Children’s Mental Health Week 2022
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Published 8 Feb 2022 in Raising Awareness
We forget children can suffer from mental ill-health, just like adults, so this week between 7-13 February we are raising awareness on Children’s Mental Health Week.
The week aims to support mental health and wellbeing amongst children. However, if left untreated this can lead to complications later in life. Helping to start conversations early, the aim is to talk about helping and supporting children with their mental health and provide parents with a better understanding.
To support you and your loved ones Everymind have developed content on the app which includes, information if you are worried about your child’s mental health, spotting the signs of a child or a teenager struggling with mental health. To access this information Search ”Children” on The Everymind at Work App. To download the Everymind App please click here.
Identifying and talking about emotions can be difficult for children so Everymind has also created a poster to help children do so. Click here to download it.
Promoting positive mental health in our nurseries
There are a number of activities and strategies our Little Pioneers use to support this topic in their nurseries. With all colleagues having access to the Mental Health training, the aim of this session was to explore how practitioners can support children’s mental health, well-being and involvement. Also gaining an understanding of how to support children through bereavement.
Here are some of the strategies they use to help promote positive mental health:
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Talking about feelings regularly, reinforcing it’s okay to see sad, angry, worried, scared.
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Promoting the areas of Personal Social and Emotional Development and Understanding the World
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Promoting British Values, especially Individual Liberty.
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We observe children using a tool called Leuven scales it is a five-point scale that allows childcare practitioners to measure children’s ’emotional well-being’ and ‘involvement’ – two vital components of learning, development and progress in children.
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Good key person practices to ensure children have a sense of belonging and feel secure
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Encouraging healthy lifestyles through our Healthy Living and welling being programme
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Nutrition, exercise, yoga, breathing exercises. Children interact with the growing area each day
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Children will access healthy living and well-being activities on the interactive table
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Cooking activities with the nursery’s chef, delivering health living and well-being workshops to families
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Creating safe and secure environments
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Resources and enhancements promoting diversity
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Supporting families to make good choices e.g. online use and language used around child.
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We use have a Music and movement programme (Boogiemites) to ensure children are being physically active and have fun whilst in nursery