Elements is a social and emotional mental health support service for children, young people, and adults in supportive roles. The main objective of Elements Support is to help children & young people connect across the four elements of well-being:

Physical, environmental, social and mental.

By doing so, we can begin to assess which element may need more attention i.e. the child’s physical health may be positive; water, sleep, nutrition, exercise etc, however, they may be struggling with their social health; relationships with family, friends, communication issues and so we would need to focus more attention on the social wellbeing as opposed to the physical.

• The one to one 12- week social & emotional mental health support programme
• 10 – week Drawing & Talking therapeutic programme.
• 12 – week Bereavement programme
• Elementors child in care mentoring service (minimum 6 months)
• B.R.E.A.T.H.E support programme for teacher/parents/TAs
• N-GAGE programme in conjunction with the Right Path for young people who may become excluded.
• Inspirational talks from “Little Steven” aimed to inspire foster carers/social workers/teachers.

Elements supports children & young people from age 7 to 18.

Most of Elements Support’s services are school based i.e. Infants/Primary/Secondary, however, we also support children and young people who live in residential care/foster care and attend colleges.

Elements incorporates both counselling and mentoring skills dependent on the need. Some of our staff that we call “Elementors” are trained in counselling skills while others are more skilled in mentoring. We don’t however, claim to be a counselling service that operates under the BACCP.

Yes.

All staff undergo safer recruitment checks before beginning their journey with Elements.

Staff have enhanced DBS checks on the update service and have undergone safeguarding training. Elements is insured by Hiscox business insurance with public liability and private indemnity insurance. Elements is also registered with the independent commissioner’s office.

Elements will provide a tailor-made SLA (Service level agreement) to the school or establishment which will set out the terms and conditions of the contract.

Around the website you will find a basic contact form that we would ask you to fill out. Please provide us with as much information as you can and clearly detail the service that you are looking for us to provide. We will then get in touch directly to discuss any further information / special case requirements that we may need regarding the child / young person.

A consultation over Zoom or Teams can also be arranged to discuss the child/young person further so that we can work with you to create a bespoke plan around the service user.

Yes, although elements are not set up to be a family support service. If the school/establishment has identified issues where support is required for the family/parents/carers, we can indeed offer support however there would need to be a tailor-made programme which would require approximately 3 hours per week. The work would then be in conjunction between the child, parent and teacher. This support is most impactful but rarely utilised.

Elements Support views outcomes as short term and long term.

Short term outcomes may mean the child’s behaviour has either improved for the better or decreased for the worst whereas a long-term outcome may mean in 10 years from now, the child who has become an adult makes better life choices.

Elements Support does however, use a measurement tool called the “Elements scales”.

This consists of a basic questionnaire for the child, parent, and teacher to complete on week 1 and then again on week 12. There are 6 questions on each element i.e., physical, mental, social and environmental. Questions are straightforward i.e. Do you have trouble sleeping or, does x have trouble with his sleep? The format is a 0-10 scale i.e., 10 meaning there are no issues and 0 meaning there’s a lot of issues.

Elements Support prefers the term “reflective practice” as opposed to a training segment, although reflection can still be deemed as training dependent on what the school/organisation requires.

Steven is more than happy to use his own childhood experiences as a learning segment for staff and carers to learn from and ultimately become inspired in their practice with children and young people. Elements Support also works in conjunction with other providers who share similar beliefs so reflection/training can become enriched.

Elements Support originated in Tamworth (Staffordshire) however, we can cover the entire West-midlands area supporting schools/establishments across Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry etc.

There is also flexibility for Elements to venture outside of the West midlands to other parts of the UK and beyond.

No, Elements Support does not currently receive any external funding. We are however, looking to transition into a (CIC) community interest company in 2022. Once we are a CIC, we will be able to receive funding grants and apply for bids which will enable us to deliver more support to more children and young people who need it.

Yes, the core values are called BEPOVC.

• Balance
• Empathy
• Patience
• Optimism
• Vision
• Creativity

These are the core values Elements adopts when supporting children and young people. Life is very much a balance between positive and negative, we have good days and bad days.

Empathy forms real connections between humans, we understand we don’t always have the answers, but we are there to listen and support.

Patience reminds us there are no quick fixes, growth and development takes time so we must practice patience to appreciate the process.

Optimism reminds us to stay focused on what’s going well and not to forget the good stuff for the bad stuff, let’s be hopeful and have faith things will get better.

Vision reminds us to create a healthy picture in our minds of how we want things to look, just like optimism, it’s what we tell ourselves that creates our outcomes.

Creativity reminds us that every one of us is a unique individual that has something to offer the world. Creativity is the birthplace of expression therefore, allowing children and young people to express themselves encourages creativity.