Making Happy Endings
“You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." C.S. Lewis
Fate has dealt this generation a difficult beginning. It’s important that we acknowledge that and understand that a combination of factors including social media pressures, child poverty, the pandemic and a fractured SEND system have created a set of challenges which require fresh thinking and systemic change.
These are challenges with a gestation much longer than the media’s interest in them. Long before there was talk of a mental health crisis in the young, schools and colleges were straining to adapt to growing needs. Within the sector, many battled to keep abreast of the knowledge needed to manage those needs and it became an accepted truth that being an educator was only one of the many roles required of teachers. Meanwhile, the political and media soundtrack was dominated by ideological debates around pedagogy and the accountability system.
1 in 5 children and young people now have a diagnosable mental health condition according to the NHS. That’s an increase from 1 in 6 a year ago. It’s surely evident that some radical action is required if we are going to, “…change the ending” for this generation. After careers in school and local authority leadership, we know where many of the barriers to improvement lie. TACaccess is an inside out solution to some of those issues.
Chief among the challenges is securing high quality support rapidly. This can and does make the difference between getting back on track or not. In a world of waiting lists, TAC access has more than 200 vetted therapists waiting to help in person or online- many of them available to meet needs within 48 hours. With a free user account, you can search for, create shortlists of and book therapists in minutes.
Sourcing therapy with limited resources is challenging especially in a world where shrinking statutory services have left a gap for greedy agencies. TAC access saves money and ensures that therapists are paid properly. You can expect to pay significantly less for therapy because we don’t charge commission. We believe that therapists should be paid properly for their work. They pay us a small session-based fee in return for hosting their profiles and managing payments.
We genuinely need to embrace new and efficient ways of working that not only save us time but facilitate better outcomes. Schools and colleges are for the most part, pretty lean organisations. Organisations which are forced to respond to a human agenda which is in daily flux. Often the need for urgent response cuts across a desire and need to act strategically. While we can’t offer a structural staffing solution, TAC access does provide free case management software which will support both administration and strategy.
Then there’s accountability. TAC access has been designed by people who understand the demands of school and college life. Everything needed to manage individual cases has been thought through. A ready-made dashboard captures the needs in the organisation and the way budgets have been allocated and spent. There’s the facility to manage data and produce a range of reports to support self-evaluation and forward planning which has been designed to work for individual organisations or to support the work of local authority and trust commissioners.
Let us help you create more happy endings. Register with us today or email hello@tacaccess for more information.