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Supporting children's mental health and wellbeing
Supporting children's mental health and wellbeing

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Session 2: Increasing your knowledge of mental health

Introduction

It may be an obvious statement to make, but increasing your knowledge of the language relating to mental health can increase your understanding and, in turn, this can help to increase your confidence in supporting children’s mental health. In this session, you will look at definitions of some of the mental health conditions that commonly affect young children. These include anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, phobias and behaviour disorders. Other pertinent issues, in particular school refusal and sleep problems, will also be explored. You will look at the impact of mental health issues on children’s education and development, and identify some possible ‘triggers’ for children’s anxiety in early childhood and school settings.

Now listen to the following audio in which Jackie Musgrave, one of the course authors, introduces the session.

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By the end of this session, you will 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.