Leading occupational health provider FOHCUS is growing the amount of work it is doing in the education sector.

The company, which has seven offices across the North West, has a range of services for schools and teenage children.

An increasing number of schools are partnering with us to provide teachers, who are designated pupil mentors, with their own support.

The work of these teachers, often supporting pupils facing issues such as stress, anxiety, bullying or, in worst cases, abuse, is hugely demanding and can take its toll on the person with the designated responsibility.

Our specialists provide an outlet for staff to know that there is someone there for them to offload and to share ideas and strategies.

Several schools are now asking FOHCUS to provide a structured programme of support in which we come on site once or twice a month to support to teachers, mentors and those working in special educational needs.

Alongside the work we do with professionals, our sister company, JP Therapy, runs a popular programme of support for teenage children.

The adolescent support programme consists of four 1-1 sessions with teenagers. The aim is to provide parents with a fast, responsive service when they believe their child would benefit from hearing another voice outside of the home environment.

The ideal is always to engage with the child before a serious issue arises.

Most parents are familiar with the NHS’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for young people and their parents.

It is a vital service, but the reality is that there can be delays of up to nine months to gain an appointment on the NHS.

The service provided by JP Therapy is about giving families an alternative – one which can respond immediately to any urgent concerns that they might have.

The teenage years are tough and, given today’s social media obsessed world, probably tougher than ever.

There is a plethora of issues our specialist counsellors are experienced in dealing with. They include bullying, loss of a loved one, exam stress, loneliness and isolation and eating disorders.

Sometimes, the young people we see just want to discuss why they are finding themselves getting angry or overly anxious about something.

The adolescent support service we provide is not intended to replace CAMHS – we see it more as giving parents and their children a choice.

Families currently approach us direct, but we are talking to schools in our region about them sharing information regarding the service with their own parent communities.

We have a network of branches across the North West – Liverpool, Wirral, Lancaster, Wigan, Barrow, Garstang and Ellesmere Port – where we are able to hold appointments with clients.

• To find out more about FOHCUS’s education services, please contact our Merseyside team on 0151 601 2444 or our Lancashire/Cumbria team on 01524 844011 or email: info@fohcus.uk