We recommend that the programme is used for primary-aged children, particularly KS2. Many of the themes and session plans could be adapted for younger children and the activities could be supported, differentiated, and simplified for KS1, but it is the [...]

Whilst the Hamish & Milo wellbeing intervention programme has been written for primary aged children, we believe it would still be relevant and suitable for children in year 7 as part of a small group intervention or transition programme. [...]

We recommend that these are small group intervention programmes. While we believe the content would be valuable for all children, they are most effective as small group or nurture group early intervention SEMH programmes, to support low-level emerging mental health [...]

The various emotion theme programmes are intended to be used for small nurture groups but it may be that 1-1 may be more appropriate in some circumstances. It is therefore possible for the intervention to be run 1-1 for a [...]

The groups are intended to be run with up to six children so that there is ample opportunity for children to be heard and involved in the discussion and activities. The groups aim to help children feel a sense of [...]

Understanding the needs of children and their experiences is key in how you might select children for the groups. Some children will have presenting behaviours that suggest they may benefit from an intervention approach and it may be part of [...]

Our sock puppets are intrinsic to the programme as a way of helping children to talk about, recognise and reflect on their feelings and experiences. They are used as a therapeutic distancing tool to help children feel safe to [...]

We are committed to supporting all pastoral staff to deliver our programmes effectively and with awareness of the complexity of mental health needs that children experience. We, therefore, offer a range of free training to equip staff with greater confidence [...]

We recommend that the Hamish & Milo programme is run by pastoral staff: ELSAs, nurture group leaders, pastoral TAs, school counsellors, SENCOs or mental health professionals or therapists. The programme needs to be run ideally by adults who have an [...]

Each emotion theme programme consists of ten sessions of approximately 40 minutes to be run weekly during a term. We would love to recommend an hour for each session but recognise that time in school is tight. Facilitating pastoral staff [...]