Keeping our kids’ positive With mental health issues amongst young people on the rise, more support programs are being introduced to enable kids, and their parents, to better understand themselves and each other. By Jocelyn Biddle According to beyondblue, around one in seven Australian kids experience mental health issues at some stage, with about half of all serious mental health issues in adulthood beginning before the age of 14. In recognition of this growing incidence, the federal government recently committed $100 million in funding for school mental health programs. This includes over $45 million to go to beyondblue for its integrated school-based Mental Health in Education initiative. This new national program encourages good mental health and wellbeing practices for Australian children from early learning centres to the end of secondary school. The funding will also enable the establishment of new headspace centres to help support Australian kids. According to Jason Trethowan, CEO of headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, ensuring that our young people have access to youth friendly mental health services is just one part of the puzzle. “It’s imperative that young people learn ways to look after their mental health and have trusted adults they can reach out to if they’re feeling distressed or overwhelmed. It requires ongoing investment and the responsibility lies with the whole community – health professionals, friends, parents, schools and government.” At a local level, there is one woman who is addressing this need head on through a program that she has developed to build mental strength amongst primary school aged children. Lane Cove’s Jacqui Jones has taken her background in social work, and her experience as mother of two primary school aged children, and developed a self-leadership and wellness program for young people that combines the latest ideas and research in mindfulness meditation, positive psychology and building resilience in young people. 4 I THE VILLAGE OBSERVER I NO. 272 I APRIL 2018
TIPS TO HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME ‘MENTALLY FIT’ l Create a ‘greatitude jar’ – one of the tools that Jacqui introduces in her program is asking students to fill a jar with positive events, memories, affirmations and compliments. This jar becomes a special collection of ‘confidence builders’ throughout the year. l Narelle recommends that if your child is thinking negatively, help them to challenge those thoughts by reconnecting with positive emotions. Encourage them to think of the alternative, by recalling a time when they were happy. Ask how that made them feel? l Each bedtime, sit with your kids and ask them to recount a) one good thing that happened today, and b) one good thing that they did for someone else. Jacqui explains that this helps kids to mentally shift to focussing on what’s going right in their lives. l We can disempower our kids by providing help too early, which can prevent them from finding out who they are for themselves. Narelle explains that it’s a fine line between ‘helpful helping’ and ‘unhelpful helping’. Rather than paving the way for our kids, act as more of a safety net.
Jacqui Jones is working with school students to help them proactively manage their own mental health.
The six-week program is called ‘Greatfulness’, and has been linked to the NSW Department of Education’s Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) syllabus for years K-6. “The purpose of the Greatfulness program is to give young people the knowledge and understanding they need so that they can proactively manage their own mental health. “Building mental strength needs to start early, when it can make a difference. We want to encourage kids to live life to its full potential. We talk to students about how life shouldn’t be about what you get, but rather about what you give - to focus on the good in their life.”
Building mental strength needs to be started early, when it can make a difference. Over the past 10 months, Jacqui has been single-handedly delivering the program to students in primary schools around Sydney. In preparation for high school, Year 6 students at St Michael’s Catholic Primary School in Lane Cove went through the course late last year. Class teacher Steve Pryde said that the course was ‘right on the money’, providing students with tangible strategies that enabled them to understand and become the best version of themselves.
