February 2022 Parenta Magazine
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Children’s Mental<br />
Health Awareness<br />
Week<br />
Children’s Mental Health Week is taking<br />
place in the week of the 7th – 13th<br />
<strong>February</strong> <strong>2022</strong> and is a time to not only<br />
raise awareness of mental health issues<br />
amongst children, but to also offer advice<br />
and information and showcase some of<br />
the work that can be done in this area to<br />
help all children develop positive attitudes<br />
towards their mental health, and that of<br />
others too. This year’s theme is “Growing<br />
Together”, and the aim is to encourage<br />
children (and adults) to consider how they<br />
have grown, and how they can help others<br />
to grow.<br />
According to the CMHW website, “Growing<br />
Together” is about growing emotionally<br />
and finding ways to help each other grow.<br />
Challenges and setbacks can help us to<br />
grow and adapt and trying new things<br />
can help us to move beyond our comfort<br />
zone into a new realm of possibility and<br />
potential. However, emotional growth is<br />
often a gradual process that happens over<br />
time, and sometimes we might feel a bit<br />
stuck.”<br />
The pandemic has had a negative effect<br />
on the mental health of many people, and<br />
two years after the virus first arrived on UK<br />
shores, we may have developed strategies,<br />
vaccines and treatments to tackle the virus,<br />
but we are still many years away from<br />
seeing the full impact of lockdowns, school<br />
closures and changes to our everyday<br />
patterns of behaviour. It is more important<br />
than ever that we face up to the challenges<br />
that have been created in our population’s<br />
mental health, and absolutely vital that we<br />
find solutions to deal with the burgeoning<br />
mental health issues in our children.<br />
A 2021 report on the “Mental Health of<br />
Children and Young People in England” has<br />
highlighted some of the main problems<br />
facing young people today reporting<br />
that since 2017, rates of probable mental<br />
disorders have increased in children aged<br />
6 to 16 years from 1 in 9 (11.6%) to 1 in 6<br />
(17.4%). In 17- to 19-year-olds, it increased<br />
from 1 in 10 (10.1%) to 1 in 6 (17.4%).<br />
This means that in most classes of 30<br />
students in mainstream schools, there are<br />
at least 5 students who are facing mental<br />
health challenges.<br />
Nearly 40% of children aged between 6<br />
and 16 reported a deterioration in their<br />
mental health since 2017, and this figure<br />
rose to over half (52.5%) of those aged 17<br />
to 23 years. The report also highlighted<br />
an increase in possible eating problems<br />
and sleeping disorders as well. Clearly,<br />
the romantic, fictional notion of a carefree,<br />
stress-free childhood is not the reality that<br />
many of our children are living.<br />
What is Children’s Mental Health<br />
Awareness Week?<br />
In 2015, the charity, Place2Be, launched the<br />
first ever Children’s Mental Health Week<br />
to “shine a spotlight on the importance<br />
of children and young people’s mental<br />
health.” Place2Be offers a variety of different<br />
mental health and counselling services to<br />
meet schools’ needs, including in-school<br />
support, expert training and resources, and<br />
has over 25 years experience in helping<br />
young people.<br />
<strong>2022</strong> will be the 8th year of the week-long<br />
event and Place2Be are hoping that more<br />
people than ever will join in and spread<br />
the word. They are calling on everyone,<br />
whether they are a parent/carer, childcare<br />
professional, teacher, nursery practitioner,<br />
youth worker, or just someone who is<br />
passionate about children and young<br />
people, to sign up and do their bit. And<br />
they’ve made it easy to do as well. You<br />
can sign up for more information on the<br />
CMHW website, where you can find a lot of<br />
free resources, lesson plans, social media<br />
banners and suggested posts for the week.<br />
The resources are designed to be used by<br />
schools, online lessons, home-schooling or<br />
independent learning and can be adapted<br />
to help children and young people explore<br />
the theme of “Growing Together”.<br />
How to get involved<br />
There are many ways to get involved in this<br />
year’s event including:<br />
• Adding your name and ideas to the UK<br />
CMHW map by filling in a short online<br />
form<br />
• Posting your stories and images on<br />
your social media pages using the<br />
hashtag #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek.<br />
You can also download a free social<br />
media guide which includes template<br />
posts, downloadable images, inspiring<br />
idea<br />
• Run a fund-raising event to raise<br />
money<br />
• Hold a “Dress to Express Day” in your<br />
setting and encourage everyone to<br />
wear whatever they want to express<br />
themselves – you can run it as a mufti<br />
day if you have a uniform or just ask<br />
people to donate £1 to the cause and<br />
dress up!<br />
• Hold a ‘fun’ day to lighten the load and<br />
bring a bit of fun and sunshine back<br />
into everyone’s lives. You could dress in<br />
bright colours or decorate your setting<br />
with things that make you and your<br />
children smile, play games, have a<br />
party or hold a laughter session<br />
• Get out into nature and go for a walk.<br />
This is an inexpensive and simple<br />
way to help children reconnect to their<br />
natural surroundings and exercise is a<br />
well-known tonic to help combat stress<br />
and mental health issues because it<br />
stimulates the release of dopamine<br />
and serotonin in the brain, which can<br />
improve mood<br />
The NHS have published advice on how to<br />
improve mental well-being and suggest<br />
5 easy ways which have been proven to<br />
help, especially with mild to moderate<br />
depression. These are:<br />
1. Connect with other people<br />
2. Be physically active<br />
3. Learn new skills<br />
4. Give to others<br />
5. Pay attention to the present moment<br />
(mindfulness)<br />
You can find simple examples of how to do<br />
these 5 things on the website here, where<br />
you will find some simple suggestions of<br />
things to do and things to avoid.<br />
Remember that children can often find<br />
expressing their emotions difficult and they<br />
may be unable to express how they really<br />
feel, especially younger children.<br />
Often, when children are stressed or<br />
anxious and unable to properly express<br />
themselves verbally, they may present<br />
with challenging behaviours, so always<br />
be patient and remember that behaviour<br />
is the child’s way of communicating that<br />
something is wrong.<br />
Let us know what you are doing to get<br />
involved in the Children’s Mental Health<br />
Awareness Week by sending us your<br />
stories and pictures to hello@parenta.com.<br />
References and more information:<br />
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week<br />
Mental Health of Children and Young<br />
People in England, 2021 Wave 2 follow up<br />
to the 2017 survey<br />
NHS – Exercise and depression<br />
NHS – 5 steps to mental well-being<br />
30 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2022</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>February</strong> <strong>2022</strong> 31