Children’s Mental Health Week 2024
It’s children’s mental health week this week which is always a good opportunity to reflect on the progress of young people’s mental health. My reflections include an acknowledgement of how far we have come in raising awareness of mental health in young people and the increase in supportive resources, which is wonderful. It always restores my faith in humanity when I hear of the good work being done by individuals and groups and to hear of the positive impact that this has on young people (Side note please do take a minute or two to read our impact report!). However, I do feel there is more to be done to recognise the importance of adolescence and adjusting society to enable adolescents to thrive.
Our Four Corners Method focuses first on our physical self and the impact this has on our mental health. At its most basic level we look at how things like nutrition, sleep and exercise all have a role to play. We use a very simple mnemonic which has been used in many professions to minimise human error but also to maximise performance and that is HALT.
Hungry – have you noticed how when you are hungry it is difficult to concentrate on things as well and you are more easily frustrated?
Anger – when you feel that rage coming on it is difficult to think logically, and you are much more likely to react impulsively.
Late – running late is stressful and you are more likely to miss things or make a mistake as you try to cut corners.
Tired – remember nights when you’ve not slept well, and you feel a little out of it the next day? Lack of sleep has been shown to significantly slow reaction time.
The physiological changes in an adolescent make it much more likely that at least one of HALT is met on a regular basis. As the brain develops from the back to the front (it has been likened to a car with a Ferrari engine and a fiat break ) a teenager is more likely to: be impulsive, have mood swings, crave ultra processed food, be disorganised and have a disrupted sleep cycle so it can feel like they are permanently jetlagged during a school week. If someone is experiencing one of HALT on a regular basis this can have a ripple effect on the rest of their day/week and contribute to anxiety and feelings of overwhelm. I know as a society we are capable to making changes to adapt to different needs ( think of early childhood needs and recent changes to the workplace in recognition of the effect menopause can have on the body). It would be great to think we can, at some point in time, apply simple changes to society, for example adjusting the school day to start a little later, so young people are given the best opportunity to improve their emotional wellbeing. It is probably a way off but in the mean time GRIT will continue to do what we do with young people to give them the skills to thrive.
If someone is experiencing one aspect of HALT on a regular basis this can have a ripple effect on the rest of their day or week and contribute to anxiety and feelings of overwhelm. I know as a society we are capable of making changes to adapt to different needs (think of early childhood needs and recent changes to the workplace in recognition of the effect menopause can have on the female body). It would be great to think we can, at some point in time, apply simple changes to society, for example, such as adjusting the school day to start a little later enabling so young people to have the best opportunity to improve their emotional wellbeing. It is probably some way off for now, but in the meantime GRIT will continue support young people to give them the skills to thrive.
Dr Louise Randall