Growing Healthy North Yorkshire – Healthy Child Team

The Healthy Child Team promotes and protects the health and wellbeing of all children and young people aged 0 to 19. We work with children, young people and families to empower and enable them to make informed decisions about health, and to support them in transitioning safely and happily into adult life.

The Healthy Child Service (0-19 Service)

The role of the Healthy Child Service is to deliver the Healthy Child Programme for children aged 0-19 years and their families.

Some of the services within it are for all children, such as health visiting. Some are targeted to those most in need, such as vulnerable families and children and young people with emotional health support needs.

There are four pillars in the service:

  • 0-6 Pillar
  • The Infant Feeding, Family Diet and Nutrition Pillar
  • The Emotional Health and Resilience Pillar
  • The Safeguarding and Children in Care Pillar

There are three levels of service:

  • Universal – Universal services are essential for keeping children safe,  has a focus on prevention and is available to all, this level of service offers support to parents at  key times.
  • Targeted – Targeted services is the delivery of early intervention, evidence-based programmes are delivered to meet needs in a timely way. This is when specific expert help is needed.
  • Specialist – Specialist services are for children and young people whose needs cannot be met through universal and targeted provisions, this provides ongoing support in partnership with other services to deal with more complex issues over a period of time.

We have a Single Point of Contact where Parents, carers and professionals  can contact the 0-19 Healthy Child Service directly for information by calling 03003 030 916.

Each pillar delivers a different aspect of the service.

The 0-6 Pillar

0-6 pillar delivers contacts to all families with a baby/ child aged 0-6 with the first contact being before the birth of your baby. The service is delivered both face-to face and through a virtual platform of MS Teams. There is  evidence to show that helping children with their early year’s development, school readiness and emotional wellbeing gives them the best start in life.

Anyone who is pregnant or has a child up to the age of 6 years will have a named Health Visitor.

We have a Single Point of Contact where Parents, carers and professionals  can contact their local 0-6 Healthy Child Service (Health Visiting Team) directly for information by calling 03003 030 916.

The Infant Feeding, Family Diet and Nutrition Pillar

This pillar offers breast feeding support through proactice telephone calls and breastfeeding support groups.

There are workshops delivered about introducing solids.

Groups to support healthy diet and lifestyle for families.

Measurements for the National Child Measurement Programme are recorded by the team in schools for children in Reception and year 6

The Emotional Health and Resilience Pillar

Requests for support and referrals are accepted from professionals, parents  and self-referrals for children and young people aged 6-19  for:

  • Low mood
  • Anger
  • Anxiety
  • Self-esteem
  • Building resilience
  • Managing Emotions
  • Behaviour Management linked to emotional health concern

Following a referral in to the team a nurse will undertake an assessment which builds on the information provided as part of the referral. This health assessment includes reviewing: development; risk indicators; advice; family health needs assessment; voice of the child; analysis; agreeing a plan and actions and outcomes.

Support and Intervention

Targeted support is offered, low level interventions over 6- 8 sessions delivering face to fae or virtual work to support anxiety, anger, self-esteem, bullying and low mood.

Children’s Psychological Wellbeing practitioners support children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their families in the self-management of presenting difficulties.  Providing a range of information and support for evidence based psychological treatments.

Referral Form

The Emotional Health and Resilience Team which sits within the 0-19 Healthy Child Service are excited to share our new referral form with you. From 1 June 2023 we will no longer be using the North Yorkshire Universal Referral Form to accept requested of support from the team. The new referral form can be sent directly to our service by email [email protected] and we also have a single point of contact 0300 3030916 if you would like to discuss a referral with the team.

As a team we offer low level emotional health and resilience support to Children and Young People between 6-19, providing communication and interventions which raise confidence and self-esteem for children and young people, including those aimed at prevention of poor emotional and social well-being and personal coping mechanisms to protect against psychological ill health. This includes building resilience in and supporting those who may be experiencing emotional and mental health difficulties.

You can find the Referral Form here

The Safeguarding and Children in Care Pillar

 

This team delivers targeted and specialist support to children and young people aged 6-19, this includes assessments and capturing the lived experience of children and young people to share their views and to access the correct services and support to promote safety and wellbeing.

The team work with children, young people and families as well as other professionals to provide support to safeguard children and children in care.

Contacts

The North Yorkshire 0-6 Children’s Service can be contacted Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, excluding bank holidays.

Single Point of Contact telephone number for Growing Healthy North Yorkshire 

A Single Point of Contact telephone number is in place for the North Yorkshire 0-6 Children’s Service team.

This telephone number is: 0300 303 0916

Referral

If you are having a baby, your midwife will inform the Health Visiting Service that you are pregnant. A health visitor will then contact you to arrange an antenatal visit.

If you are new to the area, your GP will normally notify the Health Visiting Team. We will then get in touch to arrange a meeting.

If you have a child under five, please contact your Health Visiting Team directly. You can usually find the number in your child’s red book.

If you are over 34 weeks pregnant or have a child under five and you do not know how to contact your health visitor, please call us on 0300 303 0916

Useful links and resources

Patient Leaflets