Taking a Proactive Approach to Children's Emotional Well-Being
"In 2019, 301 million people were living with an anxiety disorder including 58 million children and adolescents … Symptoms are severe enough to result in significant distress or significant impairment in functioning." (1)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 based on the predecessor of 2005. Yet, many countries do not have a national action plan that can be implemented, measured for success, and revised. How powerful it would be to have programs and services that are researched, evidence-based, and consistently supported throughout a country, from state to state or province to province.
We don't need to reinvent the wheel but learn and adopt aspects of what is working elsewhere. Thankfully, we do have countries in the world with national policies in place for children. There are many, but I'll cite two. Australia has Headspace, a National Youth Mental Health Foundation that provides early intervention mental health services to 12-25-year-olds. It includes online and phone counseling services, vocational services, and presence in schools. Ireland has Jigsaw which can be seen in session rooms, classrooms, lecture halls, on sports grounds, workplaces, homes and more, both physically and digitally. What do these two models have in common? From my perspective, they are available across the whole country, integrated and working well beyond the restricted umbrella of “The Ministry of Health”.
What’s working? What’s not? I’m throwing out one theory of my own. We act when we recognize symptoms in our children. Early Intervention is engrained in our minds, and so it should be. When something seems “off”, we seek help. We’ve got it backward! We do the same thing when we make an appointment with our doctor – we have an illness or injury and a reason to call! We’ve become accustomed to being responsive rather than proactive with all aspects of our health.
This world is more complex than ever. Our growing number of struggling children demands an urgent response. How can we, as adults, understand and be able to provide what the children of today need for their own emotional well-being when we weren’t raised with the challenges they now face? I’m suggesting we need to seek out resources and learn for ourselves so we can model for our children. The first step is to admit that we need help to do this.
I’ve seen early years and primary classrooms practice mindfulness or yoga activities daily, children who understand and embrace closing their eyes and breathing to calm their minds and bodies.
I walk daily, where my thoughts become clear, and I am totally present in nature. One cold snowy day, I stopped and called my niece Amber Raymond (a studying social worker at that time) and threw some crazy ideas at her. I then excitedly asked her if she would like to write a children’s book series with me. She jumped right in and so it began!
We’ve taken evidence-based strategies that clinicians use to support struggling teens and adults and simplified them to create children’s books as teaching tools. In each of the books we’ve titled, The Power of Thought, we beam children away to a fictitious planet where childlike beings glow in the colour they are feeling. They haven’t learned to recognize or deal with their emotions yet. A conflict is introduced that any child can relate to and by the end of the book, the situation has been resolved using a fun, step-by-step process. Imagine children learning to integrate these strategies into their own daily practice while they are still sponges, soaking everything up around them! We’re developing a resource package for parents and educators.
Taking the Helm, the podcast I’ve been hosting for three years is shifting its focus to children’s emotional well-being. Our guests are going to help us all flip to a proactive state of mind. What’s working out there? What can we do to PREVENT our children from developing symptoms of anxiety or depression? I can’t wait to learn from and with them.
Our focus is now crystal clear. We're passionate about reaching children before they finish the primary grades. Tools, strategies and a positive mindset can only serve them well. It’s a piece of this very complex puzzle but a critical one.
The icing on the cake? Learning to be proactive for our kids gives us tools that we can begin to use for ourselves. I for one, have learned so much while writing with my niece, including self-compassion. Imagine a world where children learn to embrace their emotions at a young age, are self-confident, empathetic, can self-regulate, and develop strong social and problem-solving skills! Our children are the future – our future.
(1) Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation. Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx),
