A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
It is impossible to give you a definitive list of every app you need to be aware of as the list is seemingly endless. What is popular today, becomes oh so yesterday within the space of a month. Some apps are quite OK if used correctly but if used incorrectly cause harm. The best way [...]
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that are associated with significant physical complications. Eating disorders not only involve considerable psychological impairment and distress, but they are also associated with major wide-ranging and serious medical complications, which can affect every major organ in the body. Eating disorders occur in both men and women, young and old, [...]
One of the most moving experiences I have had as a speaker addressing young people around the country took place about a year ago when a Year 11 student in a WA secondary school stood to his feet during the discussion time following my talk on how our culture shaped boys views of themselves in negative ways. Visibly distressed, this young man recounted that his brother [...]
The contribution made by parents and grandparents to a child or teen’s success in school and in life is enormous. When teachers and families work together the results that kids achieve are amazing. Here are some of the main things we can all do to give children and teenagers a boost in school success. 1. Be [...]
Larissa Dann blog post May 2015Photo:Shutterstock Children and discipline - a perennial issue. Discipline (the verb) can mean either ‘to teach’, or ‘to control’ (Gordon, T. 1989). If we use discipline to control children, then we rely on reward and punishment to change a child’s behaviour. This article questions the use of one of the most commonly used discipline (punishment) techniques - time-out. Many schools, childcare centres and parents rely on time-out to discipline children. What is time-out? Time-out [...]
Be careful what you say around your children. Photo: Janie Barrett Lately, I've noticed kids of a certain age turning into mouthpieces of their parents. It's a sudden and dramatic change and it appears, at least to my eyes, to take place sometime between their ninth and 12th birthdays. One year, they're unique [...]
My mother didn’t do one part of parenting that well: she treated me as if I were too important for ‘real’ life. I never had to do any housework and she never brought me down a peg or two, which I sorely needed. She gave me the impression that jobs are something that shouldn’t concern [...]
Self-harming is when people cause themselves physical pain in the hope that it will alter their mood state. Some people harm themselves because they feel disconnected and isolated from everybody, and hurting themselves is the only way they feel real or connected. People who cut often start cutting in their young teens. If your teen is self-harming then you may [...]
In a time of unlimited opportunities more young people than ever have mental health issues. How can it be that the western world is more technologically advanced than ever and yet at the most basic level of supporting our young adults we are in major crisis? At the same time as we have the entire globe digitally connected [...]
Talking to your child about food can be daunting. Children are becoming more and more conscious of their bodies, people’s comments, and what and how they eat at an increasingly young age. They look to adult role models in their life to help them build a healthy relationship with food, but many of us, through [...]
