How To Talk to Your Children About Mental Health

Raising sensitive issues with young people can be challenging. It’s important that young people feel comfortable and supported to talk about their mental health.

Here are some things you can do to encourage this:

•          Think about how you can talk about and manage your own feelings. Often young people are worried about their parents being upset, anxious, overwhelmed, shocked, angry, blaming, etc. If young people can see that their parents might be able to respond calmly and listen, they are more likely to begin a conversation. If you’re not sure how to respond you can contact support services to seek advice about how to do this.

•          Be available without being intrusive.

•          Spend regular time with them – even doing just one activity a week together can help to keep the lines of communication open.

•          Show that you are interested in what’s happening in their life and try not to focus on things that you think are a problem.

•          Take their feelings seriously – show empathy, listen carefully, and don’t judge (it can be more useful at times to say nothing than to jump in with answers or solutions).

•          Encourage exercise, healthy eating, regular sleep and doing things they enjoy – this will help their physical health as well as mental health.

•          Encourage and support positive friendships.

•          Let them know that you love them. They may not always admit it, but this is likely to be very important to them.

•          Think about a good time and place to talk about sensitive subjects. For example, would they find it easier to talk while driving or going for a walk? Would they prefer to be out of the house with no interruptions? Would they prefer to have someone else there for support?

Good mental health is about being able to reach one’s full potential and live life in a satisfying way. It includes things like being able to work and study, cope with day-to-day life stresses, feel connected to others and be involved in the community.

A young person who has good mental health is more likely to have better emotional and social wellbeing and be able to cope with change and challenges.

 https://headspace.org.au/dads/

Mrs Annie Williams, College Counsellor