Children's Mental Health

Mental health is as important to a child's safety and wellbeing as their physical health. It can impact on all aspects of their life, including their educational attainment, relationships and physical wellbeing. Our mental health is not fixed, it changes all the time and my coaching is about supporting children along this journey. I can help them manage these shifts in mental state and give them the support to effectively self-regulate and regain optimal mental wellbeing.

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Adolenscence

Adolescence is a time of significant growth and development inside the brain and extensive brain remodelling happens during this time, and it continues until the child is in their mid-20s. Brain change depends on age, experience, and hormonal changes in puberty.

The main change is that unused connections in the thinking and processing part of the child’s brain (called the grey matter) is ‘pruned’ away. At the same time, other connections are strengthened. This is the brain’s way of becoming more efficient, based on the ‘use it or lose it’ principle.

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My vision is to inspire, energise and motivate clients
to create a healthy physical and psychological life for
themselves and those around them.

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If you are reading this and are perhaps wondering how I can support your child, please get in touch to find out more.

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Brain Development

The pruning process begins in the back of the brain. The front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, is remodelled last. This is the decision-making part of the brain, responsible for your child’s ability to plan and think about the consequences of actions, solve problems and control impulses. Changes in this part of the brain continue into early adulthood.

Because the prefrontal cortex is still developing, adolescents might rely on a part of the brain called the ‘amygdala’ to make decisions and solve problems more than adults do. The amygdala is associated with emotions, impulses, aggression, and instinctive behaviour. This is why you might sometimes see your child’s behaviour as being quite mature and other times but other times they behave impulsively and illogically, it’s because the back to front development is still taking place so your teenagers are working with brains still under construction. Which means as they try and figure things out, they will push boundaries, test limits, and take risks.

Why Is This Important?

Understanding how an adolescent’s brain is developing can help explain why they might behave the way they do and how important it is to show them love and compassion, there is a saying I use often to parents: “Love them the most, when you like them the least”, it is a good reminder that despite the insolence, adolescence is a turbulent time and as your child tries their best to navigate their way and figure things out, what they need most is your love and guidance.

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Mental Health Continuum

This model shows how mental health is on a continuum. Our mental health moves back and fourth across the continuum and therefore we all can belong to anyone of these quadrants. It shows our mental state is not fixed or defined but instead fluid and flexible. It therefore can be changed.

My goal is to teach children and young adults to recognise the signs when their mental health starts to shift too far to the right and ways to regain balance and get back to a place where they are mentally thriving again. Finding balance is the core foundation upon which I build my client programs.

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Children'sMental Health