Your Voice Matters! Helping young minds thrive during Children’s Mental Health Week.
Hello, I’m Dr Amirah Khan and I’ve chosen to write my first journal on the topic of children’s mental health because it’s an area I’m truly passionate about. Over the course of my training journey I actively built a wealth of experience working with children and young people, and I’m delighted to be able to share some of that here today as we recognise Children’s Mental Health Week.
Launched almost a decade ago by Place2Be, Children’s Mental Health Week aims to empower, equip, and give a voice to every child and young person in the UK. During this week each year Place2Be develops and offers free access to resources to encourage participation across schools, colleges, and higher education establishments. This is to ensure children, parents, and caregivers feel confident and supported around issues surrounding mental health. Place2Be has explored different mental health themes each year including; ‘Let’s Connect’, ‘Growing Together’, ‘Express yourself’ and ‘Find you're Brave’.
This year, it’s ‘My Voice Matters’.
Common challenges in children's mental health
Children and young people’s mental health has been the subject of great public interest in recent years and has led to the development of a high volume of measures to improve mental health outcomes for children and young people. Yet, according to Action for Children, one in six children aged 5-16 are likely to have a mental health problem. This figure has gone up by 50% in the last three years. But why is that? What factors are making youth mental health worse? Below are the three main factors contributing to this dramatic increase:
School
I think it’s safe to say that the demands of school have led to increased levels of stress in young people. Setting up expectations from a very young age of ‘doing well’ and pressuring children and young people to make life-long decisions when their brains haven’t fully developed can, perhaps unsurprisingly, do more harm than good.
Social Media
The landscape of social media has changed drastically in the past decade. Everyone has access to a wealth of information at the click of a button. Originality and creativity have been replaced by increasing trends that dictate an individual’s appearance, behaviour, the company they keep, values, and more.
Pandemic
Due to having less world experience and knowledge, children are more adaptable than adults. However, nobody saw the pandemic coming, let alone the fact that we stayed at home, with limited social interaction, for months at a time. If this had an impact on us as adults, then imagine how much bigger it’s been for children and young people. The long-term effects might not be fully appreciated for years to come.
Recognising the signs
So children and young people are dealing with more mental health problems now than ever before, and we’ve explored some of the reasons why. So what are the potential indicators of a decline in mental health?
The indicators are subjective and vary from person to person, but can include:
Changes in appetite
Changes in appearance
Changes in general mood
Changes in communication levels
Struggling with concentration and motivation
Difficulties with interpersonal relationships
It’s also important to note that some mental health issues will not have visible signs, which then makes it more difficult for children and young people to communicate their issues. This might be because they:
Believe they won’t be fully understood by others
Struggle to express themselves due to experiencing negative feelings such as guilt, anger, embarrassment/shame
Fear they will be dismissed
Don’t have enough awareness or understanding to recognise they have a problem
It’s also important to note that some children and young people may subconsciously express their struggles through ‘negative behaviour’. However, this may then be dismissed as them ‘throwing a tantrum’ or being a ‘typical teenager’.
Helping young minds thrive
Understanding the potential causes and indicators is a positive step forward, but what can we do to support our children’s mental health when we can see it’s suffering?
Here are some practical examples:
Normalisation
As mentioned earlier, some children may not even be aware they have a problem, let alone think about communicating it. You can help them understand the signs of poor mental health and encourage them to consider that they may be struggling. It’s really important that you offer a space that is empathetic, open, and genuine. If they don’t feel like they can come to you, the chances are they won’t.
Emotion regulation
Talking about our feelings as adults is still an extremely difficult concept for many in our society. And naturally, the younger generation will emulate that same discomfort and hesitance. So a big step we can take as adults is to explore the concept of feelings/emotions with them.
In my clinical experience, emojis work wonders with primary school children. Ask them to choose a few emojis which represent how they feel.
Teenagers can be a little bit trickier, so ‘playing dumb’ can help. Try going in with a more of a wondering stance instead of assuming things e.g. ‘If I was in your place, I’d probably feel quite hurt…’ By doing so, you’re allowing them the choice to either agree with you or correct you by providing more information.
Introducing change
Although children are generally more adaptable than adults when it comes to big changes e.g. moving house or bereavement, they will still need and deserve the time and space to adjust. This must be done with a certain degree of honesty. New York-based psychotherapist Mia Rosenberg put forward 3 key factors when addressing change with young people. These include:
Offering enough information to help them understand what is going on
Validating their emotions
Providing a safe space for them to process the information
Communicate…communicate…communicate
Yes, this topic deserves its own section and I specifically call upon parents and caregivers here. If I had a pound for every time a young person expressed to me that they couldn’t speak to their parents or caregiver, I’d probably have collected close to a small fortune.
Recognising the signs, teaching emotion regulation, normalisation is all very important, but aspects such as open communication, honesty, and trust will be the key mechanism of change. Overcome the communication gap. Ask specific questions and not just ‘how was your day?’. Often young people don’t feel like they can talk or that their problem is ‘problem enough’. I tend to respond to this with ‘Well if it’s something you’ve managed to talk about, then perhaps it’s important for you’.
Don’t wait for the signs to appear before you start asking questions. Start now.
Seeking professional help for children's mental health
Almost every psychologically informed framework of mental health disorders emphasises the correlation between early life adversities and poor mental health in adulthood. In fact, 75% of mental illnesses start before a person’s 18th birthday.
Working with children and young people has offered me an insight into some of the factors which contribute to developing a positive therapeutic alliance between a therapist and a young person. However upon reflection, one of the core factors which deters young people from talking about their issues is the fear of being dismissed. I try to outline the difference between a therapist and a teacher to my younger clients, which then serves as a reminder that I am here to listen.
The confidentiality clause can also be a powerful tool for younger clients to begin building trust with their therapist. Being able to speak about something without the fear of ‘getting into trouble’ can at times be all they need.
If you feel that therapy might be a good option for a young person you know, then please do consider booking in for a free consultation with us to find out more.
Dr Amirah Khan