Islington Youth Health Forum ‘Emotional Health & Wellbeing

1. Islington Youth Health Forum‘Emotional Health & Wellbeing Nicola Baboneau, Independent Chair 23 January 2014

2. Health is not bought by thechemist’s pill Nor saved by the surgeon’s knife Health is not only the absence of ills But the fight for the fullness oflife Piet Hein, Danish scientist

3. Emotional learning, self image and self esteem • Emotional learning is a lifelong process that continually stimulates and mobilises our development • Self image and self esteem are crucial in all areas of our lives • We carry in our heads an idea of ‘who’ we are and how we appear to others. This view is subjective and may change each day, and whether positive or negative, will affect how we interact with the world.

4. National Youth Agency • Evidence is mounting that non-formal education can offer effective means of developing healthier, happier futures for young people, especially to those who suffer disadvantage • Fiona Blacke, Chief Executive says young people need youth workers now more than ever before to help them cope with the pressures of life.

5. All feelings have a purpose. If they are owned and understood, they can contribute to personal growth and development. If they are denied, repressed or acted out, they may lead to less meaningful or less authentic relationships, misunderstandings and disharmony. • There’s a need to build awareness of kinds of situations or circumstances that arouse difficult or uncomfortable feelings so that we can work with them and learn from these experiences • A positive sense of self can be cultivated through acknowledging our capacity for empathy, positive regard and compassion.

6. “Adolescence represents a unique period in the life cycle that brings special challenges and opportunities. No longer children and not yet adults, adolescents make significant choices about their health and develop attitudes and behaviours that continue into adulthood. In this period of exploration, adolescents also consciously start to make choices about their future and develop ideas about their role in society” Dr Aiden Macfarlane ‘Teenage Health Freak’ http://teenagehealthfreak.org

7. Making their way in the world • Young people do not conceptualise how they behave as ‘risk taking’ even if some of their activities do carry a‘health risk’ • What they are doing is exploring and experimenting with life so as to learn about the world and how to behave and survive in that world • Although life is difficult, with a foundation of values, life is also good

8. Resilience – a key concept • Resilience can only develop through exposure to risk or stress • Michael Rutter, first professor of Child Psychiatry in the UK calls this ‘exposure to steeling experiences’ • Exposure to risk & adversity is an important part of development

9. Research into risk and protective factors • This shows that young people who are willing to explore and experiment are more psychologically well balanced than those who show little willingness in these areas • This suggests that children with a resilient temperament, a sense of self-efficacyand a positive, outgoing disposition are protected against risk in otherwise adverse circumstances

10. Moderating the effects of exposure to risk • Protective factors help to explain why some young people exposed to clusters of risk factors do not grow up to behave antisocially, commit criminal offences or have mental health issues • Different protective factors may work in different ways: preventingrisk factors from ever occurring in a young person’s life; interacting with a risk factor to block its adverse effects or by interrupting the chain by which a risk factor influences behaviour.

11. Themes that recur in emotional health and well-being • Thinking about self and family • Understanding family relationships • Exploring the theme of friendship • Understanding the broad spectrum of emotions • Understanding anger and the feelings it covers up • Exploring feelings of shame • Self talk and how negative self talk can be changed • Thinking about learning and attitudes to learning • Thinking about relationships with food and eating patterns • Reflecting on sex, sexuality and relationships

12. Thinking about bullying – what is it telling us? • What does ‘masculinity’ mean to us? • What does ‘femininity; mean to us? • Exploring feelings around changes and transition • Exploring feelings around ‘sense of belonging’ / ’being excluded’ • Exploring attitudes to difference • Exploring self-esteem – what is failure? What is success? • Exploring personal values • Reflections on death and dying • Saying goodbye

13. Government's latest Mental Health Action Plan • Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister says it will take "some time" to sort out problems for young people trying to get help with their mental health. • He says there is “too much prejudice, too much discrimination” around mental health.” • He said it was "just plain wrong" to treat the illness as the "poor cousin" of physical health in the NHS. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/25805976

14. Talullah Wilson entered a world where the lines between fantasy and reality became blurred

15. Girlguiding Fifth Girls Attitude Survey • This provides a unique overview of the state of equality for girls in the UK today. It finds that girls live in a society in which sexual harassment is commonplace, girls’ appearance is intensely scrutinised and their abilities are undermined. It’s a society in which girls and young women feel they are judged by different standards to their male counterparts and in which they worry about gender discrimination affecting their future. • Despite the impact of these challenges seen on girls’ well-being, confidence and sometimes their aspirations, the report also finds a generation of girls and young women who are resilient, positive and highly ambitious, with hopes and aspirations for an equal, happy and rewarding future. www.girlsattitudes.girlguiding.org.uk/home.aspx

16. Samaritans & Young Minds • Compulsory "emotional health" lessons in schools could help to stop young people ending their lives, according to two leading mental health charities. • The Samaritans and YoungMinds both say anti-suicide classes should be a mandatory part of the curriculum. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/25759330

17. ‘Toxic climate’ of dieting, pornography and school stress’ – Young Minds • Mental health risk to children trapped in ‘toxic climate’ of dieting, pornography and school stress • Young people are living in an “unprecedented toxic climate” in which they skip meals to stay thin, are bombarded by pornographic images and fear they will be failures amid a “continuous onslaught of stress at school”, according to research published on 20 January

18. Young Minds VS Campaign launched 20 January 2014 • YoungMindscampaign calls for a mass movement of children and young people campaigning for’ better mental health online and in communities’ • This will focus on pressures caused by bullying, sex, exams, unemployment and access to counseling • The poll of 2,000 11- to 25-year-olds found one third of children and young people do not know where to turn to get help when they feel depressed or anxious while half of children and young people have been bullied. www.youngminds.org.uk/for_children_young_people