Stowupland High School Sixth Form near Stowmarket praises Suffolk Mind's wellbeing training during Children’s Mental Health Week, plus tips for parents of teenagers

A sixth form has praised wellbeing training delivered to students for free to mark Children’s Mental Health Week.

The mental health charity Suffolk Mind attended Stowupland High School’s Sixth Form, near Stowmarket, to provide 100 teenagers with tips and advice on understanding their emotional needs and how to meet them.

The charity delivered its Life Hacks for the Teenage Brain session to 100 students, which aims to teach young people how to manage their mental health and keep them on the wellbeing side of the mental health continuum.

Ashley Hailstone, Sixth Form director, said: “The session was incredibly informative to the students. We live in an increasingly stressful and difficult society, and our students’ mental health and wellbeing is extremely important to us.

“The more knowledge and support our students have so they can help to self-manage and seek support is incredibly useful, and the Suffolk Mind session and other activities we arrange as a Sixth Form is testament to that.”

Suffolk Mind also launched its range of emotional needs and resources cards, as well as a wellbeing guide, both aimed at young people, to a smaller group of students prior to the main session.

The sessions were delivered by Louise Harris, children, families and young people lead at Suffolk Mind.

She said: “It’s incredibly important we learn from a young age how to manage our mental health and meet our emotional needs.

“Teenagers’ brains experience significant changes as they grow older. And to ensure they are equipped to support their mental health into adulthood, awareness is key.

“These sessions are aimed at teaching young people to recognise the emotional needs they should meet to maintain positive wellbeing. By doing so, not only can they look after themselves, but they can also look out for their peers.”

Suffolk Mind says we should meet 12 physical and emotional needs to maintain positive mental health.

They are: sleep, movement, food and drink, security, control, attention, status, community, privacy, emotional connection, achievement, and meaning and purpose.

To mark Children’s Mental Health Week, Suffolk Mind has also shared seven tips for parents of teenagers:

• Build rapport – do things together such as cooking or joining in with their hobby or interest. Face-to- face is ideal, but working on something side-by-side can start the conversation.
• Encourage good sleep patterns – teens need 10-12 hours of sleep, compared to the eight hours required by adults;
• Give them space – respecting their private space can help them feel more comfortable and reduce arguments, even if that means putting up with an untidy bedroom!
• Have boundaries which grow with them – negotiating boundaries as they get older helps to stay in rapport, while meeting your own needs for control and security;
• Listen and be curious – it’s tempting to want to advise, guide or fix, but being curious and seeking to understand can help too;
• Allow space and pauses for conversation to happen – being there for them and giving them space to talk without looking you in the eye can help them open up, such as in the car;
• Pick your moment – recognise that teenagers’ need for status is connected to how they appear in front of their peers, so avoid trying to open up topics or connection when they are present.

More information about our emotional needs and other resources to support positive mental health can be found here on Suffolk Mind’s new website.