A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Mummy blogs and parenting forums have cornered the market on family advice, but research has found many people won't seek help because of a fear of judgement. The pressure to portray a perfect family image is blocking parents, especially low-income earners or those with health problems, from reaching out. Research from the Queensland Family and [...]
"Do you call that a haircut? I hope you didn't pay for it." "Oh please this is rubbish, you're a disgrace to yourself and your profession." These are just two examples of comments that have followed articles I have written in my career. While they may seem benign compared with the sort of violent and [...]
How concerned should people be about the psychological effects of screen time? Balancing technology use with other aspects of daily life seems reasonable, but there is a lot of conflicting advice about where that balance should be. Much of the discussion is framed around fighting “addiction” to technology. But to me, that resembles a moral [...]
Parents play a key role in helping children develop good mental health. It is important that parents support and encourage positive mental health habits in children from an early age, and continue encouraging positive mental health behaviours during adolescence. These positive habits will support young people’s health and wellbeing in all life domains into the [...]
Often the changes in your life come from your basic need requirements; you may need to change where you live, your job, and/or your life circumstances to ensure your continued survival. Those basic changes will inevitably necessitate many other changes in order to completely carry you into your new situation. On the other hand, the [...]
"Rani was a really beautiful soul who unfortunately just got caught up in some really bad situations." Those are the words of grieving mum Kerrie Stanley, and already you know how this story ends. It's a painful one. And familiar. As Rani entered her teenage years she became increasingly rebellious. She fell in with a [...]
“Are you sure you want to eat that?” For many teens, adolescence is a period marked by self-consciousness about body image, and it can be daunting for parents to find the right words to say when talking to teens about maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This is especially true in cases where kids are struggling with [...]
Many of us struggle to treat ourselves with kindness. For some reason we're often nicer to others than we are to ourselves. Good self-care isn't that different from effective parenting. As parents we want to balance clear expectations for our kids with an understanding that they're human and imperfect. In the same way, looking out for ourselves means holding ourselves to standards [...]
As the community in Santa Fe, Texas, continues to mourn the loss of 10 people killed during the country's latest mass shooting, one of the survivors says the issue has nothing to do with gun laws. A 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and pistol opened fire in a Texas high school on Friday, claiming the lives [...]
About six months ago, I was walking home from St Leonards train station in North Sydney along the Pacific Highway after a party and a car pulled up beside me. It followed me along the kerb, and a man leaned out the window and told me to get inside, first quite piningly and then very [...]
