Tag Archives: Carrickfergus LPG

Christmas Edition Family Support Hub Newsletter

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The December edition of the Family Support Hub Newsletter is now available  https://cypsp.hscni.net/download/391/family-support-hubs/45035/fsh-newsletter-dec2024.pdf

(Please Note: Newsletter will download directly to your device.  Look out for the pop-up box and click on open file when it appears).

Can’t believe we are issuing our Christmas 2024 edition of Family Support Hub news!!! This edition of the Family Support Hub Newsletter is stuffed full of information, events and good news stories across the Family Support Network as well as focusing on much needed support for families over the festive period and beyond.

It is also packed full of information for parents/carers, early years, children & young people with a disability,  mental health and wellbeing advice,  Helplines and much more – make sure you download your copy now!

Previous editions of the newsletter are available at  http://www.cypsp.hscni.net/family-support-hubs  under Family Support Newsletter section.

Safer Internet Day 2024

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Safer Internet Day 2024 takes places on 6th February with the theme of ‘Inspiring Change?  Making a Difference, Managing Influence and Navigating Change Online’.  The online world is a fast moving space with a host of new and emerging trends.  For practitioners, parents and carers who have responsibility for children and young people, it is often hard to keep up as well as understand the impact of technology and where the risks might be.

This year, the Western and Northern Trust Digital Safeguarding Steering Groups have partnered up to host a range of masterclasses focusing on these online issues and concerns so that we help practitioners promote safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children, young people and their families.

Delivered by a range of experts from across the region and the UK, the workshops will explore:

  • Technology assisted abuse
  • Incels – what they are and how to support young people
  • Online sexual abuse, sextortion and sexploitation
  • Young people and pornography
  • Supporting vulnerable young people online
  • Key messages for practitioners so they can support and advise young people and their families

Full details including Eventbrite booking information are in the flyer below.

Safer Internet Day Feb 2024

Please note for the Technology Assisted Abuse session, all HSC staff can register via LearnHSCNI (linked on brochure). For non HSC staff, please complete booking form below.

Technology Assisted Abuse Booking Form

For more information about Safer Internet Day, click here

 

NHSCT Health & Wellbeing Officers Win Runner Up in the 2022 NHSCT Chairman’s Awards

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NHSCT Health and Wellbeing Officers have won Runner up in the 2022 NHSCT Chairman’s awards – Population Health and Wellbeing for their work on the NSPCC PANTS Campaign.

For the past two and a half years, NHSCT Health and Wellbeing Officers have worked with NSPCC and partners to roll out the NSPCC PANTS Campaign across Northern Trust area.

The NSPCC PANTS Campaign aims to empower parents and professionals to have age-appropriate conversations with their children 4-8 years to prevent or stop sexual abuse through training, resources, and activities co-ordinated by NSPCC and Northern H&W Officers. They planned to launch the campaign Spring 2020. Despite the pandemic, redeployment and staff changes over the last two and a half years they have trained 683 staff, given every school and pre-school setting PANTS resources, information and PANTS library books, and reached 7952 children with the PANTS message.

 

Growing a Healthy, Positive Me among 200 local school children

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Children transitioning from primary to secondary school have been learning how to support their own well-being through an initiative delivered through a collaboration of local partner agencies, including leading mental health charity, Action Mental Health.

The move to ‘big school’ can often present many challenges for children, and in response, the Larne and Carrickfergus Locality Planning Group (LPG), part of the Children & Young People’s Strategic Partnership (CYPSP) and the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT), offered the mental health promotion project to P7 pupils in the Larne and Carrickfergus areas.

The project, ‘Growing a Healthy, Positive Me,’ is based on Action Mental Health’s Healthy Me programme, which promotes well-being across Northern Ireland’s primary schools and raises awareness of mental health issues among children, their teachers, parents and key contacts.

The initiative aims to improve outcomes for children, young people and families in the area, with mental and emotional well-being identified as a priority.

Action Mental Health’s MensSana teams delivered 30 minute, bitesize ‘Healthy Me’ sessions to P7 classes, online, while they were homeschooling. The sessions led children through the principles of the Five Ways to Well-Being, which are key steps designed to promote overall well-being, and reached almost 200 pupils in nine schools.

The sessions were followed up with an arts and crafts project, in which pupils were asked to design a ‘Tree of Strength’. The Tree of Strength helped to reinforce the positive messages of the online sessions and prompted children to reflect on their own, individual strengths. It also helped to illustrate positive strategies children can use to cope with the challenges they may face in future.

 

The completed pieces of art were then entered into a competition for a chance to win a monetary prize sponsored by the Larne and Carrickfergus LPG which could be used to purchase Health and Well-Being resources for their schools.

The ‘Growing a Healthy Positive Me’ programme was evaluated as making a very positive impact on the children, who rated it as ‘very good’. One pupil said: “I loved taking time to think about all of the things I can do and the people I can talk to, to help me feel positive about myself and reduce my anxiety.’

A teacher also commented: “The webinar was interactive and very well thought out. Children really loved discussing and drawing the Tree of Strength. It is so relevant during these difficult times of lockdown.’

Kate McDermott, Health & Wellbeing Manager, Northern Health & Social Care Trust commented: “This is a very positive and welcoming initiative aimed at children transitioning from primary to secondary school during these challenging times. It reflects the responses from the Northern Area Parents, Children and Young People Survey 2020 which highlighted the need to address emotional health and resilience of children and young people at a local level”.

 

Karen Hillis, Service Manager with AMH MensSana commented: “The Growing a Healthy, Positive Me’ was a great initiative for Action Mental Health to be a part of, and it was an excellent example of collaborative working between the partner agencies of the Larne and Carrickfergus Locality Planning Group, Action Mental Health as well as all the schools and children involved.”