I am writing to update you on the support offered by Barnet Integrated Clinical Services during the Covid-19 outbreak. As a service, we are continuing to offer telephone, skype and video support/interventions to vulnerable children, young people and families across the Borough. The ways in which we are offering support are outlined below;

Existing Telephone Support Lines:

We have set up a single point of contact for BICS Early Help services, which offers support to young people, families and carers who are struggling with mild to moderate social, emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties. We are offering the following:

1. Telephone support and consultation to professionals during this period. We can offer signposting, therapeutic support and advice where there are concerns around a child’s social, emotional, behaviour or mental wellbeing.
2. We will also offer direct support, advice and guidance to families, young people and carers. Young people and/or their families/carers can call the single point of contact, and a clinician will return their call. The clinician will take information about the young person’s presenting need and offer advice/support accordingly.

Out of Hours Telephone Support Line:

From the 6^th of July, as part of the BICS’ developing Covid response, we are extending our support line until 20:00 Monday to Friday. Barnet Council’s Mental Health First Aiders will be available between 17:00 – 20:00, offering a space for families or professional to share their concerns, reach out for some advice and gain access to the correct service. The Mental Health First Aiders will take the appropriate information and pass this onto the in-hours BICS team, who will then signpost the family (if required) to the appropriate service or consider offering a direct intervention within BICS.

We hope, as we start to return to work in person, this extended support line will ensure that parents/carers and guardians can still access the correct support.

You, colleagues or families can access the support by phoning 079260 85495 9am to 8pm. Our admin team will take some brief details about the young person, and a clinician will call you back as soon as possible.

Referral Processes:

During Covid, we have continued to offer 1:1 parent, child and adolescent interventions across the Borough. We continue to accept new referrals from a range of partners, including schools/educational settings, early help workers, social workers, GPs and charity partners, alongside accepting self-referrals from parents/carers.

If you are uncertain about a referral, please call the number above and we can support you through this process.

To make a referral, please use Barnet’s Universal Plus Form which can be found here: https://account.barnet.gov.uk/OnlineApplication/Introduction.aspx?form=UNIVPLUS

Dear Parents and Carers,

Firstly and most importantly we hope you are keeping well and coping during these continuing uncertain and difficult times.

We also hope that the regular contact you have been receiving from your class teacher and class teams has been appropriate and given you the support you need in the way you need it. The feedback we have received has been positive so we hope this continues moving forward.

As you know Northway has remained open throughout this lockdown period for a small number of children.

As we now start to look forward you can be reassured that for all of us in school the safety and wellbeing of pupils and adults will continue to be our priority. We will thoroughly risk assess and will very carefully consider how we group the pupils and what activities we are able to provide for them. The timetable will continue to be informal with a lot of outside play.

So in order for us to devise a practical, workable model, which follows all the available advice and guidelines, it would be helpful for us to have an idea of the numbers of children we are planning for.

We will still only be in a position to have a limited number of children in school on any given day so will be organising on a part time basis.

The Learning Disability England website has a host of resources, information and tips for parents and carers.

The Autism Advisory team are pleased to announce the introduction of a hotline to support parents/carers of autistic children/young people living in Barnet. The aim of this hotline is to discuss concerns with social communication, emotional regulation and education by suggesting strategies and/or access to other services. We can support parents/carers specifically around the following: emotional regulation, setting up schedules and routines in the home, communication, and support for home education. 

This is not an anonymous hotline and information will be shared with relevant professionals as necessary.