A new early intervention mental health service for Stockport schools is helping children and teenagers with their mental health.

The young people's mental health support team, run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with local charity Beacon Counselling, visit primary and secondary schools to offer support directly in school.

The specialist mental health team provides group and one-to-one sessions for children experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties, such as worry or low mood; as well as supporting schools to develop their whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing.

Kate Tasker, operational manager for the service, explains the work they've been doing: "We work with 27 schools in Stockport, including 17 primary and 10 secondary schools. When we first launched we had nearly 90 referrals in the first three months. We offer various types of therapy to help children positively change their thoughts, behaviour and help them better understand what they're going through.

"We use a range of techniques and tools depending on the age of the child, for example, with younger children we use puppets to help explore their emotions and feelings in different situations."

Providing children with a safe space in school means they're able to be more open and react more positively to support. Plus, having direct access to specialist mental health professionals means teachers can better support their students' wellbeing too.

Feedback from schools has been positive since the service launched. One head teacher praised the service and said they'd seen a huge difference in their pupils within a short space of time, becoming much more confident and happier in school.

Lisa Slater, service manager at Pennine Care NHS, said: "Schools have a hugely important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils. Our teams provide direct support for schools in the five Greater Manchester boroughs we work in, including Stockport.

"We help pupils with mild to moderate mental health problems; as well as a wide range of early intervention and prevention tools, such as delivering assemblies, education and training to staff, and workshops for parents."