Needs and Resources Assessment: Establishing a Baseline of Expectation in Delivering Emotional Support to Schools
| Pages | 27-34 |
| Published date | 01 March 2000 |
| Date | 01 March 2000 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200000019 |
| Author | Joan Baxter |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
International Journal of Mental Health Promotion VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3 • AUGUST 2000 © Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Limited. 27
Background
The Place to Be (P2B) is a voluntary agency which received charitable status in
1994. Its mission is to enable emotional and therapeutic support to be
provided to children in primary schools (Baxter,2000).
The remit is essentially one of mental health promotion, incorporating the
aims of primary and secondary prevention of mental health disorders (Mental
Health Europe, 2000).
In addition to working directly with children assessed as being in need of
therapeutic support
(both individually and in group), P2B works indirectly in support of children’s
mental health, with parents, teachers and the whole school,to encoura ge
mentally healthy environments.
A working model of service delivery has been developed and will continue
to evolve in the light
of experience. P2B establishes a wide and varied baseline of information
which is used to evaluate
the effectiveness of interventions and the continuing viability of the model.
Schools elect to work with P2B, this being an essential ingredient of the
partnership on which the success of school projects depends. In order to help
establish a working alliance between P2B and the school, a period of induction
prepares the way for future collaboration. Since early 1999, this induction has
included a needs and resources assessment, undertaken at the beginning of
the process. Some
of the more significant outcomes of the assessment
of eighteen new schools in three local education authorities are described
below.
Introduction
The needs and resources assessment fulfils a number of functions:
■
to promote partnership between the school and P2B through a process of
consultation
■
to provide baseline information against which
service effectiveness may be evaluated
■
to establish the level of need for emotional support as perceived by the
school (the customer)
■
to identify the ways in which the school manages its needs pre-P2B
involvement, mapping existing provisions – internal and external – noting
provision gaps and potential duplication as
well as those agencies with which P2B needs to establish a rapport
■
to explore relevant school policies and procedures such as child pro-
tection and behaviour policy (and hence to inform P2B’s school project
managers as part of their induction)
Needs and Resources
Assessment: Establishing a
Baseline of Expectation in
Delivering Emotional Support
to Schools
Joan Baxter
Head of Service Delivery,
The Place to Be
FEATURE
The promotion of mental health in the school
context is gaining impetus with the introduction
of the Healthy School Standard and other
government-sponsored initiatives. The Place to
Be, a voluntary agency with a mission to enable
emotional support to be provided to children in
schools, has developed a model of successful
working practice over six years. Through its
needs and resources assessment, conducted
early in the process of induction, important
information is gathered which assists with
the processes of project implementation
and outcome evaluation. Key findings of the
assessments undertaken in 18 London primary
schools are reported here.
ABSTRACT
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