The East To West Trust

Review of activitiesOur principal activities and those whom we seek to help are described below.Relational Support WorkAt the heart of east to west is Relational Support Work which we define as a pastoral response, based on compassionate, valuing relationships which puts those we serve at the heart of all we do.Schools based Relational Support Work Our Schools based Relational Support Workers spend time building and maintaining purposeful relationships with students and staff in schools. The non-teacher, non-student nature of the role allows a unique relationship to be formed where trust and confidence is central and advice and support are offered. Our school based Relational Support Workers are involved in a wide variety of activities aimed at increasing the students’ emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. We have been involved in the life of secondary schools for over 25 years, implementing, developing and sustaining placements. In 2022-23 we had Relational Support Workers placed in 18 secondary & 5 Primary schools:Schools based Family Link WorkOur Family Link Worker spent time building relationships with children and their carers in first schools in Windsor, with the goal of providing a constant support through the pressures of family life. east to west has been involved in first schools since 2010 and this year had placements across 2 schools:Early Intervention CoordinatorsCommencing in September 2021, east to west became a partner in the Surrey Wellbeing Partnership. This partnership consists of thirteen locally based Third Sector organisations who came together to create an Alliance with the Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust under the banner “Mindworks Surrey”.Under the title “Early Intervention Coordinator” we have provided Relational Support to young people in 16 Secondary Schools across the Surrey Boroughs of Woking, Elmbridge & Spelthorne reaching 217 young people. Our role is to provide support at an early stage to young people within secondary schools in these boroughs who are struggling with their mental health and who would potentially be referred to the Child & Young Person Services Team (CYPS). The aim is to provide effective support to them as early as possible, reducing the number of referrals for clinical interventions and therefore the number of young people who are having to wait for support.Relational CounsellorsOur Relational Counsellors are experienced, qualified counsellors who are registered members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (“BACP”). They spend time with Young People providing a confidential space where they can express their thoughts and feelings. east to west has placed counsellors in 6 schools:Peripatetic CounsellorThe support we are able to offer through the Peripatetic Counsellor has recommenced this year with counsellors supporting team members by meeting a number of young people who have significant needs, but who do not reach the threshold or are on the CYPS waiting list.The Hospital Project (previously known as the Emerge Project) (supporting Young People and adults who have self-harmed or attempted suicide)This year we concluded our working relationship with Emerge Advocacy, who we’d initially launched the Emerge Project alongside. Increasingly, we were delivering more follow-up sessions in the community, within schools and growing a wider, more east to west based provision, and it was felt that it was important, to bring the work fully under the wider organisational umbrella. We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with Emerge Advocacy and remain on positive working terms with them. This year we have recruited 10 new volunteers and successfully completed their induction training. Due to our wonderful growing team, we have been able to maintain a steady 6 evenings a week in the hospital. We have provided an online external training course and project-specific Safeguarding and self-harm training and made online resources available on Padlet, continual induction training and shadowing sessions for our new volunteers. Alongside this, we have strengthened our school relationships. This is done by team members contacting us if their students have attended/attending A&E so we can support them in the hospital. We launched our pilot Self-Harm Recovery program at Winston Churchill School (Woking), providing weekly sessions where we meet several students who are currently self-harming. Being in school allows us to support them with identifying emotional triggers, developing their ability to speak about their emotions and implementing coping strategies that help lead to recovery. We have also seen a reduction in the young people in these schools attending St. Peter’s having self-harmed, as recognised by the hospital staff themselves.We have been present in St Peters for 252 sessions, which equates to at least 756 hours of availability to young people and their parents. Our hospital team have supported 129 young people in crisis within St Peters, whilst 83 young people and their families have been supported in the community over 581 sessions.