Childrens Mental Health Week – 1st to 7th Feb’21

The impact the pandemic’s restrictions are having on young people means it’s all the more important to recognize, accept and support children/teens with their mental wellbeing.

This year’s theme “Express Yourself”!

In my opinion, this should be the cardinal rule of parenting all through life and not just for a day, week, month or year. Children/teens need to feel safe, encouraged and relaxed to express themselves freely. They express themselves in many ways – crying, writing, drawing, sadness, ailments…just to name a few. In certain cultures a boy crying isn’t looked at very well. We learnt early on as parents to teach our son, “it’s ok for boys to cry”. The result was amazing – he felt far more comfortable to express his feelings in words.

How can you help them?

The mental wellbeing of parents/carers is key to support the children/teens with their struggles. WE need to change to be able to help them. Thankfully, mental health awareness has taught us as adults that we all carry emotional baggage and it is OK to seek help. Then why are surveys through the years still showing parents feeling embarrassed if their child needs counselling? It is NORMAL to seek help – whether it is for yourself or your child. Half of lifetime mental illness starts by the age of 14. Providing effective support from an early age not only helps children cope with life’s challenges NOW but can prevent problems from escalating and becoming more serious in adulthood.

Therapy can be expensive but valuable. Many companies here in the UK offer EAPs (Employee Assistance Programmes) to their staff. It’s a free benefit so you can make use of it and many a times it covers your family i.e. spouse/partner/kids. GP’s provide access to free mental health – Talking Therapies which in my opinion work far better than suppressive anti-depressants. Or if you prefer a private therapist but are struggling to pay for it, see if you can work on a payment plan. There ARE options.