Emotional Health and Wellbeing

Children with social and emotional difficulties may struggle with friendships, social skills and learning.
Early identification and intervention can provide the support required to promote positive mental health and help reach full potential.

A change in your child’s normal behaviour can indicate that something is not right for them emotionally. You may notice child or young person is quiet, agitated, finding it difficult to concentrate, or having difficulty settling to sleep. Change in behaviour patterns, could include friendship issues, low self-esteem, or behaviour problems such as toileting issues.

 

Emotional resilience top tips for parents

• Give your child ‘worry time’ – just 15 minutes to chat about any worries, limiting it to this amount time. Let your child talk without interrupting or solution finding. If they don’t have worries allow them to use the time to talk about anything they wish. This time could be spent doing an activity such as walking or colouring.
• Get outside. The chemical melatonin is produced from spending time outside which helps with getting a good night’s sleep.
• Diet, mood and sleep are all connected.
• A balanced diet will improve both mood and sleep. See our healthy eating page for more information.
• Model behaviour for your children.
• Support your child to make positive affirmations about themselves.
• Make time for yourself, so you can be the best parent you can.
• Ensure your child has a safe space that is just for them where they can go without being interrupted to calm down.

How can we help?

If your child is school-aged and you still have concerns, you can refer your child/ or your child can self-refer by attending a school nurse drop in clinic. Support can be given by telephone contact with a trained school nurse or your child may be offered 1:1 intervention with the school nurse in school. This can support your child to recognise their feelings and learn coping skills to help them manage in a positive way.

Please see the Oxford CAMHS website for some useful resources click here