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| Maintaining the mental wellbeing of kids
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In National Mental Health Week it seems timely to cover the topic of mental health in small children and what early childhood education and care providers can do to foster and strengthen resilience and mental wellbeing in our youngest citizens.
World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is a key part of our National Mental Health Week and aims to increase global mental health education, awareness and advocacy. WMHD is help annually on 10/10 and this year the campaign in Australia has three objectives:
- Encourage help seeking behaviour
- Reduce the stigma associated with mental illness
- Foster connectivity throughout communities
The 2014 WMHD hopes to achieve these goals by encouraging people to take personal ownership of their own mental health and wellbeing. For adults living with mental illness this is a challenge, for small children it is even more so as they are unlikely to have enough understanding to label what they are feeling or the communication skills to share their mental state with an adult.
Early childhood education and care providers are in a unique position to observe and help children at risk of developing longer-term mental health issues receive the early intervention that could help to keep them well in the long term.
Kids Matter, the Australian Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative, use a definition developed by the Hunter Institute of Mental Health and the Australian Psychological Society to describe mental health in young children:
'Mental health in early childhood is seen in the capacity of a young child—within the context of their development, family, environment and culture—to:
- Participate in the physical and social environment
- Form healthy and secure relationships
- Experience, regulate, understand and express emotions
- Understand and regulate their behaviour
- Interact appropriately with others, including peers
- Develop a secure sense of self
Early childhood mental health and wellbeing is related to healthy physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. Early childhood development and life experiences contribute strongly to a person's mental health and wellbeing during childhood and later in life.'
Kids Matter have developed an Early Childhood Framework which is divided into four components designed to help early childhood services strengthen protective factors and minimise risk factors in the lives' of the children they care for.
Protective factors are variables in a child's life which have a positive impact such as a consistent and loving home environment, stable early childhood providers, routine, a wide circle of friends and a community network and physical advantages such as good health and hitting developmental milestones.
Risk factors are the opposite, they are the variables which can increase the chances of a child developing mental heal issues and include social and emotional challenges which affect a child's wellbeing such as conflict or separation, parents with mental health difficulties, natural disasters, stressful events, trauma, upheavals and/or social isolation.
According to the Kids Matter website successfully addressing risk and protective factors in the early years can improve children's wellbeing and reduce their risk of developing mental health difficulties.
Kids Matter have the following suggestions for ECTs seeking to foster and support mental health in children:
- Build and maintain supportive relationships between family, friends and other early childhood staff. Talk together about how to best support the child.
- Help children understand and manage their feelings, as this can help them develop coping skills.
- Help children learn to cope with challenges by providing support and reassurance.
- Help children to understand that stress, loss and grief are a normal part of life.
- Try to maintain routines as much as possible. Routines and consistency in life help children feel secure.
- Acknowledge children's feelings and try to understand and respect them, especially when they are going through a difficult time.
- Help children feel connected with the service and other ECTs by taking an interest in their wellbeing, and by relating to them in ways that are consistently respectful and caring.
- Help families who are experiencing difficulties by providing them with support, relevant information or the details of services or health professionals (e.g., a child and family support service).
- Listen to the concerns of children, parents and carers without judgement and help them work through their problems.
- Listen and show empathy when parents and carers talk about things affecting them and their children.
- Support children's skills, such as their ability to manage their emotions, relate to others or solve problems, for example by acknowledging their feelings when guiding their behaviour.
- Build partnerships with parents and carers to support children.
- Observe and note children's behaviour to identify any concerns about their mental health and wellbeing.
- Provide help for families early to prevent mental health difficulties developing or reduce their impact. When concerns are identified, provide support and suggestions for families to seek support from health professionals.
For more information and resources be sure to visit the Kids Matter website.
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