, but also to facilitate a dialogue with school staff about reasons for the results and strategies for moving forwards. Results were encouraging, and both the assessment and intervention approaches have been embedded as sustainable school practices, which continue to be supported by Derby City Council.