A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
In a split second, her body would heat up. Her eyesight would start to go, leaving her with tunnel vision. And, if she wasn't careful, she would start to hyperventilate. As she sat in the classroom of her Taranaki high school, 17-year-old Nuutea Itchner's anxiety would render her mute and she would be unable to [...]
Too many people know the suffering of depression firsthand. Approximately one in five experience it at some stage in their life – the figure is even higher in areas afflicted by disaster, trauma or poverty. It would be a lucky person indeed who avoids seeing depression in either themselves or the people they love. So [...]
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 4.4 percent of the population of the United States will have bipolar disorder at one point in their lives. Another 16.2 million, or around 6.7 percent of all U.S. adults, will experience at least one episode of severe depression in their lives. While the precise causes [...]
It took government intervention for Netflix to warn Australian parents about "strong suicide themes" in the first season of 13 Reasons Why. The global streaming giant originally gave the confronting television series an MA15+ rating on the grounds it portrayed strong sex scenes and violence. However, the Classifications Board reviewed the decision and ruled 13 Reasons Why should [...]
The risks associated with social media are regularly reported in the media, and you may have experienced some of them already yourself or with your kids. A new study (Primack et al., 2018) adds important research to the discussion, finding that negative experiences on social media are significantly correlated with increased depressive feelings (a greater [...]
Early years settings, like preschools and kindergarten, are often the first place social difficulties are identified. Pixabay Alison M Marchbank, Charles Darwin University The rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in selected sites in 2016 signified a shift in cultural views about disability. Historical views were based on a medical model derived from [...]
My 13-year-old daughter literally cringes when I touch her. Any attempt at showing affection to my once cuddly and affectionate daughter is now met with resistance. You know, the I’m-a-teen-and-I’m-way-too-old-for-this attitude that consumes our children sometime between the ages of 11 and 16. When I fall victim to this melancholy temperament, I’m quickly driven into [...]
My 9-year-old son Ibrahim loves being home from school for the summer. For about five minutes. After that, the complaints and requests start. I know he’s not purposely trying to be a pest. He’s just giving me a kid-signal: spend time with me! “Can you make me a snack? What’s for lunch? Why can’t my [...]
A breakthrough treatment that genetically engineers patients' own blood cells into an army of assassins to destroy childhood leukemia has been approved by US officials, opening a new era in cancer care. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called the approval historic, the first gene therapy to hit the US market. Made from scratch for [...]
Although it's great to have a range of personality types and temperaments in a classroom, teachers and parents naturally worry if a child is always quiet. Here are some ways to help a shy child shine in the classroom. And many of these tips will work in other situations, as well. 1. Figure out what your shy students are interested in. You [...]
