Coronavirus: Help children and young people manage their mental health and wellbeing

Go to our parks, play areas and open spaces around the Wokingham Borough directory listing to view a map of local parks and nature reserves.

We are all saddened by the terrible event that took place on Sunday in Bugs Bottom Emmer Green a park in Reading. Some of our community may have been affected by this news. Some of your children will have seen the news, social media or heard people talking about the incident, and some may have questions about it or worries they would like to talk about.

We thought it would be helpful to share some information about speaking to your child / children about this traumatic event and also to include information on where to seek more support if this is needed.

Please read our supporting children and young people after a frightening event leaflet to help you with this process. 

Kooth online counselling service offers emotional and mental health support for children and young people aged between 11 – 24 years and is available up to 10pm every day. 

Visit the Kooth website for further information.

NHS website

Visit the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Children, Young People and Families services website for information and advice for you and your family during this difficult time.

West Berkshire CCG have produced an information sheet called #Coping – family life during lockdown – information and advice to help you and your family to cope during lockdown.

The Little Blue Book of Sunshine has been developed for children and young people to let them know some of the things they can do to help their mental health and who to turn to if things feel too much. The booklet can be download from the West Berkshire CCG website. 

Empathy Day - 10 June 2021

For further infromation go to the Empathy Lab website.

Other helpful resources

The following website have useful information on looking after your mental health and well being:

• UK Government - Where can I go for mental health support?
• BBC News
• Young Minds - what to do if you're anxious about coronavirus
• Childline - Games, calming activities and advice videos
• Newsround - How to cope when you can't go to school because of coronavirus
• Save the Children website - 6 relaxation activities to do with children
• Download an interactive book from the Mind Heart website called Covibook which aims to help and reassure children under the age of 7 about the Coronavirus
• Skills for Care have created a leaflet with top tips on talking to people with a learning disability about how they are feeling
• The universities of Oxford and Reading have put together a helpful information guide for parents and carers to help support children and young people with worries about COVID-19
• The Emerging Minds website has useful podcasts around supporting children and young people

10 Minute CBT have developed some free resources for young people aged 12 to 19 but are also of benefit to parents and carers. The e-learning course covers common emotional reactions and explains this using a 10 Minute CBT framework. Along with providing some tools and resources to overcome unhelpful reactions and encourage adjustment and resilience.  

Go to the 10minute CBT website to view the course contents and enroll for free.

Read the Spring 2021 edition of the Families Thames Valley West magazine activity ideas to entertain the children over the lockdown period.

Wokingham Borough Council services

Wokingham Borough Educational Psychology Service has put together some wellbeing tips for families in their information sheet called Coronavirus: supporting children's wellbeing.

Wokingham Borough Public Health Team have put together a signposting leaflet to mental health support for children and young people and their parents and carers.

West Berkshire CCG have produced an information sheet called #Coping - young people's guide which has information and advice for young people on how to look after their mental health and emotional wellbeing during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Little Blue Book of Sunshine has been developed to let you know some of the things you can do to help your mental health and who to turn to if things feel too much. The booklet can be download from the West Berkshire CCG website. 

E-learning course

10 Minute CBT have developed some free resources for young people aged 12 to 19. The e-learning course covers common emotional reactions and explains this using a 10 Minute CBT framework. Along with providing some tools and resources to overcome unhelpful reactions and encourage adjustment and resilience.  

Go to the 10minute CBT website to view the course contents and enroll for free.

School Nurse Advice and Support Line

You do not have to struggle in silence. The school nursing team are here to listen.

Phone our new advice and support line on 0118 931 2111 and select option 4 to speak to a school nurse.

Helpline open Monday to Friday from  9am until 4.30pm.

It’s ok to not be ok.

Free online counselling

Young people aged 11-18 years (up to 19th birthday) in Wokingham can access free online counselling and emotional well-being support through Kooth.  The service provides a safe and secure way of accessing support from qualified counsellors.

On Kooth you can:

• Chat to Kooth's friendly counsellors
• Read articles written by young people
• Get support from the Kooth community
• Write in a daily journal

For further information and how to access the service go to the Kooth website.

Find out how Kooth can help you by watching the video below 

Kooth - Free, safe and anonymous online support for young people from XenZone on Vimeo.

Watch the Kooth Chat video

Kooth - Chat from XenZone on Vimeo.

Berkshire Healthcare is launching a new school nursing advice and support line for children, young people and their families, to offer health advice and referral into the service for on-going support if needed. The line will be available from 9am until 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

You can access this service by dialing 0118 931 2111 and selecting ‘Option 4’ to speak to a School Nurse from our team.

Online activities

Wokingham Libraries will be running the following online activities on our Facebook page:

• Authors online
• Winter Mini Reading Challenge
• Rhymetime – a rhyme a week will be coming out on Friday on our Facebook page
• Virtual Storytime

Go to the Wokingham Borough Libraries website for further infromation on our digital activities.

Teen Reading Challenge

Download one of our challenge cards from our Teen Reading Challenge web page

Read a selection of books following the challenges, you can download ebooks, eaudio and comics for free by logging onto RB Digital from Wokingham Borough LIbraries

Join our libraries online

You can sign up for free library membership by visiting the Spydus website to join our libraries online.

Visit our Libraries Blog for information on activities and our latest newsletter.

Wokingham borough libraries e-services

Did you know you can borrow a range of e-books, e-audio, e-comics newspapers and magazines completely free of charge if you are a library member?

Visit our library section of our website for further information or download the RB Digital app and use your library card number to create a free account with a username and password.

The service allows you to:

• Read and download newspapers and magazines on your computer, smartphone or tablet
• Read the current copy of most daily and Sunday newspapers, many local newspapers and a wide selection of magazines
• Access a selection of newspapers and magazines from all over the world 

Online music

Get access to 15 million songs from thousands of artists through the Freegal Music website.

This service allows you to:

• Listen to music on your home computer, smartphone or tablet
• Stream music for 3 hours per day, and download 3 tracks each week
• Choose from over 15 million tracks from thousands of artists
• Create your own playlists, or choose from existing lists   

Please note: Some of the titles may contain content of a more adult nature. As with all library usage we recommend parents and carers give their child support in choosing appropriate items to match their needs.

Login to Freegal Music with your barcode and PIN, or download the Freegal Music app from the App Store or Google Play Store, then select your library and log in with your barcode and PIN.

Wokingham Active Kids is back!

With schools closed until further notice our WBC Sport and Leisure team has found new ways to keep children active, through weekly upbeat virtual PE lessons.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch our weekly circuits workouts.

Other website with helpful activities to do with children whilst they are at home:

• Read the Spring 2021 edition of the Families Thames Valley West magazine with activity ideas to entertain the children over the lockdown period.
• Oti Mabuse 'Dance Warriors'
• PE with Joe is back
• The Children's Commissioner website has a children's guide to coronavirus which includes information on activties a child or young person can do at home.
• The medium website has a list of 25 non-screen activities that children can do at home
• The draw with Rob website has draw-along videos for children
• The Royal Horticulture Society - Gardening activities
• Watch the panda, pengiuns, tigers and kaolo's on Edinburgh Zoo webcam
• Minecraft - have made available free educational activities such as visiting the international space station, touring landmarks, learning code and more...
• Find a variety of sensory activities on the Meraki Mother website
• The Twinkl website has activities and craft ideas for children to do
• The best ideas for kids website has over 100 craft activities
• Scouts website - ideas and activities to do at home
• Get Berkshire Active website has a page on physical activites you can do at home.

Visit our home learning support material information web page for resources, online tools and guidance.

For resources and guidance on explaining the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to children visit our information web page.

The Think you know CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) website will be producing a home activity pack every fortnight with activities for parents and children to do together to support their online safety.

Other websites with useful information and resources:

• Childline
• Internet Matters
• Safety net kids
• NSPCC - online safety
• My Tutor website has a parents guide to teaching teenagers online safety