Therapeutic Service
for Children and Young
People in Medway
Why the need?
Medway recognises that many young people who
attended secondary school have emotional and
social issues outside of school that present as
difficult behaviour within school
Why the need?
Some of these children may be excluded from
school and consequently have a disrupted
school experience
Some of those excluded children may go on to
have a ‘disrupted life’
In the Beginning
Onside began as a partnership between
Medway Council and The Peter DeHaan Trust
Its purpose is to provide a therapeutic
intervention that is intended to support
young people with high emotional needs to
remain in school and achieve their full academic
potential
The Vision
• To provide a therapeutic service for vulnerable
young people in Medway where a range of
therapeutic interventions might be provided
• To provide a psychological safe place
for young people
• To provide a place of safety for young people
experiencing mental health issues or social
difficulties
The Aim
1. To provide a holistic therapeutic team at
Silverbank Park; which supports the most
vulnerable young people within the
educational system in Medway.
2. To support and enable schools to develop
their own in-house therapeutic teams so
that young people can remain in
mainstream schools and enjoy and achieve.
The Service
Onside has developed a ‘wrap-around’
Support system which provides the
following interventions:
Counselling
Psychotherapy
Reflexology
Play Therapy
Therapeutic Garden
Art Therapy
Drama Therapy
The Service
Onside aims to be an early intervention
opportunity that will recognise, address and
prevent emotional issues from developing
further.
Onside does not have a threshold – a young person
who attends a Medway school and wants to
engage with the service can.
The Service
Assessment is ‘swift’. We aim to offer an
assessment session within 1 working week and
sooner in an emergency
We are able to provide extra capacity by offering
‘training placements’ through partnerships
with local therapeutic training programmes
The Service
• Staff engage with the young person at their
own level, allowing them to access support
that is meaningful for them, and that allows
them to make a difference to their lives.
• Parents can also access Onside.
TaMHS
• Onside is providing therapeutic support to 10
primary schools through the TaMHS Project
• TaMHS provides Individual and Group Therapy
• This provision has been made possible because
of 2 year government funding (ends July 2011)
Further provision
Onside can act as a clinical consultancy to schools,
providing:
1. Clinical support and management to enable clinical
staff to be incorporated into schools structures
2. Training opportunities
3. Guidance on setting up an in school counselling
service to ensure Medway schools build a consistent
approach to therapeutic services
The Future
Family therapy?
Ongoing provision to primary schools when the
TaMHS funding ceases?
Monitoring and evaluating efficacy of therapy in
Medway Schools?
Any Questions?
Further Information
Keith Potter
The Elms
Silverbank Park
Silverbank, Churchill Avenue
Chatham, ME5 0LB
Tel: 01634 338802
Email: pottk017@medway.org.uk