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Mental Health Team

Our BLC Mental Health Team consists of:

  • Paula Winnick – Designated Mental Health Lead/Person centred, trauma informed  counsellor, CBT informed techniques 

  • Valerie Bebbington – Mental Health First Aider/ staff wellbeing lead/delivering pro social interventions 

  • Alex Pollard – Mental Health First Aider/delivering pro social interventions 

  • Ann Potter – Mental health first aid/delivering pro social interventions 

Paula has been employed at the BLC for 32 years and  previously developed our counselling service 17 years ago when appointed as our school counsellor. Paula has just been appointed as our DMHL and she is currently developing our  service, working alongside all our Senior Leadership Team to create a whole school ethos around mental health.  

Our main aim is to provide a tiered approach for all our students. We will offer triage appointments on site daily when needed and our mental health team will then provide an emotional support package and complete relevant referrals when required. We will liaise closely with internal and external services to offer the best support for all our children, young people and their families. 

 Paula is currently developing a collaborative approach to create strong links with external mental health services – CAMHS and #Thrive.

We are aiming to recruit a new counsellor soon to join our team and they will provide a person centred, trauma informed approach, offering therapy on site.

Our service will provide –

  • Triage appointments 
  • On site 1:1 mentoring sessions 
  • Pro social interventions  
  • Counselling   
  • Play therapy 
  • Lego therapy 
  • CBT informed techniques 
  • Emotional support for families/family therapy 
  • Bereavement support 

We are developing a mental health group for men to access, and also offering staff wellbeing groups for confidential meetings. 

We have appointed student mental health champions to create an environment where our students have a voice and we welcome their suggestions to support our whole school approach.  

We have also appointed parent mental health champions and already started our mental health parent forum meetings to encourage their valuable support in developing this service.