A mental health facility in Pembroke has started an awareness-raising community outreach programme with a parish school.

Nicholas Darcueil, a founder of Dignity House, said the partnership with Victor Scott Primary School included offering support to parents, pupils and teachers.

The collaboration, launched last week, was welcomed by principal Kennelyn Smith and Chefanices Williams, an educational therapist.

Ms Williams said: “Our school has been formally adopted by Dignity House and we are super excited because of what it would do for our parents, our students and our teachers.”

She noted that accessible support “isn’t always readily available”, while Ms Smith called the partnership “a dream come true”.

Ms Smith added: “The staff component is definitely going to be a huge one. We talked about the parent aspect, so it is really important.

“The end goal is these children will be the next generation. We want to ensure they have the skills and tools to thrive.”

Ms Smith said the school has found that “children are coming to school needing a lot more support”.

She added: “I think it is a great opportunity for us here at Victor Scott to promote or pilot this initiative.”

Ms Smith noted the school’s vision statement, drawn up several years ago, recognised an equal or “even greater need” to focus on children’s social and emotional wellbeing as well as academia.

She explained: “It is very difficult to teach someone who does not have the ability to focus on learning or receiving information.”

Ms Williams said the genesis of the partnership came this year with the school’s panel discussions on social issues affecting students — and the recognition that “parents don’t always have the skills to address mental health”.

“This partnership will definitely give them the skills that they need.”

The school plans an open session to brief parents this week.

Mr Darceuil said the programme’s focus was dialectical behaviour therapy, which teaches skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness. He called it “a therapy which teaches you to accept where you are to make a change”.

His wife, Kim Darceuil, held an introductory session last week with pupils, which came with sharing that “they are kind, smart and important”.

She added: “I just wanted them to feel comfortable and I did a little PowerPoint presentation, which was simple for them to understand.”

Ms Williams, who joined the school this year, said the mental health plan would be incorporated into Victor Scott’s “enrichment” programme, with the three-member team of its counselling unit collaborating with Dignity House.

She said the move was “timely because May is dubbed Mental Health Awareness Month”.