It was a fantastic day at the recent Somerset ELSA Conference which was held on 12th October at Taunton Racecourse. Around 120 ELSAs attended to hear from a range of professionals about topics relevant to emotional literacy. The day started with an excellent keynote speech from Dr Sue Roffey, Educational Psychologist, Teacher and Author, who inspired with her session on relationships and resilience.

Throughout the day ELSAs chose from a wide range of workshops from Educational Psychologists, ELSAs colleagues from Public Health, the Mental Health Support Team (Mental Health Support Team (MHST) – CAMHS (somersetft.nhs.uk), Young Somerset, and Paediatrics. At lunchtime, services working across Somerset were available for ELSAs to seek further information. These included the Violence Reduction Unit, Somerset Wide Integrated Sexual Health Services, Public Health, Tellmi and 2BU.

The topics were really varied and included bereavement and loss, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, DNA-V, mindfulness, trauma, Cognitive Behavioural approaches, ADHD, and whole school responses to emotional wellbeing. These were rated as very highly relevant to ELSA practice (4.59 out of 5).

Any Somerset Teaching Assistants / Learning Support Assistants interested in becoming an ELSA, can follow the links for further information: Emotional Literacy Support Assistant training and ELSA – Taunton/Bridgwater/West Somerset.