Time for Exams...

As examination season falls upon us, it is normal for many teenagers and students to feel stressed and under pressure - the pressure often inadvertently coming from the family. The BBC have produced tips on how parents can help children through the anxiety. It can be an equally anxious time for parents - this report indicates that it affects 24% of parents' own mental health. Positive Parenting Project founder, Anita, suggests that creating an environment that is conducive to learning and adopting a positive approach will go a long way in supporting children. There is a useful guide by Student Minds on helping control exam stress.

Childline have an innovative Art Box for expressing feelings and games to help students relax. Meditation is also becoming a popular form of relaxation. MindSpace have created various resources including one-minute podcasts on tackling various issues including anxiety - providing useful introductions to meditation and mindfulness.

Men & Mental Health

Pic: ImageQuest

A few weeks ago, the singer Kanye West was hospitalised for stress and exhaustion following a melt-down on stage. There followed a show of support from a number of fellow musicians. This was very significant according to this article, as a positive move towards a change in attitudes and the stigma attached to mental health issues, particularly in the African American male community; the macho hip-hop culture has meant that mental health issues are not usually discussed openly and those suffering have been far less likely to seek help.

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A report published earlier this year, outlined the changes to be introduced over the coming years in response to the Mental Health Taskforce’s recommendations to improve care. In addition, the Ministry of Justice and NHS England are working together to develop a £24m programme targeting mental health support at young offenders.

World Mental Health Day

10th October is the date that marks Mental Health Day and reminds us of the silent suffering of 450m people around the world. This year, it coincides with the publication of the Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, a report by the NHS, which shows statistics for the adult population in the UK. It highlights that young women aged between 16-24, are at the highest risk of mental health disorders. The main issues they face are anxiety and depression with high rates of self-harm and post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorders. Many of these problems appear to be fuelled by social pressure especially on social media - a research study has also linked the Pill with depression.

The Mental Health Foundation website offers several reports on related topics; this feature talks about mental health crises of women in the perinatal period. There is also the report: 'The impact of traumatic events on mental health'.

Talking about female mental health issues can sometimes take the spotlight off men suffering from depression; however, many celebrities, such as Bruce Springsteen who has talked openly about his depression, are helping other men seek help.

Mental Health update

The Department for Education has announced plans to help young people set up online advice networks and workshops so that they can offer peer support on mental health issues.

A recent issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry included a supplement in which the editors make the case for a transformation of mental health care for young people based on early intervention and a priority focus on emerging adulthood.

The Mental Health Taskforce has published a report, which takes a strategic approach to improving mental health outcomes and makes recommendations for the NHS. 

Place2Be and NAHT give a picture of primary school counselling provision across the country. They believe that all schools need access to or the ability to host professional mental health services, in order to effectively support children and build their resilience for the future, 

The Institute of Health Visiting is calling on local authorities, to ensure that all health visitors have the training, capacity and support to provide “sufficient advice to all new parents”. They stated that an increased focus on the first two years of a child's life would help the NHS to reduce the impact of maternal depression and other perinatal mental health problems on babies’ mental wellbeing. The responsibility for the commissioning of public health services for under-fives was handed to local authorities last October.

Child Protection

The NSPCC has recently published new reports on sexual abuse: 'Getting Help' highlights the expectations and experiences of children and young people about receiving therapeutic services following sexual abuse; 'Letting the Future In' is an independent evaluation of the NSPCC's therapeutic intervention service for children who have been sexually abused; 'Someone to Lean On'  is a guide created by NSPCC practitioners who deliver the programme for mental health and social care practitioners.

An article published in the Guardian outlines what the government has in mind for child protection; they have also launched a consultation on plans to protect children from seeing pornographic material online.

What's making children unhappy?

The Good Childhood Report by the Children's Society found that 10 to 12 year olds in England ranked 14th out of 15 nations for happiness, behind Germany, Spain and South Africa; the UK has also come far down similar global lists drawn up by UNICEF. Modern stress could be to blame for increasing child depression in the the UK; more teenagers are now turning to counselling to help them cope with the pressures of social media - research has also linked Facebook with depression in young adults and children. Bullying, including cyber-bullying and self harm, was reported as the main issues of concern by ChildLine last year. Overall, 35,244 of the counselling sessions held by the service in 2014/15 were related to low self-esteem and unhappiness.

Prof. Mark Williams at Oxford University, confirmed that "technostress" was growing. "Every generation thinks it is more stressed than the last. It's usually not true but this time it looks [as if] it is. That's because this is the first generation that is constantly flitting between the actual, real world and the virtual world of the internet. It's not multitasking, it's multi-switching - and there are switching costs, mainly distraction, exhaustion, irritability and mood swings."

British nine and ten-year-olds are also getting the least sleep, the main reason appearing to be the use of electronic devices in the bedroom. This was found to be a common phenomenon in affluent countries, where we are more likely to buy children electronic devices and allow them in their bedrooms. Today, children are likely to own more toys and gadgets than ever before, yet the Unicef global report on child well-being found that children are not getting happier the more they own, instead, British parents could be trapping their children in a cycle of "compulsive consumerism". As children spend more time online, social media addiction is also becoming a problem - this website offers advice to parents on how to protect their children.

Perinatal and Infant Mental Health

The Child and Maternal Health Observatory (ChiMat) have a page dedicated to Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH); they have produced an online needs assessment report which discusses mental health issues in pregnancy, the postnatal period as well as in babies and toddlers. Users can also keep up to date with the latest policies and good practice by signing up to their bulletin.

Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has launched a six month partnership with NSPCC's ChildLine as part of its commitment to listen to and act on young people's experiences of health and social care. This latest 'tell us about your care' partnership is one of seven CQC projects currently running with national organisations that are in a unique position to reach and be reached, by people who may choose to discuss concerns about the way they are receiving health and adult social care or to identify examples of best practice.

Established in 2009, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health, which aims to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. 

The CQC website offers a variety of resources for both providers and the public. Various handbooks and publications cover aspects of care such as child safeguarding, end of life, mental health and neonatal care.

CareKnowledge

CareKnowledge has recently been added to our collection of online resources. It is an extensive source of both up-to-date and archived material in health and social care including topics such as adult and child protection, serious case reviews and mental health. Updated daily, the service supports practitioners and managers in these areas to help inform on key developments. The site also offers opinion, analysis and research via blogs, briefings and special reports that help to put complex issues into context. Access CareKnowledge via the E-Resources link in the Library portal. 

CareKnowledge includes the following journals and magazines:

Housing Care and Support

International Journal of Leadership in Public Services

Journal of Adult Protection

Journal of Childrens Services

Journal of Family Health

Journal of Integrated Care

Learning Disability Today

Mental Health Review Journal

Mental Health Today

Mental Health Training Education and Practice

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults

Tizard Learning Disability Review

Working with Older People

Report: Hurting inside

A new report by the NSPCC, provides an overview of  neglect to give a better understanding of the issues faced by children. It highlights how the long term cumulative impact of neglect can cause deep-rooted and lifelong physical and psychological harm for a child and at its worst, prove fatal. The NSPCC helpline and ChildLine work to provide timely and decisive action to help stop child neglect and the report offers insights into how adults recognise, report and understand child neglect. 

Too much homework?

The debate on whether homework should be scrapped has been an long-standing one. Now, excessive homework is being blamed on the rise of mental health illness in children and young people. A “high-stakes achievement culture” is also being cited amongst the reasons given for a rise in anxiety and depression. This follows on from a recent announcement by Cheltenham Ladies’ College, that it will be carrying out a review on whether to abolish homework. However, when one school in New York decided to scrap homework, parents were not pleased....

And whilst the West has been inspired by the success of Asian education systems, a report by Professor Yong Zhao indicates that Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Shanghai are turning their attention to cultivating “twenty-first century skills” in their children, such as creativity, communication, collaboration and higher order thinking skills; they are also more concerned about student social-emotional and physical health.

Ready for work....

A number of SEN resources are available for young people requiring support to help them into work: as part of their Preparation for Adulthood programme, 'Preparing for Adulthood' have published two new case studies to support young people with mental health issues. 

Supported internships are study programmes that take place in both work and college so that learners receive practical hands-on experience; useful information on supported internships, who offers these programmes, setting them up and funding issues are provided in this factsheet. The number of study programmes available to 16-25 year old students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are becoming more widely available; further information on study programmes can be found here.

From the DfE, the latest SEN statistics and analysis have been published on local authorities’ progress in transferring to the new system of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

Mental Health Awareness Week

It is Mental Health Awareness week and this year the theme is mindfulness. The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) have once again produced a number of publications including posters and leaflets to support their campaign, including a dedicated page on resources for mindfulness. Resources for topics covered in previous years are available on the MHF website, such as last year's report 'Living With Anxiety', which highlights how prevalent anxiety is in everyday life. 

There is also still time to watch 'A Stranger on the Bridge' - the true story of Jonny Benjamin; suffering from mental health issues, his attempted suicide was thwarted by a stranger who stopped him from jumping off Waterloo Bridge. The documentary follows his quest to find the person who saved his life.