Gary Seath 11 months ago
The charity received generous funding from The Veterans Foundation to deliver Lighthouse Project one-to-one and peer support sessions at Queen Victoria School.
Located in Dunblane, the school delivers board and education for pupils who have parents serving in the armed forces across the United Kingdom and overseas.
The charity responded to a direct call from pupils and teaching staff to establish specialist, bespoke mental health and wellbeing services within the school.
Now in its second year of delivery, The Lighthouse Project has supported one hundred and twenty-four pupils since the school resumed in September 2023.
In terms of the one-to-one sessions, 91% of pupils have improved their respective YP (CORE) scores having completed their eight-week block of sessions.
YP (CORE) is a 10-item measure of psychological distress in young people. The measure assesses subjective wellbeing, common problems or symptoms, and life/social functioning.
Pupils presented an average YP (CORE) of 18.5 score at the beginning. Having completed their sessions, pupils presented an average 12.0 score, which has led to a 6.5 average improvement.
The sessions have focused mostly on topics including anger, anxiety, friendship & peer issues, problems sleeping, self-harm, and homesickness.
Further pupils have engaged in peer support sessions, and 100% of attendees have said that they found the sessions useful.
Moreover, 100% of attendees said the sessions proved helpful to speak to other pupils and that they had enjoyed many of the activities.
The charity has also received positive feedback from parents that highlights the wider positive impact of mental health and wellbeing services provided:
“Chris has said that he really enjoys the sessions she has been having and I feel that he benefits massively.
“Chris tends to mask his feelings very well and not many people know what is going on with him until it’s too late and he goes into a meltdown. Although he doesn’t say much about what he speaks about I get the feeling he opens up to you.
“I don’t ever ask him what was said but only ask how the session was and he will always say that they were really good. We have noticed Chris has started to get involved a bit more with school now and has even started playing sports again, which he quit due to low confidence in himself and his ability.
“He seems to be enjoying school more overall which is lovely to see. He even said he enjoyed school social activities which is something he has never said before. We did see a bit of his anxiety coming out before but he seemed to work through it and enjoyed himself. So we are seeing positive changes.”
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