Enriching Education - Back-to-School Mental Health Help - Expert tips to ease transition

With a new school term about to commence after the summer break, mental health expert Noel McDermott looks at how to handle transition issues and offers ways to help prepare your child in advance.

 

Get ahead of the problem by preparing your child in advance:

• Normalise feelings - explain that it’s okay to feel a bit low about going back to school, it’s a normal reaction.

• Encourage behavioural interventions - If your child shows signs of the blues when school starts, go back to basics and re-teach good sleep hygiene and regular family meals to catch up on the day and discuss any worries they might have.

• Treat your children - especially when you think they deserve a lift or are low in mod, this will help them regulate their emotions. This can be as simple as movie nights cuddling up on the sofa as  family!

• Try to organise contact with classmates before school begins whether it be a playdate in the park of catching up online..

• Try to arrange a visit to school before it begins to reacquaint your child (we call this transition work)

• Get outside as a family - nature lifts our mood even if it’s a simple trip to your local park. Take a walk in a park or do a mindful meditation together. Both biophilia (an innate affinity between humans and the natural world) and mindfulness have been shown to lower stress while improving health and wellbeing. 

Noel comments: “It’s important as a family to learn key skills to manage change .Enhance the positive. We know from research that having a positive view of major changes ameliorates any negative consequences in poor behaviour, or relapses in unhelpful coping patterns for example. Take note of all the things your kids like about school and make a list. Start those conversations well before the change happens. Remind your kids of their friends, favourite teachers etc so they have something positive to focus on.”  

Signs of anxiety in children:

• Feeling of nervousness or being on edge e.g., sitting on the edge of your seat, nail biting

• Not being able to stop or control worrying, feeling like your head is spinning like a hamster on a wheel.

• Worrying about too many different things at once and not being able to control these feelings 

• Difficulties relaxing

• Being restless and unable to sit still, constant fidgeting. 

• Becoming easily annoyed or irritable

• Feeling afraid as if something awful is going to happen 

Sometimes the anxiety can seem significant but it can be difficult to know how seriously to take it. Here parents need to look at severity, longevity and impact on functioning. Severity is looking at a high rating you might give the symptoms, you know your child, are the symptoms super high this time? Longevity,  have these symptoms hung around for more than a few days?  In most cases  we look at two weeks and more being a trigger for concern. And finally functioning, how much are these symptoms interfering with your child’s life? Do they stop them seeing friends, going outside, engaging in family life? If your child is struggling in these areas it would be wise to seek a professional opinion.