Orkney Emotional Wellbeing Service

Who we are…

Action for Children are a charity and part of the third sector. We work in partnership with Orkney Health and Care (OHAC), Police, Education, NHS Orkney and other Charities and organisations that offer support services to young people. We are funded by Orkney Council and The Corra Foundation.

Who we help

We have 2 strands within the service; Orkney Emotional Wellbeing Service who offer support to 8-18 year olds around emotional wellbeing and SKIPTA who offer support to 8 – 18 year olds who are negatively impacted by alcohol or substance misuse, either their own or someone they know.

Our Early Intervention service will work across Orkney with young people aged 8-18 years, who are identified as requiring support with mental health and wellbeing. We offer a whole family approach in all the work we do.

We aim to provide support and assistance to those who are not currently heavily involved with statutory agencies.

The ambition is to make Scotland the best place to grow up, by improving health equality and life expectancy by tackling the problems in the early years of a child’s life.

What we do

We work in partnership with local statutory and non-statutory agencies to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families.

• We work directly with young people and their families and carers, supporting with emotional wellbeing.
• We support young people to improve their wellbeing and resilience who are at risk of being negatively impacted by either their own or parent/carers alcohol or substance misuse
• We also provide longer term intervention, where we will continue to work with the young person and their family, building trust and using a young person-centered approach to address any issues affecting their well-being e.g. family issues, education difficulties, problems in the community.
• We support parents to implement parenting strategies, empowering families to have family led decision making.
• We signpost young people and their families to other agencies that will offer relevant support.
• We work with schools to offer mental health programmes to pupils including Blues and Bouncing Back
• We provide follow-up meetings with the young person and their family 3 months after the end of support to ensure that they are confident in implementing the strategies they have learned and do not feel they need further or continued support.

Referrals

Parents and young people can self-refer to the service.

Referrals from Education, Community Education, Health, Social Work, Schools, Third Sector and Police, will all be considered.

Consent will be sought from parents if the young person is under 16, or from the young person themselves, aged between 16 – 18.

Download our service leaflet to read more