8 Summary of Session 2

In this session, you’ve seen that a child’s mental health will fluctuate, and that very young children have the added difficulty of their inexperience which may mean they are unable to recognise, articulate or make sense of their own feelings. Children’s cognitive, social and emotional development is a process, just like any other aspect of their development. You’ve also seen that physical health conditions can have a detrimental impact on children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health, as demonstrated in the case study of Charlotte.

You should now be able to:

• appreciate that children’s mental health can vary for individuals and over time
• describe some of the common mental health conditions that affect children
• understand some of the factors that are associated with mental ill-health in children
• explore some of the effects of poor mental health and illness on children’s education and development
• identify ‘triggers’ for anxiety in children.

In the next session, you will look at the ‘ingredients’ of good mental health and wellbeing for young children.

You can now go to Session 3 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .