With a long-standing interest in mental health and\nhelping others, I was looking for a job opportunity that would offer me\nvariety, outside of my background in the care industry. I came across the role\nof a Special Educational Needs Teaching Assistant (SEN TA) with an agency firm,\nfulfilling my desire for something I hadn\u2019t explored. My application for Mental\nHealth Nursing had been submitted, and I wanted to be able to talk at\ninterviews about care being delivered in untypical environments. When the\nopportunity for a week\u2019s work in a Pupil Referral Unit came about, I thought it\nwould be ideal, incorporating education, specialised care and support. The\nexperience ended up shedding light on a system completely unbeknown to me, and\nmany others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pupil Referral Units (PRU) are a last resort for\nchallenging students. For children living with difficult behaviours, exclusion,\nspecial needs (possibly undiagnosed), those needing re-integration, and other\nsuch circumstances, it is sometimes the only option for them to be provided\nwith an education. PRUs are the most commonly used alternative for those who\nare mainly educated other than at school (EOTAS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 2,188 pupils registered as having their\neducation outside of a mainstream school in Wales, of which 778 are enrolled\ninto a single PRU (some may be dually registered). Of these 778, 60% are 14\/15\nyears old. There are six students under the age of five. 86.8% of those EOTAS\nhave acknowledged special educational needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Managing 14 – 16 year olds, this PRU has classes\nwith a maximum of six people, each with one teacher and one teaching assistant.\nTaxis are arranged, and paid for, to pick the students up from their homes, or other\nliving arrangements, and bring them directly to the school. Six 45 minute\nlessons make up the day; the average PRU in Wales has 23.8 hours scheduled a\nweek. This includes the basic National Curriculum subjects for later life:\nEnglish and Maths, and the subjects which cater to the students\u2019 practical,\ncreative side: Art, PE, Photography and Welsh Baccalaureate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are the lessons where they can express their\npersonal experiences. The pieces they think of are original and inspiring.\nTheir innovative, artistic creations reflect their intelligence, and highlights\nthat modern debate of the importance of these types of subjects, compared to\nmainstream academia. The students get an unfamiliar taste of educational success,\nand an admirable few use this to fuel their second chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What struck me most is that for the students, it\u2019s\nnot cool to care. The amount of times a day they will say \u2018I don\u2019t care\u2019 could\nbe described as \u2018bare loads\u2019. They are their own worst enemy. Staff look at\nthem, reflecting on our own upbringings and adolescence, feeling too helpless.\nTrying to phrase responses in an empathetic way by comparing their experiences\nto yours, will just rattle their cage further. Why should they take advice from\nsomeone who they perceive is another generation to them? And yet I\u2019m only 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aggression is very common; daily, hourly, every\nminute. Verbal aggression is frequent from most students towards staff members.\nCalling them names, insulting them, giving their usually negative opinions\nabout how they do their job, asking them to “leave them alone”, but\nin a much more profane manner. This behaviour may result from the frustration\nof school, also experienced by mainstream education students. It is an outlet\nfor them. Lack of patience, motivation and self-belief all lead to resentment\nfor a subject and its teacher. On the other hand, these outbursts could also be\na symptom of their mental health.
\n
\nDue to their upbringings, living with depression, anxiety, ADHD and\/or eating\ndisorders is unfortunately understandable. This unexhaustive list of mental\nhealth diagnoses, common in adolescents, can mean the management of school\npsychologically is overwhelming. Whilst the PRU will provide a supportive\natmosphere and 1:1 guidance, the use of this is at the discretion of the\nstudent. If they become overridden by their mental challenges, hospitals will\nprovide inpatients with education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many students at the PRU will have casual\nconversations about drugs, alcohol, sex, abuse, bullying, police interviews and\neven prison. At such a young age, it\u2019s harrowing to hear. Talking about others,\nwithin the school or outside, is an elite sport for them. It\u2019s hard to differentiate\nwhat is truth and what is utter fabrication. Who has the best story? Who\u2019s\ngoing to let that secret slip first? It\u2019s a show of trumpets blaring and\nblaring until we\u2019re all deafened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most want instant gratification. They find it\ndifficult to see benefit in long term goals, because they don\u2019t believe they\nhave the ability to develop. Teenage years are the time of discovery,\nexperimentation and testing boundaries. Live in the now, no consequences. That\nadrenaline high of the instant decision they make. Having a job, a stable\nincome, supporting a family\u2026 these aren\u2019t on their minds. Should they be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some plan to live with their Mum, Dad\nor guardian for the rest of their lives, saying their pocket money\ncan get them by. Little do they know. Others will continue their existing\ncareers in the drug industry, as drug runners or dealers, without understanding\nthe mathematics behind profit and expenditure, but moreover not understanding\nthe possible ramifications of involvement in such a “job”. A lot of\nthese kids place an emphasis in their futures of wanting money: for them, it is\nthe epitome of happiness. The deprivation of wealth, the absence of stability\nand something reliable in their lives may explain their desire for money, with nearly\n40% of those EOTAS entitled to free school meals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good\neducation is arguably an important, if not the<\/em>,\nstep to a good quality of life, and though we question why we even help when\nit’s shoved back in our face a lot of the time, this is all we want for them.\nWe’ve been reduced to exasperation and fought to the death with patience, but\nwe wouldn\u2019t want to deny them a fulfilled future. We all have that time during\nadolescence where, maybe, we realise our past actions and behaviours haven’t\nbeen helpful, in fact, they haven’t gained us much. Would it have been better\nto put effort into that coursework? Should I have spent more time exploring the\nopportunities that colleges and apprenticeships offer? Even University? Their\ngoals should be realistic, but their potential, seeing past their disguise,\nshould also be realised. The total number of pupils having education\nother than at school has decreased by 15% in the past five years, showing an\nimprovement in both management of challenging students at mainstream schools,\nas well as the success of facilities like PRUs. Don’t disregard their unique gifts, just because it\nis unconventional. Being able to be expressive in alternative arts like clay\nmoulding and rap lyrics, this is something the majority lack. They can be\nconsidered equally as intelligent, if given the right stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a long-standing interest in mental health and helping others, I was looking for a job opportunity that would offer me variety, outside of my background in the care industry. […]","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-child-and-adolescent-mental-health"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7swiU-qK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1527,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/new-ways-of-thinking-about-the-mental-health-and-wellbeing-of-primary-school-aged-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":1658,"position":0},"title":"New ways of thinking about the mental health and wellbeing of primary school-aged children","author":"Stephen Jennings","date":"26 June 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Growing socio-political interest in child and adolescent mental health A broad consensus among research suggests that 10 percent of children and young people in the UK have a clinical-level diagnosable mental health condition such as anxiety or depression. There is a substantial research base which connects poor mental health in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Child and adolescent mental health"","block_context":{"text":"Child and adolescent mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/child-and-adolescent-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/06\/GettyImages-670712598.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/06\/GettyImages-670712598.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/06\/GettyImages-670712598.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/06\/GettyImages-670712598.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/06\/GettyImages-670712598.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2018\/06\/GettyImages-670712598.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":666,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/girls-may-perform-better-at-school-than-boys-but-their-experience-is-much-less-happy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1658,"position":1},"title":"Girls may perform better at school than boys \u2013 but their experience is much less happy","author":"Dr Kevin Smith","date":"1 September 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The usual discussions about children\u2019s schooling experiences often focus on academic achievement, personal development and school evaluation. 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The aim was to bring together service users, carers, policy-makers, health and social care practitioners, lawyers and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adult mental health"","block_context":{"text":"Adult mental health","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/category\/adult-mental-health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Abstract watercolour mental health image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/502\/2016\/07\/HiRes.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1831,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/mental-health\/physical-health-care-in-mental-health-settings-how-a-knowledge-exchange-can-shed-light-on-opportunities-for-policy-practice-education-and-research-improvement\/","url_meta":{"origin":1658,"position":4},"title":"Physical health care in mental health settings: how a knowledge exchange can shed light on opportunities for policy, practice, education and research improvement","author":"Dr Seren Roberts","date":"30 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Seren Roberts Penny Jones\u00a0 Allyson Wilson\u00a0\u00a0 People with severe mental illness experience poorer physical health than the general population, with 13\u201330 years shortened life expectancy. 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