Children's Mental Health Week

In 2015, Place2Be launched the beginning of Children’s Mental Health Week in order to highlight the importance of children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. After 8 years of success, Children’s Mental Health week is back with the intention of encouraging people across the UK to get themselves involved, spread the word, and raise funds for Children’s Mental Health.

Place2Be is a children’s mental health charity that provides young people with mental health support and counselling. Each year, Place2Behave a theme for Children’s Mental Health Week in order to have a focus on how we can improve children’s mental health and wellbeing for the better. This year, the theme is ‘Lets Connect’, which is all about encouraging children to create meaningful connections with others. As human beings, connections are vital for our wellbeing, they provide us with the feeling of fulfilment, care, and pride. Connections with family, friends and people in our community all participate in supporting our mental health, therefore it is important that we support children from a young age to start building these social connections to prevent them from feeling alone. Throughout the 6^th – 12^thFebruary 2023, children all over the UK will discuss a vast range of topics all surrounding mental health, from loneliness to making friends, children will be supported and educated on the importance on making connections with others and how to do so.

Over the last few years, there has been an unprecedented amount of change within education settings. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing schools to close for long periods of time, and with teacher strikes planned, children and young people have undoubtedly been impacted, especially in terms of their mental health. In the last 3 years, statistics show that 5 out of a classroom of 30 children are now likely to be facing issues with their mental health. Further to this, in a survey which illustrates the impact of school closures, 74% of school staff agreed that the closures had a damaging impact on the health and wellbeing in young people. With children continuously being in and out of school, they have missed out on opportunities of enhancing their social connections. Not seeing their friends and missing opportunities to make new connections, has progressed to young people being isolated having a detrimental impact on their overall wellbeing.

Where can I go for help for my child’s mental health?

If you are concerned about your child’s mental health, there is always someone who you can talk to who will provide you with the support that you need. Speaking with your GP is usually the best place to start, and CAMHS is a service that works with schools, charities, and local authorities to provide children with the best possible support that suits their needs. CAMHS can support children and young people facing a range of mental health issues, from anxiety to anger management, CAMHS has a wide variety of treatment and support options available to suit the child’s need, to ensure they get the most beneficial support suited to them.  

Lots of general advice and support can be found online.

For more general advice, see the NHS website here information on mental health and wellbeing, which includes advice about:

• Talking to children about feelings
• spotting signs of depression in children and teenagers

YoungMinds

YoungMinds offers free confidential online and telephone support to anyone worried about the emotional and mental wellbeing of a child or young person up to the age of 25.

• call the free parents' helpline on 0808 802 5544 from 9.30am to 4pm, Monday to     Friday
• email parents@youngminds.org.uk and  YoungMinds will respond to your query within 3 working days.

The charity also has information for parents and carers about mental health.

MindEd for families.

MindEdfor families is a branch of MindEd, intended to support parents and those caring for children and young people.

MindEd is an online e-portal offering free, simple advice about children and young people's mental health for all adults.

Although MindEd is aimed at professionals, parents and carers may also find the information helpful.

Royal College of Psychiatrists

You can also find out more by exploring the Royal College of Psychiatrists' leaflets for parents and young people.

These include mental health information tailored for young people, parents, teachers and carers.

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