We provide expert arts based therapy and counselling to children in schools. We help to improve the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children so that they can learn better and lead happier lives.
As well as helping children, we provide support and training to the whole school including teachers and support staff. By supporting children who are overwhelmed by feelings, we free them to learn, laugh and play.
Why the community needs us
Through helping children at an early stage of their lives we can prevent emotional problems developing into serious and long-term mental illness. Mental health problems can steal a child's ability to learn and thrive at school, and can restrict their learning. By helping children at a young age, we can prevent significant costs to local NHS services later in their lives, and enable them to fulfill their potential and enter employment as they grow up. This benefits the whole community.
Our impact on the community
Data collected by schools where support is already provided by Blue Smile teams show that children involved with Blue Smile over a period of ten months show improved academic performance, improved behaviour, improved emotional well-being, improvements in staff morale, improvements in staff capacity to deal with challenging situations in the classroom and better relationships between schools and families. Research shows that this early intervention has long-term benefits for the whole community.