Public Health England launches new Every Mind Matters campaign
9 Sep 2020 04:51 PM
Mental health campaign supports the wellbeing of children, young people and their parents.
Most families have experienced upheaval in their daily lives during the pandemic. With children and young people now back at school or college, the new Public Health England (PHE) Better Health – Every Mind Matters campaign provides NHS-endorsed tips and advice to help children and young people’s mental wellbeing, and equip parents and carers with the knowledge to support them.
Research reveals that the COVID-19 outbreak has caused an increase in anxiety in young people.
What’s more, over two-fifths (41%) of children and young people said they were more lonely than before lockdown and more than a third said they were more worried (38%), more sad (37%) or more stressed (34%).
New PHE survey data found that two-thirds of parents say their children’s behaviour has changed since the start of the pandemic (69%) and when asked their top 3 worries around COVID-19, over half (52%) said the mental wellbeing of their children topped the list of their biggest worries.
As we adapt to a new normal many parents and carers anticipate their children will experience new stresses. This includes facing the challenges of catching up with missed education, starting new schools or colleges and building relationships with friends again.
Nearly a quarter of parents surveyed say that not knowing what action to take has prevented them supporting their children’s mental wellbeing (22%), and more than a third (38%) want more advice on how to support their mental wellbeing when returning to school.
The new advice available on the Every Mind Matters website has been developed in partnership with leading children and young people’s mental health charities, including Young Minds, The Mix, Place2Be and The Anna Freud Centre. It is designed to help parents and carers spot the signs that children may be struggling with their mental health and support them, and also provides advice that can help maintain good mental wellbeing. The site also provides tools to help young people build resilience and equips them to look after their mental wellbeing.
To engage parents and carers, a powerful short film has been created featuring a number of celebrity parents including Davina McCall, Marvin Humes, Sean Fletcher, Katie Piper and Edith Bowman, reading extracts from bestselling author Charlie Mackesy’s book, ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse’. The emotive extracts all touch upon mental health and aim to encourage parents to visit Every Mind Matters.
NHS’s Top 5 Tips for supporting children and young people’s mental wellbeing as they go back out into the world (please view all tips on Every Mind Matters website):
- Be there to listen
Ask the children and young people you look after how they are doing regularly so they get used to speaking about their feelings.
- Stay involved in their life
Show interest in their life and the things that are important to them.
- Support positive routines
Be a positive role model and support positive behaviours including regular bedtime routines, healthy eating and getting active.
- Encourage their interests
Being active, creative, learning things and being a part of a team are all good for mental health. Support children and young people to explore their interests.
- Take what they say seriously
Help the children and young people you look after feel valued in what they say and help them work through difficult emotions.
The website also encourages parents to complete a personal ‘Mind Plan’, a quick and free interactive tool offering adults tailored mental wellbeing advice. More than 2.4 million ‘Mind Plans’ have been completed since launch in October 2019.
Click here for the full press release