Children's Mental Health Awareness Week

This week is Children's Mental Health Awareness Week. 

What practical steps and ground work can we do as parents and teachers to help our children have good mental health and prioritise this as much as we do physical health? 

1. A little bit of routine 

HOW can routines help our anxiety?

As adults make lots of decisions every day but so do our kids, especially teens.

What to wear, what to eat, what to do for the day, what piece of work to finish first.

If you have too many decisions to make, this can increase your anxiety.

Try having some "certainty anchors” built into your day.

These are things that make parts of our day solid, anchored and unchanged. 

If you take time away from the need for a decision this can reduce the anxiety. 

Bring some routine into your day, a little bit.

Build routine into your morning and evening and then you can be more fluid during the day to do your school work. 

Decide what you are going to wear, what work you are going to do first, maybe even what you are going to have for breakfast. 

When you do go back to school, a bit of routine in your school day and you will reap the rewards for the rest of the day.

Not rushing out of the door while grabbing a piece of half buttered toast. 

Reducing the number of decisions that are being made at these times reduces your anxiety.

It makes sense. 

Try it. 

Nothing to lose. 

2. Dealing with the initial feelings of panic and anxiety before they take hold

Excitement and anxiety are a similar response from the body: the flight or fight responses. 
The responses that have evolved from us running away from a sabre toothed tiger back in the day.

Try to reframe anxiety towards something into excitement... they are only very slightly different.
One of the girls in our previous HOW membership called this feeling 'Nexcitement'

If your anxiety is more severe remember that a panic attack, should you get them, can last 20-25 mins only. Those feelings will pass. Try to use the tools you have been given. 

It is super hard but try not to get anxious about being anxious. 

This feeds into a cycle of panic and anxiety and makes things a lot worse.

Try to sit it out with the knowledge that it is going to stop. 

Breathe - Try 5 finger breathing 
Distract yourself with some music
Try to look at a book or magazine
Use an app like Calm or Headspace...
or go to your List. (see below)

3. Write a list  

Write a list of things that help you when you feel anxious or uncertain.

Things that make you happy and make you feel good about yourself. 

This list will look different for us all. 

Write it down and stick it on your wall or in your diary.

Read a book or magazine
Watch your favourite movie
Learn new skill (like finger knitting on Your Tube)
Listen to song you love
Make a new playlist
Go for a walk
Help a parent with something they need doing
Sit outside and practice the 5,4,3,2,1 exercise
Visit a favourite place
Play with your pet if you have one
Make a Tik Tok with a friend
Bake a cake or cookies
Draw a picture (Try Neurographic Art it is so calming)
Make a collage (Vision Boarding is a lot of fun)
Write in your journal about how you are feeling
Get creative and try to write a song, poem or rap
Phone a friend don’t just send messages
Have a relaxing bath
Do a random act of kindness for a neighbour

When you are feeling really anxious about something then go to the LIST. 

Choose something from your list and do that to try and bring your anxiety level down.

4. Control your scroll 

Really, really, really try to get some control back over the information coming to you from Social Media.

YOU are in control of your scroll.

Here is the blog written by Jess Strange mountain biker and social media influencer with some practical advice.

LINK HERE TO SOCIAL MEDIA BLOG

5. Dealing with Uncertainty 

Try and get reliable information from accredited sources only.
If you have seen something that concerns you then talk to a trusted adult.

Do NOT assume that your Tiktok newsfeed is gospel truth.

Watch Newsround rather than the adult news. 

Don’t just scroll through your Instagram or TikTok newsfeed.
This feeds into our anxieties about what is going on in the world. 

Online support groups with chat options are available if want to talk to someone other than your parents but also think about talking to teachers, your sports coaches, your friends parents or an older sibling. 

Remember 

• If you are worried about something going on in the world you are not likely to be the only one
• Try to stay calm and in control of the things you can control like how much time you spend on social media scrolling, what you eat, how much sleep you get, who you hang around with
• If you don’t feel calm go to your list
• Ask other people how they are feeling, you will find others feel the same 
• Look for your information from the right places
• Remember we are ALL in different situations at home and under different pressures. It is just not always obvious to see that in other people