8 Mental Health Tips for Parents + Educators
How might we describe mental health?
In our creative workshops for young people, we describe mental health as “how a person’s mind and wellbeing is” and we recognise that “it affects emotional (how we feel), psychological (how we think), and social (how we act) well-being”.
We normalise that they will probably feel a mixture of comfortable and uncomfortable emotions daily and that there will be good weeks alongside more difficult ones. Because of this, our role as educators is to build their emotional literacy: to identify how they are feeling and why, and reflect on whether there is anything they can do to help themselves or others during the tougher times.
It might feel difficult to know how to support young people when there are so many different pressures on their mental health: exam stress, bullying, difficult relationships, the changes of puberty, societal / world issues, big transitions like moving schools.
So if you are an adult in a young person’s life, here are some things to consider
Tips for parents
Model compassion
When we speak to ourselves, we have a choice to make that a kinder voice. It is common, especially during adolescence, to be very self-critical, and compare ourselves to others. You can model that compassionate voice in how you speak to them and yourself.
Rather than “I look rubbish”, you could compliment yourself on one small thing. Rather than “why did she get a better grade than you?” you could ask “how do you feel about the grade?” and “well done for giving it a go!”.
Banish Your Self Esteem Thief workbook by Kate Collins Donnelly is a great exercise book you could work through together.
2. Respect boundaries
Your teens might not want to share everything with you, and that’s okay. Respecting that boundary is a great way to model healthy relationships.
You can still ask open questions, and let them know you are there for them if they ever need. Even if they shrug it off, it will feel good to know that someone cares.
3. Promote healthy habits
As you probably know from your own relationship with your phone, it can be hard to not get hooked. Can you support a healthy practice by all following the same rule in your house (e.g. everyone’s phone is on Do Not Disturb by 9pm) and suggest other ways to wind down that aren’t digital (e.g. reading a book, listening to music, journalling).
4. Prioritise sleep
If you live with a young person, on the weekends and holidays, let them have a lie in!
Adolescent brains release melatonin later than adults, so it is normal for teens to want to go to bed a bit later, and need a bit longer in the mornings to get out of bed.
Tips for teachers
Build emotional literacy
If you have form time with a group or teach PSHE, it can be great to begin a class with a check-in, to help students practice identifying how they are feeling and communicating it to others.
You could ask them to reflect on this individually, share in pairs, or ask for volunteers to share with the group. You can use creative prompts like “what weather would you be today?” or “draw three emojis that reflect how you’ve been feeling this week”.
2. Understand the bigger picture
Discourse around mental health can centre a lot around people’s inner worlds, but it is important to recognise that contextual factors play a huge part. These might be things like worries about money, hunger, discrimination, etc.
Try to recognise when behaviours like low mood or anger, might be signifying a deeper need. In these cases it is important to look at how that young person might be able to access support for these contextual issues, rather than putting too much emphasis on the individual to make themselves feel better through wellbeing exercises.
Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health by Micha Frazer-Carroll is a great book to find out more about this.
3. Signpost to different types of support
There is a whole spectrum of support for young people that you can direct them to, so don’t wait until crisis point to refer someone to a helpline.
Students could make their own support maps (or ‘helping hands’ for younger groups). This might include suggestions like:
Talking to friends, family and key staff members at school.
Listening to podcasts like What Really Works, made specifically by and for young people.
Following affirming Instagram accounts like @gemmacorrell and @bethdrawsthings.
Trying out guided activities on apps like Calm and Headspace.
Chatlines and helplines like YoungMinds, Papyrus (for young people having thoughts of suicide) and ChildLine. And to make this feel less scary, you could show this video explaining what it might be like to call a ChildLine counsellor’s textline on 85258.
4. Book an SB workshop!
Finally - you can book Split Banana to come into your school to deliver our Mental Health workshop! This has been co-created with young people, developed with experts and tried and tested in schools.
The workshop can be adapted to any age from Year 7-13, as a class-size session or assembly. You can find more information about all of our workshops here.
Year 10 students who took part have said that it was:
“Informative”, “safe”, “reassuring”
“Very relaxed and comfortable” and that they “liked the openness”
It gave them “a different perspective compared to normal mental health sessions” and helped them to “overcome overwhelming feelings”
Thanks for reading. Comment below if you have any other ways to support young people’s mental health.
