Figures
UK Deaths: 106,564
UK Cases: 3,835,783
Worldwide Deaths: 2,243,354
Worldwide Cases: 103,741,860
Children’s Mental Health Week
It’s so sad and strange to read those figures, to read the title of my post, to be a part of something so huge in all our lives. I think we all recognised quite quickly that there would be issues with mental health arising from lockdown, lack of social contact, loss of loved ones, loss of livelihood etc. I even wrote about it in ‘A Mental Health Emergency’. However, have we thought about how it might impact our young ones? Are we too quick to brush off children’s mental health and assume they are fine if there are no’ obvious’ signs…
A lot of us are really good at hiding just how much we are hurting, and our kids are just the same! So how can we help?
Dance in the Rain
I listened to a wonderful talk this weekend by a man called Dick Moore, an inspirational and honest speaker with a very important story to tell about his own family! It really is worth a listen https://youtu.be/CEjyzAPp8dY and learn a little bit of how to ‘Dance in the Rain’
Young Minds
The charity Young Minds conducted a survey at the end of 2020. It’s a fantastic insight into our children’s mental health at the moment. For example, did you know that the percentage of children who described their mental health as poor, actually increased when they went back to school!? And 40% of respondents said that there was no school counsellor available to support them in their school.
Read the full report here.
And for tips, advice and where to get support, click here
Rebuild and Recover
During the pandemic, it is more important than ever that we support children’s mental health. Mentally Healthy Schools have created free resources and toolkits for school staff, parents and carers.
NSPCC Learning
Children may feel worried and anxious about a number of things. There is the virus itself, but there is also the interruption of the normal school routine, suddenly spending most of their time indoors and no longer regularly seeing family and friends. They may even experience someone close to them, becoming seriously ill or dying.
The NSPCC have some great resources for supporting children’s mental health at this time.
I hope the above helps. It is so hard to know how long we might be at home, and how long the pandemic may go on. And these problems won’t magically disappear when we finally start getting back to some sort of norm either. So at least if we are open to listening and armed with supportive information, then we might just stand a chance of helping!
Fay x
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Kids Mental Health | Mental Health Awareness
Featured Image by Light Field Studios on IStock
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