Case studies
Case study 1
Andy McDonald | Depute Head | Kirkriggs Primary School
‘I think the framework will be useful to consider how we can meet the needs of particular children. It will help us to clarify what supports the child needs as well as where these sit within the framework, from knowledge and skills everyone should have (informed level) through to the specialist level. We can consider whether we already have the knowledge and skills to support this child, and where there are any gaps, evaluate whether we need to involve someone with more enhanced or specialist skills, or to look at upskilling ourselves.’
Case study 2:
Julie Docherty | Depute Principal Educational Psychologist | East Dunbartonshire
‘For all of us working with children and young people, this framework provides a common language and shared understanding of the mental health and wellbeing needs of children and how this links with staff learning and development. It highlights the key role that all staff (at all practice levels) have in supporting mental health and wellbeing, as part of the team around a child. It is helpful that it considers how to maintain staff wellbeing as they meet the mental health and wellbeing needs of the children that they work with. We plan to use the practice levels (at the Informed and Skilled levels) as a structure for our training plans, for us to consider what everyone needs to know (informed) and what is more at the skilled level. The framework will signpost staff to the range of training options already on offer and guide the development of further training to assist staff to best meet the needs of children.’
Case study 3:
Lesley Taylor Depute Principal Educational Psychologist Clackmannanshire
Education Psychologists in Clackmannanshire are using the Framework to Guide their Transformation Project:
‘We have a large mental health transformation project underway and one of our workstreams is about workforce development. We are hoping to use the descriptors under each dimension to form the basis of a self-evaluation tool for staff across all sectors to identify where their current level of knowledge/skills sit so they can identify any gaps. This will then feed into a mapping exercise we have planned on what mental health training is available in Clackmannanshire (including both national and local training offers) so that staff across the workforce can develop their own training plans. We will also develop an organisational evaluation toolkit so that managers can identify what level their staff should be at and support them to develop bespoke training plans to ensure they get there’.
The diagram below shows where the Workforce Development workstream fits within the wider Mental Health and Wellbeing in Clacks transformation project:
Please let us know about your experiences of using the Digital Learning Map by contacting Psychology@nes.scot.nhs.uk