As a result, it’s more important than ever that we thoroughly educate ourselves on mental health so that we can better understand why mental illnesses occur and how we can support someone, particularly a child, who is suffering with poor mental health and/or self-harm. 

In this article, we will explain what self-harm is and how it is characterised, explore a few reasons why a child may begin to self-harm, underline ways in which you can spot signs of self-harm in a child, and suggest tactics with which you may be able to support a child who is suffering. 

Self-Harm in Children and Young Adults

Self-harm, also sometimes known as self-injury, self-mutilation, or self-abuse, is the act of an individual deliberately damaging or hurting themselves/their body without the intention of suicide. 

There are many different ways to self-injury, but any way that someone intentionally hurts themselves, physically or emotionally, can be categorised as self-harm. Because of this, it is possible for someone, particularly children, to be self-harming without realising that that’s what they’re doing and without understanding the magnitude of their actions. Furthermore, self-harm is usually inflicted in secret due to fear of interference or judgement from other people.

Some of the most common forms of self-harm include:

• Cutting yourself, commonly on the arms, legs or stomach. 
• Burning.
• Scratching of the skin, usually to the point of drawing blood.
• Biting.
• Hair pulling.
• Head-banging.
• Drinking harmful substances, such as bleach or detergent.
• Deliberately putting yourself in dangerous situations.
• Punching yourself.
• Sticking things into the body.
• Scalding yourself with hot water.

The most common form of self-harm is cutting. Children will usually either inflict deep lacerations or form a series of smaller, shallower cuts in one area. This form of self-harm often causes visible scars or wounds, however these can be easily hid via clothing or jewellery, for example.

Want to test your current knowledge of child mental health? Take our Child Mental Health Quiz to help identify areas where you may benefit from more insight.

Why Do Children and Teens Self-Harm?

Young people self-harm for many different reasons, and the motive or rationale may not even be clear to the individual who is inflicting the self-harm. One uniting factor, however, is that people who self-harm are usually experiencing overwhelming levels of emotional pain, loneliness, or worthlessness. Self-harm can provide a short-lived sense of release from these difficult emotions. 

Below are a few common reasons for a child to inflict self-injury, although it’s important to be aware that these motives can encompass many smaller and more intricate components that lead to self-harm. 

To Cope With Difficult Feelings and Situations

Often, self-injury is used as a way to deal with something difficult that is happening or has happened in the past in the individual’s life. It can be a coping strategy for:

• Living with health problems, such as a disability or illness.
• Stressful or upsetting experiences, such as abuse, bereavement, a parent’s divorce or separation, relationship problems, or bullying.
• Attempting to relieve feelings of anger or aggression. 
• Changing emotional pain into physical pain.

If you think past or current abuse may be behind a child’s tendency to self-harm, you can learn more about this subject and get further advice on how to help in our articles on Signs of Abuse in Children and Understanding Why Children May Stay Quiet About Abuse.

To Punish Oneself

Another common reason for children to self-harm is due to a sense of self-loathing or to punish themselves for feelings or behaviour that they think needs retribution. This negative self image could be as a result of:

• Aspects of their identity that they’ve been led to believe are wrong or inferior, such as their race and ethnicity, religion or sexuality. Thus, self-harm can be directly linked to experiencing racism, homophobia or other forms of prejudice.
• Body-image concerns.
• Abuse or bullying, leading them to believe they’re not worthy of love or respect.
• Absent or preoccupied caregivers. 

Recent research suggests that 27% of young people with experience of bullying had self-harmed as a result. To get advice on how to support a child through bullying before it gets to this point, read our articles on Why is Cyberbullying Harmful and What Actions Can You Take and How to Deal With Bullying at School.

To Communicate Pain

Self-harm can be a way of expressing pain for children who don’t know how to verbalise it. Because of this, it’s often mistaken as attention-seeking behaviour, however this is a false myth, particularly as most people try to hide or disguise their self-harm from loved ones. 

For a child, it can be difficult to understand or describe difficult emotions they’re experiencing. Sometimes, they will turn to self-harm as an alternative way to communicate how they’re feeling.

To Gain a Sense of Control

Self-harm can often begin as a result of a child feeling a lack of control over their own life, their body, or their environment. Self-harm can be used as a way for a young person to counter this and take agency over their body, as the damage they’re inflicting on themself is something they feel control over. 

Self Harm and Mental Illness

Self-harming is not classed as a mental illness in itself, but is often linked with mental health disorders as some mental illnesses increase people’s susceptibility to self-harm. In fact, in one study 90% of participants who frequently self-harmed were found to have had history with a mental or behavioural disorder. 

Often, the symptoms of a mental health disorder include an over-intensity of emotion that is uncontrollable. This can be so unbearable for a sufferer that it feels intolerable, pushing them to seek some temporary release via self-harm. This is a vicious cycle, however, as self-injury often worsens a person’s mental condition by feeding into their insecurities, worries, pain, and fears.  

Some mental health disorders that can be commonly linked with self-harm, include:

• Bipolar Disorder.
• Borderline Personality Disorder.
• Depression.
• Anxiety.
• Substance Use.

Some children might try self-harm once, but not continue it as a coping strategy, whereas others may try it several times and then become reliant on it as they believe it makes them feel better, even if the relief is just momentary. 

Signs of Self Harm

As self-harm is usually a secretive act, it can be difficult to identify when a child is participating in this behaviour. Often self-harm will be accompanied by some form of physical or emotional change in a child, however, so there are certain signs to look out for which may indicate a young person is injuring themselves. 

The physical signs of self-harm can include any evidence of unexplained bodily injury, but most often cuts, bruises, burns, bite marks, or bald patches on their body. Some of the most common areas of the body that children choose to self-harm and where you may see physical evidence of this, are:

• Arms.
• Wrists.
• Thighs.
• Chest or stomach.
• Head.

Whilst these physical signs may not always be visible or can be well hidden, they will usually be accompanied by some kind of emotional change in the child. It’s important to note that these emotional signs can also be indicative of a range of other issues, but if you suspect a child may be self-harming then look out for the following behaviours:

• Always keeping themselves covered, for example wearing long sleeves or trousers even when it’s hot and refusing to participate in activities such as swimming which require more bodily visibility. 
• Finding bloodstained items or garments in amongst their belongings, for example clothing or tissues.
• Becoming withdrawn from friends or family and isolating themself more than usual. 
• Feeling depressed, angry, guilty, or anxious more than usual. These emotions may display themselves in intense and unprovoked outbursts. 
• Engaging in increasingly risky behaviour or putting themselves into dangerous situations. 
• Having low self-esteem, thinking they’re not good enough, or blaming themself for things that are beyond their control.

Signs of Self Harm for Teachers

Whilst any of the signs listed above can also be observed by school staff, there are also further signs that are more applicable to a school environment which you should be aware of and look out for in pupils you suspect may be self-harming. 

• Asking excessively to use items from the school/classroom first aid kit, such as plasters or bandages. This may indicate they’re wounding themself and don’t want to use medical equipment from home in case their parents notice and question it. 
• Using school stationary with sharp edges, such as a protractor or paper clip, to scratch at themselves. You may notice that such items are going missing from the classroom. 
• Asking questions about self-harm, trying to find information about it from the school library, or using school computers to make self-harm related searches. 
• Isolating themself from their school friends more than usual or refusing to participate in group activities/learning exercises. 
• An unexplained drop in grades and quality of work, or not turning in homework assignments. 
• Refusing to get changed for Physical Education class, as this would require exposing areas of their body that may be scarred or wounded. 

Teachers are well placed to monitor their students and, as they spend so much time with them, are likely to notice subtle changes in behaviour. Once you’ve identified any of the above warning signs in a pupil, you’re in a good position to intervene and offer support.

Want to Learn More?

Our Child Mental Health Training offers thorough insight into a number of common emotional, behavioural and hyperkinesis disorders to help you be confident and as prepared as possible to identify and support a child who may be struggling.

How to Help a Child Who Self Harms

Whilst caring for a child who is self-harming is an incredibly difficult experience and can feel helpless at times, it’s important that you don’t shy away from the situation or hope it will resolve itself with time. There are a number of things you can do to support a child experiencing self-harming tendencies, which will help aid their healing process.

Offer Emotional Support

It can be difficult to accept that your child, or a child you care for, is deliberately hurting themselves. It’s natural that you may feel upset or anxious by this, or even blame yourself for the situation. It’s vital that you don’t let your own feelings cloud your support, however. At this time, you need to be more open and caring than ever. To show that you’re there for the child, you could try:

• Letting them know you’re willing to listen whenever and however they choose to discuss their troubles, whether this is through a direct conversation, or perhaps written in some format such as a message. 
• Be open to whatever they’re willing to tell you without asking too many questions. Pushing a child to reveal why they have chosen to self-harm may make them feel judged or cause them to retreat further. 
• Ensure that they are aware of how much you love and care for them, and that you want to help them.
• Letting them know that experiencing difficult and turbulent emotions is natural and that it’s okay for them to be honest with you about what they’re going through. 

Focus On The Underlying Cause

Remember, a child doesn’t begin self-harming for no reason. Whilst it can be easy to focus wholly on the action of the self-harm, and try to prevent this, it’s more important to consider the underlying issues that are causing the self-harm. 

Hiding or removing items that a child is using to self-harm will not fix the issue, and can lead to them finding other ways to injure themself which could be more severe. Instead, you need to support the child to heal emotionally and mentally in order to really fix the issue. Once you know what’s causing them so much pain, you can consider ways to help them feel better. 

It may be wise to get professional guidance from a GP, NSPCC helpline staff, or the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) if you’re struggling to know how to best support a child with their emotions. 

Encourage Healthy Coping Mechanisms

A child may turn to self-harm as they don’t know of any other way to deal with or materialise their difficult feelings. Guiding them towards some more healthy coping strategies may help them to find another, more safe, way to provide comfort or release rather than self-injury. 

Some examples of healthy ways to cope with and release uncomfortable emotions, include:

• Painting, drawing, or scribbling to express how they feel and release pent up emotions.
• Holding an ice cube until it melts.
• Writing down their feelings, then destroying the paper by tearing it up or burning it.
• Listening to music, perhaps loudly. 
• Punching or screaming into a pillow. 
• Exercising.
• Taking a bath or shower. 
• Pushing against a sturdy wall or door frame as hard as they can. 
• Counting down from 500.
• Writing a pro and con list for self-harming. 

There are many more alternatives for self-harm like those above available on the childline website. 

Build Up Self-Confidence 

A common factor contributing towards a child self-harming is low self-esteem or confidence. This is something that you and others around the child can really help to counteract with positive affirmations and praise, such as:

• Frequently reminding them about all the things they do well.
• Learning something new together.
• Letting your child know that you’re proud of them and why. This could be communicated verbally or via a written list. Try to focus on things that are innate to them, such as their personality, rather than external achievements such as academics or sport. 
• Ensure that you’re being a good role-model by only speaking kindly about yourself and modelling self-love. 

Self-harm in children is a complicated and understandably distressing subject, but as with other mental health issues it’s essential to increase our knowledge and understanding of it so that we can best support those who are suffering. Although the reasons for self-harming can be nuanced, it is often related to intense negative emotions that a child is struggling to cope with. There are many ways to support a child who is self-harming and help them to deal with their feelings in a healthier and more long-lasting way. 

Further Resources:

• Child Mental Health Quiz
• Signs of Abuse in Children
• Understanding Why Children May Stay Quiet About Abuse
• Why is Cyberbullying Harmful and What Actions Can You Take?
• How to Deal With Bullying at School
• How to Help a Child with Depression

The post Understanding Self-Harm in Childhood appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we’ll look at what to do about burnout at work. We’ll highlight some common causes of burnout, signs of burnout at work to look out for and give you some guidance on how to deal with the feelings of burnout in the workplace and at home.

What is Burnout at Work?

Burnout at work is a state of being persistently mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted caused by being constantly stressed in the workplace. Burnout is a type of stress but is very different from it – stress is often a short-term response to feeling overwhelmed, whereas burnout is long-lasting and likely to lead to further health problems.

Burnout isn’t a medical diagnosis but it is recognised by the World Health Organization as an occupational ‘syndrome’ because of the mental and physical ill-health it causes. In the worst cases, and if left unmanaged, burnout at work can lead to depression and other serious mental health issues.

Whilst burnout is commonly associated with high-pressure, high-stakes job roles, burnout can affect anyone in any role. It can impact those of us working from home just as much as people in fast-paced workplaces and, although work-related issues are often the cause, burnout can be exacerbated by problems or demands at home, such as relationship trouble, caring responsibilities or chronic illness.

Causes of Burnout at Work

There are many different causes of burnout at work and they don’t all originate in the workplace: it’s the combination of work pressures, problems at home, the cost-of-living crisis, constant troubles in the news and other life stresses that eventually lead us to the feeling of burnout.

Workplace pressures and problems are often the biggest contributor towards burnout, however. Below are 10 examples of causes of burnout at work:

1. Not having any say about your workload, projects, deadlines or schedule.
2. Not having the resources you need to do your job effectively or safely.
3. A constant, heavy workload that doesn’t seem to let up.
4. Lack of clarity about what you’re supposed to be doing.
5. Feeling like you’re not hitting targets or not doing a good job.
6. Being bored at work.
7. Feeling alone, isolated or as if there’s no one to help you.
8. Long working hours.
9. An unhealthy work-life balance.
10. Workplace conflicts, violence, harassment or bullying.

Want to Learn More?

Burnout at work can exacerbate existing mental health conditions or cause the development of new ones, particularly depression and anxiety. Our range of Mental Health Online Courses, including Mental Health Awareness and Resilience Training, will help you understand more about how to improve your mental health in the workplace and identify the causes.

Signs of Burnout at Work

Whether burnout is caused by work problems, stresses at home or a combination of the two, burnout will have a significant impact on your health and wellbeing in all situations. Burnout can have serious consequences for your mental health and physical health if it’s not identified early and managed appropriately.

The signs of burnout at work often fall into three categories: physical, emotional and behavioural. You’re likely to experience symptoms of burnout from all three categories.

How to Deal with Burnout at Work

If you’re struggling with burnout at work then it’s best to deal with it as soon as possible. If burnout is left ignored, unidentified or unmanaged, it can lead to more serious health issues. Dealing with burnout can seem overwhelming in itself, and can add to the pressure you’re feeling, so it’s important to start small. Doing just one action to reduce burnout will make a difference to how you feel.

To deal with burnout at work, try the following tips:

Understand how to beat burnout without quitting your job

Whilst looking for another job might be your first thought, try to see whether you can ‘salvage’ anything from your current role. Do you still like the company? Can you see yourself feeling motivated again in the future if things change? Is there a different role within the company that would suit you better? Think about the things you do like about your role and start there.

All workplaces have a duty of care towards their workers and should prioritise your health and wellbeing, so ensure you take advantage of the support they offer – your employer won’t want to lose you, after all. Support might include reasonable adjustments, time off, an Employee Assistance Programme or a chat with HR about available options and changes.

Talk to your boss about burnout

If you’re struggling with burnout at work, then book in a one-to-one meeting with your line manager to talk about how you feel. Be honest with them about the symptoms you’re experiencing and the likely causes of them so they can help you put steps in place to move forward. If you don’t feel like you can talk to your line manager, approach a member of HR or another senior manager to discuss your next steps. Our article on Talking About Mental Health is a great place to start.

Invest in your time management skills

Poor time management can lead you feeling flustered and stressed, making decisions difficult and lowering your productivity. Instead, structure your day using a calendar and ensure you have plenty of time for each task. Remember to include, start and finish times as well as breaks and lunches. Our online Time Management Training Course will give you lots of tips, ideas and resources for how to improve your time management skills, or take a look at our article that includes a free template for a Working From Home Schedule.

Set boundaries at work and stop checking your work email at home

Having a clear work-life boundary is important, so avoid working out-of-hours, working extra hours if you don’t need to or checking your work computer when you’re supposed to have logged off. Remote working makes it harder to separate work life from home life, so make an effort to ensure they’re kept apart and you have clear boundaries about when you do and don’t work.

Seek support from others

Whether it’s your colleagues, friends or family, talking to other people about burnout can help you feel less alone and help to put your problems into perspective. Don’t suffer in silence or think that other people won’t care – that’s never the case. If you work from home, remember to check-in with your colleagues through regular audio or video calls to minimise feelings of isolation and to improve everyone’s wellbeing.

Use your annual leave

Often, when you’re feeling overwhelmed with work, the last thing you want to do is take time off and let the tasks pile up even further. However, taking a break at these moments is usually the best thing to do for physical and mental rest. Taking your allowed holiday, whether it’s a day or a week at a time, will help to refresh your mind, improve your concentration and avoid burnout from developing further.

Try a relaxing activity or hobby

Relieve the symptoms of stress on a weekend, evening or lunch break. It could be something simple like colouring, painting, reading, knitting or playing an instrument. Switching off from work to focus on something else – even just for five minutes – will distract your mind and allow you to channel your frustrations into something productive. Our article on Stress Management Activities to Try at Home will give you some further inspiration.

Use physical activity to improve mental wellbeing

Exercise for burnout, as regular physical activity, whether it’s walking, running, yoga, cardio, stretches or dancing, is great for managing the symptoms of stress. Both gentle and more vigorous exercise helps to release feel-good hormones, improves your ability to sleep, enhances concentration and reduces feelings of anxiety. The type of exercise you do for burnout doesn’t matter, just get moving. Take a look at our article on The Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health to learn more.

Get some sleep or mindful rest each day

If you’re experiencing burnout, then sleep can sometimes be hard to come by and you may even suffer from insomnia. In these cases, focus on rest instead of sleep by practising mindfulness, taking a bath, reading a book or doing another activity that enables you to stay still and rest your body. Have a look at the Benefits of Reading on Mental Health or How to Manage Stress Dreams.

Try to improve your daily habits

Remember to drink enough water, avoid or reduce caffeine and alcohol, avoid or reduce smoking and improve your diet. Often when we feel stressed, it’s our daily routines and good habits that go out the window and we start to eat unhealthily, drink more or take up smoking in order to cope and feel better. Unfortunately, these bad habits are likely to make you feel even worse in the long run, so are best avoided. Our articles on What is Caffeine? and the Link Between Food and Mental Health will give you more insight.

Burnout at work is a situation that no one wants to be in, as it can cause you to feel helpless and worthless, as well as exhausted, poorly, frustrated and irritable. If you’re struggling with burnout at work, then be sure to speak to your line manager about changes that can be made and look to make small tweaks to your lifestyle in order to improve your mood, your wellbeing and your work-life balance.

Further Resources:

• Mental Health Courses
• What To Do If You Suspect Mental Health Discrimination at Work
• How to Promote Positive Mental Health in the Workplace

The post What to Do About Burnout at Work appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

Although young people have been instrumental in the recent rise in opening important conversations around mental health, helping to reduce the stigma surrounding it, it can still be confusing for a child to identify when they’re struggling with their own mental health and difficult for them to open up about this. Thus, it’s vital that adults have the knowledge and understanding to look out for young people’s wellbeing and offer the right support. 

In this article, we will explain what depression is in children, what can cause this mental health disorder, outline some of the signs of depression in children, and offer advice on how to help children who may be suffering from depression. 

What is Depression in Children?

Depression in children is a mental health and mood disorder that leads to feelings of sadness, irritability, or hopelessness that may be intense or prolonged, can interfere with everyday activities and reduce quality of life. 

Every child has emotional ups and downs, as we all do, but this is normal. There is usually a reason for these mood swings and they are only experienced temporarily before the child begins to feel better again. 

Depression in children is different to this. It creates an abnormal pattern of emotion whereby a young person may experience lingering feelings of sadness and hopelessness that prevents them from finding interest or pleasure in things they usually enjoy, can disrupt daily activities such as sleeping or eating, may hinder their relationships, and can even cause suicidal thoughts. 

It’s important to note that depression in children can differ to that in adults. Whereas adults typically associate depression with low mood and a loss of energy, children often display symptoms more in outbursts of anger or irritability. Furthermore, although adult depression frequently causes a withdrawal from all relationships, children experiencing depression have sometimes been known to isolate themselves from adults whilst maintaining contact with close friends. As a result, child depression can unfortunately often be dismissed as teenage ‘moodiness’ and therefore not identified or acted upon soon enough. 

To learn more about depression, along with various other common mental health disorders, read our article on What are the Different Types of Mental Health?

Causes of Childhood Depression

The cause of depression in a child can be very difficult to identify as, whilst the condition can be triggered by one particular source (such as a difficult event) it can also be developed as a result of a mixture of factors or simply due to a genetic disposition. Thus, unfortunately there is often no clear ‘cause’ of depression in children. 

Having said this, one or more of the following factors can increase the risk of childhood depression:

• Genetics and family history – Children with close relatives who have experienced depression or other mental health disorders are more likely to develop the condition themself.
• Physical illness or injury.
• Stressful or adverse life events – Such as a parent’s separation/divorce or a bereavement.
• Substance use.
• Bullying or exposure to other traumatic experiences or abuse. 
• Problems with friends.
• Struggling with identity – Such as sexuality or gender. 
• Puberty.

As mentioned, any combination of these factors can increase the risk of a child developing depression, but equally there may not be an identifiable source. Sometimes childhood depression can occur as a result of seemingly random chemical imbalances or disturbances, so searching for a clear cause isn’t always helpful. 

Most importantly, it’s critical that signs of depression in a child aren’t ignored or dismissed if there’s no identifiable origin of the issue. A child who appears to have an ideal life and upbringing can just as easily develop depression as someone with known childhood difficulties. 

What are the Signs of Depression in Children?

Childhood depression doesn’t always have one set of symptoms as it can present itself differently in each child. As a result, depression in children can frequently go undiagnosed and untreated as it’s hard to identify and is often passed off as standard emotional or psychological change that occurs during growth. 

There are a number of signs of childhood depression to look out for, however, as these symptoms are commonly displayed by a child experiencing this mental health condition: 

• Changes in appetite – This can include either an increase or decrease in appetite. 
• Changes in sleep – Childhood depression can cause sleeplessness or, conversely, excessive sleep.
• Continuous feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
• Increased irritability. 
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Experiencing feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem – You may hear a child speaking negatively of themself more frequently if they are struggling with depression. 
• Increased sensitivity, perhaps to rejection.
• Loss of interest in hobbies or passions. 
• Complaining of physical pain, such as headaches or stomach aches, that don’t respond to medication.
• Reduced sociability and withdrawal from relationships.
• Thought of self-harm or suicide.
• Crying or emotional outbursts. 
• A general change in their demeanour or mood that is intense and prolonged. 

As mentioned, every child will experience depression in varying ways. Thus, children may display differing symptoms at different times and in different settings. Whilst some children with depression are able to continue to function well in structured environments, others will display a more noticeable change. 

For teachers and safeguarders, there are a number of school specific signs of childhood depression in addition to those above that it is worth looking out for. These include:

• A reduced effort in school work and assignments.
• Having trouble concentrating in the classroom.
• Failure to turn in homework.
• Receiving lower grades than previously. 
• Withdrawing from school friends or classroom activities. 
• Missing school days or becoming frequently late.

Unfortunately, despite improvements in recent years, there still remains some stigma around mental health disorders which can result in myths surrounding mental health disorders being commonly mistaken as fact. To supplement the information above, and ensure you’re ideas surrounding depression are correct, read our article on Mental Health Myths vs Facts: What are the Realities?

Helping Children with Depression

Treatment of depression in children is similar to that of adults. It usually includes psychotherapy (most often counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and sometimes medication, such as antidepressants, if the symptoms are severe and don’t appear to improve with therapy alone. 

Whilst these are the medical treatments that a child experiencing depression may undertake, there are also many ways in which you as a parent, teacher or someone responsible for safeguarding can help to support a child who is struggling with depression. 

Want to Learn More?

Our Child Mental Health Training provides a more in depth and detailed understanding of child mental health. It explains some of the most common mental health disorders, how you can identify these, and ensures you are confident in your ability to support any child who may need it.

Supporting a child with depression can be difficult as often adults feel that a child’s struggles with mental health is their fault or they want to know exactly what’s brought it on. Whilst this is understandable, it’s most important to be there to support and reassure the child in an unconditional and non-judgemental way. 

Talk to Children About Mental Health

Suffering with mental health as a child can be extremely confusing as they may not fully understand what’s happening to them, why they feel the way they do, and what has brought about the change. Thus, having open conversations about mental health and various forms of mental health disorders can help to provide some clarity and reassurance to a child. 

Additionally, giving young people opportunities to open up is one of the most important things an adult can do to help support their wellbeing. Even if you can’t necessarily fix a child’s struggles with mental health, you can help them to feel heard and understood which is often valuable in itself in helping them to cope.  

How to explain mental health to a child and how to talk about depression

Although it’s extremely beneficial, talking to children about mental health isn’t always easy. You may not know how to bring up such a topic, when the best time to do so is, and may be afraid of making things worse or saying the wrong thing. 

It’s important to remember that children don’t always need you to get it perfectly right, it’s just important that they know that you’re there for them. 

It is often easier to talk while doing an activity, as this can give something else to focus on in addition to the conversation and thus takes some of the pressure off and can help it to feel more natural. 

Furthermore, it can be helpful to start the conversation indirectly by introducing the topic of feelings in a more subtle way than diving straight into mental health as a concept. Perhaps start by asking a child what the best and worst parts of their day were, what challenges they’ve faced recently, or how they’ve been feeling in general. 

Finally, if a child is struggling with their mental health, it can be useful for you to find out directly from them how they’d like to be supported rather than just assuming ways you can help. Try asking gentle questions such as those below:

• How can I support you through this?
• Do you want to talk about how you’ve been feeling?
• Is there anything you need or would like from me?
• What was the biggest problem you faced today and what would help you face it? 

Spend Quality Time with the Child

Depression can be an extremely lonely condition, so it’s more vital than ever that you remain fully present for the child. Despite one common symptom of childhood depression being withdrawal from relationships or increased isolation, it’s essential that a child with depression remains aware that they have a strong support system around them. Thus, ensure you’re taking an active interest in the child’s life, asking them questions and suggesting doing activities together that they may enjoy. 

Create a Positive and Safe Environment

Nurturing an environment of positivity, warmth and safety, whether that’s at home, school or elsewhere, can go a long way to helping a child suffering with depression to feel more relaxed and supported. To create this environment, ensure you’re vocalising your love and support frequently, have the child’s favourite things around them, and minimise any external disturbances or stressful surroundings that could disrupt the child’s emotions further. 

Encourage Healthy Habits

Many of the symptoms of depression include a disruption to everyday activities such as sleeping and eating. A child with depression is likely to experience an increase or decrease in appetite, restlessness, or insomnia. It is a well known fact, however, that maintaining healthy daily habits goes a long way to supporting good mental wellbeing as well as physical health. Thus, it’s in a child’s best interest to try and stick to regular eating and sleeping habits as well as staying active. 

As a parent, teacher or safeguarder, you can support a child with depression by monitoring any changes in their everyday activities and trying to keep them on course, for example by providing regular, nutritious and tasty meals for them or suggesting you participate in energising activities together. 

To learn more about the benefits of staying active on mental health, read our article on The Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health.

Look After Yourself

Being a witness to childhood depression, especially if it’s in a child you’re close to or responsible for, can be distressing and helping them can become an all-encompassing factor in your life. Whilst it’s important to support a child with depression in any way you can, it’s also vital to remember that if you’re sacrificing your mental or physical health, you won’t be able to provide the best support. As a result, it’s essential that you continue to prioritise your own wellbeing in addition to that of the child. This will also make it easier to maintain a positive and safe environment for the child, as mentioned above. 

Childhood depression is a complex mental health disorder that manifests differently for each individual, and can therefore be difficult to identify and treat. Because of its intricate nature, it can be extremely confusing and distressing for a child to experience depression, and the consequences of this illness can be severe. Thus, it’s vital that adults are aware of the signs and understand ways to support children suffering with this condition. 

Further Resources:

• How to Support Children with Attachment Disorder
• How to Teach Children About Healthy Relationships
• What are the Different Types of Mental Health?
• Mental Health Myths vs Facts: What are the Realities?
• Child Mental Health Training

The post How to Help a Child with Depression appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

The impacts of bullying can be severe, and are highly likely to affect a child’s ability to attend school and engage in learning. This is evidenced by statistics, with 21% of children who had experienced bullying daily having truancy in the last year. Because of this, bullying is not something we should accept as a nearly inevitable, if unfortunate, childhood experience. Instead, it’s important to know how to spot the signs of bullying and understand how to help a child who may be experiencing this.

In this article, we will explain what bullying is in school, how to spot the signs of bullying amongst young people, and provide our expert tips on how to prevent bullying in schools as well as how to deal with bullying if it is occurring. 

What is Bullying in School?

Whilst there is no legal definition of bullying, it is often described as repeated behaviour that is intended to hurt someone either physically or emotionally. Whilst bullying can be targeted at random, it is often aimed at certain groups, such as a specific race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Often, bullying is said to involve an imbalance of power, and it can happen either face-to-face or online. 

Furthermore, bullying can be performed by either an individual or a group, and can also be targeted at an individual or group as well. 

Why do students bully others?

Bullying in school most often involves child-on-child abuse, where one pupil is bullying another. There are a myriad of reasons why this might occur, but some of the most common reasons why children may bully can be found below:

• Wanting to dominate others or improve their ‘social status’.
• Experiencing low self esteem and wanting to feel better about themselves.
• Having little or no remorse or failing to recognise the impacts of their behaviour.
• Feeling angry, frustrated, or jealous.
• Being the victim of bullying themself and wanting to ‘flip the script’.

Types of Bullying at School

Whilst physical bullying is the most obvious form, bullying does not need to be physical in order to be aggressive and hurtful. Any behaviour that aims to offend, degrade, or damage someone counts as bullying. However, as bullying can take so many forms, it can sometimes be difficult to identify.

The most common forms of bullying to watch out for include:

Physical Bullying

This type of bullying at school aims to cause harm to another child’s body or property. It can involve kicking, hitting, stealing, spitting, and damaging property. Whilst this form of bullying can cause physical wounds, it can be psychologically damaging as well.

Verbal Bullying

Verbal bullying specifically uses words to try and hurt another child. Whether this is in the form of name-calling, mocking, slurs, threatening someone, or sexual harassment, the impact of words on someone’s wellbeing should not be underestimated. 

Social Bullying

One of the more difficult types of bullying to identify, social bullying is the act of isolating someone, excluding them from friendship groups, ignoring them and getting others to ignore them too, spreading vicious rumours and gossip, and generally damaging reputations and friendships. 

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the easiest form of bullying to do anonymously, as it all takes place via the internet where identities can be easily hidden. Cyberbullying takes place via text, email, or social media, where these online tools are used to threaten, harass, embarrass or socially exclude another individual. 

Learn more about this form of bullying in our article on Why is Cyberbullying Harmful and What Actions Can You Take?

Racial or Religious Bullying

This form of bullying involves treating someone badly due to their ethnic or religious background. This may include making damaging comments about this part of another child’s identity, using offensive slurs, or making inappropriate jokes based on race or religion. 

Sexual Bullying

Sexual bullying can involve either isolating someone or treating them unequally due to their sex, or treating someone in a sexual way that makes them feel uncomfortable, particularly by making physical or verbal sexual advances. This form of bullying may also include making crude comments about someone’s sexual behaviour, spreading a sexual rumour, or abusing someone as a result of their sexual orientation. 

Sexual bullying may also include sextortion, a type of financially-motivated online blackmail involving the non-consensual sharing of ‘nudes’ or ‘semi-nude’ photos and videos in exchange for money. To learn more, read our full article on What You Need to Know About Sextortion.

Disability Bullying

Unfortunately, children can sometimes be targeted because of their disabilities. A bully may treat someone badly, leave them out of activities or friendship groups, make cruel jokes or physically hurt or embarrass someone due to their disability. 

Allergy Bullying

Allergy bullying occurs when a child with an allergy is bullied because they have an allergy to something. As many as 32% of children have reported being bullied due to having a food allergy at least once. This can range from mean comments and teasing, to an allergic child being physically threatened with or tricked into handling or eating their allergen.

Find out more about what this form of bullying involves and how you can prevent it in our article on How to Spot Allergy Bullying.

Signs of Bullying at School

Children may find talking to adults about bullying difficult, so it’s important that teachers and parents are able to spot the signs of bullying themselves and know when to step in. Whether that’s spotting that a child is being victimised, or that they’re using power aggressively, being able to identify both sides of bullying is crucial to dealing with it. 

Signs That a Child is Being Bullied

• Afraid to go to school.
• Appears anxious or fearful.
• Low self-esteem.
• Complaints of feeling unwell (e.g. stomach sickness or headaches). 
• Lower performance in school.
• ‘Losing’ their possessions, needing extra money, or reports being hungry more often than normal. 
• Injuries, bruising, or damaged clothing. 
• Seems unhappy or irritable.
• Trouble sleeping or frequent nightmares.
• Isolating themselves from friends and family.

Signs That a Child May be Bullying Others

• Aggressive behaviour towards parents, teachers, siblings or pets.
• Lack of empathy and low concern for others feelings.
• Bossy and manipulative behaviour.
• Unexplained gain in objects or money.
• Secretive about possessions or activities.
• Easily frustrated and quick to anger.
• Doesn’t recognise the impact of their actions.

Want to Learn More?

Our CPD Courses for Teaching and Education are written by industry professionals and cover a wide range of subjects relevant to bullying, such as Child Mental Health and Challenging Behaviour Training.

How to Prevent Bullying in Schools

Considering the staggering number of students reported to be being bullied at any one time, it’s vital that schools take proactive steps to prevent bullying from occurring in their classrooms. The first step in preventing bullying is to clearly define what your school considers to be ‘bullying’ so that it’s completely clear to both students and staff what types of behaviour won’t be tolerated. 

Once you have clearly outlined your definition of bullying in school, you can use the following strategies to try and prevent it.

Teach Kindness and Empathy

Students who are open minded and able to step into other people’s shoes to see things from their perspective are less likely to bully. Thus, it’s important to promote social-emotional learning from a young age to try and instil these positive sentiments into students. One of the main ways in which a teacher can do this is to help children understand and appreciate a range of identities and backgrounds. Empathy is a skill that can be learnt and developed, and the classroom is the perfect place to facilitate this. This can occur in lessons, through dedicated events, or via assemblies.

Foster a Sense of Community

Bullying often feeds off of, or creates, a sense of isolation for individuals or groups, so countering this by creating numerous opportunities for connection can go a long way to preventing bullying. In a classroom with a strong sense of community, students are more likely to advocate for themselves as well as other students, by speaking out against bullying and supporting anyone going through hardship. To help foster this community, encourage students to participate in group activities, particularly extra-curricular ones, and ensure the classroom feels like a safe space. 

Create a Behaviour Management Policy 

A lack of consistency in how you approach bad behaviour can create real difficulties in handling it as students may think they can get away with poor actions if consequences aren’t always enforced. A solution to this is to have an effective, comprehensive behaviour management policy that is always followed. A school behaviour management policy is a document that clearly outlines what is expected of students and how school staff should handle behavioural incidents, including what rewards and consequences will be used to enforce this. 

You can learn more about what a behavioural management policy is, as well as what should be included, in our article on Creating a School Behaviour Management Policy.

Ensure Students Know About Healthy Relationships

Children who aren’t able to recognise when they’re being taken advantage of or abused are far more likely to fall victim to bullying, so it’s vital that your students understand what a healthy or unhealthy relationship looks like, can recognise warning signs, and know how to enforce personal boundaries. Teaching healthy relationship skills could involve talking about boundaries, learning to communicate effectively, debunking stereotypes, and ensuring they know how to report any concerns.

You can get a more in depth insight into this topic by reading our full article on How to Teach Children About Healthy Relationships.

Reward Positive Behaviour

It’s easy to point out when a student does something bad, but reinforcing good behaviour despite it being expected can make a huge impact on children. Rewarding a child for doing something praiseworthy, even if it’s a small act, helps to provide clear expectations of what you want from students in a positive way. Reinforcing good behaviour can help to reduce bullying by helping students to become more receptive to positive actions and less likely to engage in negative ones. 

Tips for Dealing With Bullying

Although there are many actions you can take to help prevent bullying in your school, this doesn’t mean that bullying will never occur. Thus, it’s important to always keep an eye out for signs of bullying in school and be ready to take action when necessary. 

If an incidence of bullying does occur in your classroom, you can use the following tips to help deal with the situation kindly and effectively. 

Take the Incident Seriously

It can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between bullying behaviour and everyday fall-outs between children. Despite this, it’s important to take every report of bullying seriously so that nothing slips through the net, and so that students always feel confident that they can confide in you and be heard. This is where having a clear definition of bullying comes in handy, so that you can identify the right actions to take in response to the scenario.

Keep a Record of Actions and Incidences

It’s strongly recommended that schools have a reporting system in place that can efficiently record every incident of bullying behaviour and what was done to resolve this. This helps to keep track of any repeated incidents so that it’s easier to know when further action is needed and ensures that you can correctly communicate everything that has occurred to a parent or your superiors. 

Supporting All Students Involved in Bullying

Once you’ve identified an incidence of bullying, you should aim to work with both the victim and the bully to really understand why the situation has occurred and what the needs of each student involved are. Whilst it’s crucial to safeguard the victim of bullying, you should also aim to change the behaviour of the aggressor too, which takes an understanding of their motivation. 

Unfortunately, children don’t always want to willingly talk about their feelings or concerns. This can be for many reasons, such as not understanding what’s happening, feeling guilty or embarrassed, worrying they won’t be believed, or being afraid of the consequences of speaking up. Thus, it’s important that you create a safe space to share and are willing to act on observed evidence if needed. 

To learn more about why children may be reluctant to speak about their experience with bullying, read our article on Understanding Why Children May Stay Quiet About Abuse.

Communicate With a Child’s Parents/Caregivers

A parent will know and understand their child better than anyone, so can be extremely helpful in helping you to understand the cause, impact, and potential solutions for an incident of bullying. Keeping a regular and open line of communication with parents of any children involved in bullying is likely to result in resolving the situation far quicker and more effectively. Ensure you keep them up to date with all your records so that they’re fully informed and can also share any of their observances with you. With both parties fully aware of what’s happening, you can aim to provide the correct support both at home and in school. 

Communicating with Parents

If you’d like to find guidance on how schools can communicate with parents more effectively, take a look at our article on Promoting Effective Communication with Parents in Education.

Unfortunately, bullying is a common occurrence in schools but this doesn’t mean it should be accepted. It’s vital that all school staff are aware of the signs of bullying and know how to respond to it. There are many forms of bullying, some of which are easier to identify than others, so it’s important to research every variety and know how they differ. Ultimately, schools should work to prevent bullying before it occurs, but it’s also recommended to have tools in place to effectively react to cases of bullying when they do occur.

Further Resources:

• Why is Cyberbullying Harmful and What Actions Can You Take?
• How to Teach Children About Healthy Relationships
• CPD Courses for Teaching and Education

The post How to Deal With Bullying at School appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

Although school refusal is often dismissed as a child’s stubbornness, it is commonly linked to anxiety and can be a sign of a far more serious underlying problem. Thus, it is well worth parents and teachers learning more about this condition and how to take action if a child displays continuous symptoms of school refusal. 

In this article, we will explain what school refusal is as well as how it links to school anxiety, outline the possible causes of school refusal, give advice on how to spot signs of school anxiety in children, and discuss how to help a child with school anxiety or refusal. 

What is School Refusal?

School refusal is when a child displays intense anxiety at the prospect of going to school and therefore regularly refuses to attend or has problems with staying at school once there. It is also often called school avoidance or school phobia and can range from attending school with morning resistance to being completely absent from school for extended periods.

School refusal was, in the past, often considered to be synonymous with truancy. It is important to state that school refusal is not the same as choosing to skip school due to the allure of having more fun elsewhere. Rather, it is caused by an aversion to school itself. To avoid the implication that a child is making a choice, school refusal is sometimes now referred to as emotionally-based school avoidance (ESBA). 

How Does School Refusal Link to School Anxiety?

School refusal is often directly linked to anxiety, as anxiety is frequently the underlying cause of a child refusing to attend school. In these cases, the refusal is created by a building increase in anxiety that accumulates in a child feeling such an intense fear or phobia of attending school that they no longer feel able to.

School Refusal and SEN

School refusal is often more common in children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). This is because these children may experience a higher level of daily anxiety due to factors related to their educational needs, such as social or environmental issues, sensory requirements, or learning barriers. 

It is well known that children with SEN sometimes mask their individual needs in the classroom, which can cause additional stress as they’re essentially hiding pieces of themselves. If a child feels they’re no longer able to maintain their masking at school, this could lead to anxiety and a sudden change in attendance culminating in school refusal. 

Discover more about what masking is and learn strategies to support children who may be experiencing this in our article on What is Autistic Masking.

Want to Learn More About SEN?

If you are looking to learn more about best practice for supporting children in each of the four areas of need, and what Universal Provision (including high-quality teaching) should look like, take a look at our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in the Classroom Training Course.

School Refusal Causes

School refusal is completely normal for children first attending school as this is a new experience where everything is unknown, and thus some anxiety is to be expected. This reluctance is age-appropriate and often resolves independently and quickly.

In older children, however, school refusal can be derived from a fear of something specific occurring at school which causes the anxiety about attending. Some of these anxiety inducing causes of school refusal may be:

Bullying

Six out of ten children who struggle with school refusal have experienced bullying at school. Bullying can take many different forms, such as physical, cyber, or verbal, and is one of the principal causes of school refusal in children of all ages. Bullying can be a highly traumatic experience for children and thus is likely to cause increased distress for children around attending school as they’re anticipating the bullying and are reluctant to face the situation, therefore making them too anxious to attend class. 

To learn more about bullying, read our article on Why is Cyberbullying Harmful and What Actions Can You Take, or take our Bullying and Harassment Quiz to test your knowledge.

Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety in children is the experience of getting anxious or distressed when separated from their parent or primary caregiver. In severe cases, the anxiety of being separated from a parent can become so extreme that it causes school refusal in a child. Separation anxiety can be caused by anything from a change in environment such as moving house or changing schools, a stressful scenario such as a bereavement or divorce, or it can even be inherited or fed from a parent’s own anxiety. 

Discover more about what separation anxiety is, its symptoms, and causes in our article on How to Help a Child With Separation Anxiety at School.

Mental Health

Whilst school refusal is not an official mental health diagnosis, it is considered to be a symptom associated with known mental health disorders such as:

• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Generalised Anxiety
• Depression
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

For children suffering from any form of anxiety, the anticipation of school can trigger and increase in their anxiety or panic attacks, making the classroom an unbearable source of distress. For those with depression, their symptoms of low mood, hopelessness, and fatigue can remove any motivation needed to attend school and engage in learning.

Learning Differences

Children may experience anxiety around going to school, and therefore refuse to attend, due to finding it difficult to thrive academically and learning differently to others in their class. This is especially the case in children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Additionally, children with SEN may struggle more with sensory overload at school, as the classroom can be a busy and noisy place. Anticipating this sensory overload may also be a cause of anxiety which ultimately leads to school refusal.

Signs of School Anxiety

As mentioned, there are many reasons why a child might feel extreme anxiety about attending school, leading to school refusal. But how can you spot these anxieties before they reach this level? There are a few key symptoms of school anxiety that you should be aware of and monitor for. If you begin observing one or more of these symptoms consistently in a child, it may be time to take action. 

Possible symptoms of school anxiety in young children, particularly those of 10 or under, may include:

• Irritability, tantrums, excessive crying, or screaming, particularly when being left at school.
• Refusal to get ready for school in the morning. 
• Loss of appetite or feeling sick as the time to go to school draws near.
• Nightmares or difficulty sleeping.
• Shortness of breath or panic attacks.

In older children, whilst some of the symptoms above may still be present, you may also observe any of the following signs of school anxiety:

• Truancy or absence from class.
• Refusal to participate in school activities.
• Self-harm.

Symptoms of school anxiety span across physical, emotional, and behavioural impacts. Physical effects of anxiety are often nausea, headaches, dizziness, and sweating. Emotionally, your child may feel fearful, full of dread, irritable, and depressed. These symptoms are likely to manifest in behaviour such as refusing to go to school or leaving school once there. 

To learn more about how to ease these symptoms and safeguard an anxious child, read our full article on How to Help a Child With Anxiety in the Classroom.

Want to Learn More?

Our Child Mental Health Training is written by experts and covers a wide range of mental health conditions, including anxiety. Learn how to spot the first signs of a mental health issue in children, and how you can help safeguard a child who may be suffering. 

How to Help a Child With School Anxiety and How to Deal With School Refusal

When aiming to help a child with school anxiety or refusal, the first step is to identify what it is that’s causing their distress. Once you understand the problem, you’re in a much better place to try and make changes that will help. 

The School Refusal Assessment Scale

Young people can find it hard to explain exactly what is causing their feelings, so it can be helpful to use the School Refusal Assessment Scale to assess what is causing the problem and then inform your interventions.

The School Refusal Assessment Scale is a psychological assessment tool created by Dr. Chris Kearney and Dr. Wendy K. Silverman in 1993, but which has since been revised. The assessment identifies four areas of school refusal:

• Escaping from aversive social or other negative situations, such as playground play, school staff, or avoiding particular children.
• Staying away from objects or situations that may be unpleasant and cause physical symptoms or distress, such as tests, reading out loud, presenting, or athletic performance.
• Gaining attention from others, sometimes fuelled by separation anxiety.
• Pursuing a physical reward outside of school, such as playing online games or watching television.

Whilst the first two centre on negative reinforcement at school, the second two are around positive reinforcement at home. 

Once you know which of the above causes is the principal reason for a child’s school anxiety and refusal, you can determine the best ways to try and help. 

Strategies for Helping a Child Displaying Symptoms of School Anxiety and School Refusal

The most important step in helping a child battling school anxiety or school refusal is to have continuous and effective communication between the child’s parents/caregivers, and school staff. It may be a good idea to have regular meetings where you can each suggest specific changes that could help the child. 

Helping a child with school anxiety usually involves making supportive changes both in the classroom and at home.

Support Strategies for the Classroom

Below are some recommended changes to make in the classroom for children with the following points of anxiety at school:

Support Strategies for at Home

Although making changes at school, where the point of distress occurs, is often crucial to overcoming school anxiety or school refusal, there are also strategies that parents can implement at home to help their child with anxiety:

School refusal is when a child regularly refuses to attend school, or struggles to stay present once there. Often, school refusal is caused by intense anxiety which causes a child to feel unable to attend. There are many causes of school anxiety and refusal, but you can help to determine what is the source of your child’s issues using The School Refusal Assessment Scale. Once you know why a child is struggling with attending school, there are many strategies you can implement to support them both at school and at home. 

Further Resources:

• What is the Importance of School Attendance?
• How to Support SEMH in Schools
• How to Create a Positive Learning Environment

The post School Refusal and Anxiety: Advice for Teachers and Parents appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

School separation anxiety can be experienced by a child of any age and can dramatically impact their academic life, causing them to become more isolated from their peers and unenthusiastic about learning and participating in activities at school. Because of these worrying effects, it’s important that teachers and school staff are able to spot the signs of separation anxiety early, and know how to help safeguard these individuals. 

In this article, we will explain what separation anxiety at school is, give expert advice on how to spot signs of it in students, and provide tips for how you can help children suffering from separation anxiety in your school. 

School Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety in children is the experience of getting anxious or distressed when separated from their parent or primary caregiver. To demonstrate their concern, children might cry when dropped off at school, or may get fussy when another adult is holding them. 

Separation anxiety is a normal part of development, and a typical phase amongst infants and toddlers. Between the ages of 4-7 months, children begin to realise that objects and people exist even when they’re out of their sight. Thus, they learn that when they can’t see their parents or caregiver, this means they’ve been left by them. As they can’t yet understand the concept of time, they aren’t aware that this person will come back and therefore become upset by their absence. 

Whilst this form of separation anxiety is common, it usually improves by the time a child is around 2-3 years of age. Whilst older children will occasionally feel some separation anxiety and not want a parent to leave, particularly when being dropped off at school, this can usually be overcome by distracting the child. If, however, an older child displays symptoms of extreme and ongoing separation anxiety that is impacting their daily life, this may be a sign of a more serious issue called Separation Anxiety Disorder.

Separation Anxiety Disorder is seen in 4% of children and 1.6% of adolescents, which makes it the most prevalent anxiety disorder among children under the age of 12. This is just one form of mental health issue currently common in children. Read our article on How to Promote Positive Mental Health in Schools to find tools to help minimise the impacts of mental health in your classroom. 

How to Spot Separation Anxiety at School

Separation anxiety at school typically occurs when children begin attending education, nursery, or daycare, and are separated from their parents or caregivers during drop-off time. Thus, it’s easiest to spot symptoms of separation anxiety during this time. 

For a teacher, you can spot signs of separation anxiety in children by observing the following symptoms:

• Excessive crying when separated from their caregiver.
• Clinginess.
• Tantrums.
• Physical complaints such as stomach aches or headaches.
• A strong desire to be reunited with their parents or caregiver.

Whilst these symptoms are common and can usually be eased fairly simply, it’s important to closely monitor children displaying signs of separation anxiety in case they develop into something more serious, such as Separation Anxiety Disorder. 

The main differences between separation anxiety and Separation Anxiety Disorder are the intensity of the child’s fears, and whether these fears begin to impact a child’s day-to-day life. A child may have a more challenging form of separation anxiety if you begin to observe more extreme symptoms, such as:

• Refusing to be left at school, also known as school refusal.
• Finding it hard to concentrate.
• Not eating properly.
• Getting frequently angry or irritable and losing control during outbursts.
• Constantly worrying or having negative thoughts, particularly around losing a loved one to illness or an accident, or getting lost or kidnapped themself.

In severe cases, separation anxiety disorder may occur alongside frequent panic attacks, causing a child to have sudden and repeated bouts of terror that peak within minutes. 

Whilst these signs are largely displayed during separation from their parents or caregiver, children with Separation Anxiety Disorder may begin to display symptoms at the mere thought of being away from their loved ones. 

Although Separation Anxiety Disorder can develop with no apparent reason, given its intensity it is often brought on by a particular event or trauma. It can be useful to try to identify what may be causing a child’s anxiety, as this will help you to understand their emotions and provide the best place to start helping to ease their fears. Possible causes of Separation Anxiety Disorder may include:

• A change in environment – Children can be very unsettled by a change to their routine, such as moving to a new home or a different school.
• A stressful scenario – Whether this is an academic situation such as exams, or a domestic scenario like a family divorce or bereavement, undergoing stress can have a myriad of complicated side-effects for children. 
• Parental stress/anxiety – Children often feed off of their parents or caregivers emotions, and thus their separation anxiety could be a manifestation of their parents own stress. Furthermore, it has been suggested that children could inherit Separation Anxiety Disorder from parents who struggle with anxiety or another mental health issue. 

Want to Learn More?

Our expert Child Mental Health Training can help you spot the signs of a range of mental health issues commonly suffered by children, and teach you useful strategies to help a child who may be suffering with their mental wellbeing.

Separation Anxiety Tips for Teachers

If you begin to notice signs of separation anxiety in any of the children under your care, as a teacher it is important to make the child’s parents or caregivers aware of your concerns. Having said this, it’s also vital not to label a child with a specific condition such as Separation Anxiety Disorder until they’ve received a professional diagnosis. 

Once you’re aware of a child’s anxiety, you can begin to identify what may be causing their concerns, and implement strategies to help them. Below are a few things you can do as a teacher to help a child battling with separation anxiety, you can find more tips in our article on How to Help a Child With Anxiety in the Classroom.

Be the primary point of contact

It’s important that a child with separation anxiety can build a sense of trust and a feeling of safety with you as a teacher. Therefore, you should ensure you’re consistently the first person to greet an anxious child in the morning when they’re dropped off at school. Not only does this help to establish a routine for the child to adapt to, it also helps you get to know their parent/caregiver more and build this other important relationship. 

Communicate with parents/caregivers and healthcare professionals

It can be beneficial to closely monitor a child that you believe is experiencing separation anxiety, and keep notes of how the child reacts to certain events or triggers, such as being dropped off at school, as well as observing how this is impacting their wellbeing and learning. The more information you can gather and translate back to the child’s caregivers, the better you will be able to understand exactly what the child is experiencing and use this information to help support them. 

If the child is seeing a healthcare professional outside of school, it may be worth seeing if you can communicate with them in order to establish shared goals and identify ways you can best help extend support strategies within their school environment. 

Provide a calm space catered to relieving stress

Having a calming private environment where anxious children can go to try to regulate their emotions is a great addition to any classroom. To make this space calming, it should be quiet and largely undisturbed, and may contain stress-relieving items such as sensory or fidget toys, stress balls, or books and games that a child can sit and direct their focus on, helping to relieve their busy mind. 

Minimise morning rush and practise mindfulness

To help prevent the exacerbation of a child’s anxieties, it’s important to create a quiet routine for arrival at school and other busy times during the academic day. It can be helpful to play relaxing music and engage your whole class in group mindfulness or meditation activities, such as reading aloud to them, practising breathing exercises, or group colouring. Whilst this can benefit every child to help calm down after excitable or stressful times of day, particularly after they’ve been dropped off or after they’ve come in from break, it also provides an opportunity to help ease a child with separation anxiety’s fears at key trigger points without isolating them from the rest of the group. 

Use language to your advantage 

When working with a child who struggles with separation anxiety, be careful not to dismiss their emotions and steer away from them. Instead, you should let the child speak about what is upsetting them and validate their feelings, as this will help them to work through them in a more healthy way. 

It can be useful to come up with a phrase that can be used by the child, their families, and other school staff, such as “after school, I get to see my family.” This can work as a calming affirmation to remind the child that their parent’s absence is temporary, but that it’s okay to feel sad about being separated. 

Furthermore, and perhaps the most beneficial use of language to help ease separation anxiety, you could encourage the child and parents to say ‘“see you later” or “see you soon” rather than “goodbye” when parting ways at the school entrance. Although this may seem like a small distinction, the subtle change reassures the child that their families will return before too long. 

Use comfort items

Allowing a child with separation anxiety to come to school with a comforting item from home, such as a favourite cuddly toy or a family photo, can make a huge difference in helping to ease their anxiety. This serves as a reminder of home, helping them to realise they’re not actually very far away from their families. 

Separation anxiety is common in young children, and is often resolved by the time a child reaches school. This isn’t always the case, however, as even older children can have periods of anxiety when leaving their families to enter school. Separation anxiety at school should be closely monitored, as it manifests itself in a range of different ways, and sometimes can develop into a more serious condition known as Separation Anxiety Disorder. Luckily there are many methods that teachers can try to help children cope with separation anxiety and ease their symptoms.

Further Resources:

• How to Support Children with Attachment Disorder
• How to Help a Child With Anxiety in the Classroom
• How to Promote Positive Mental Health in Schools
• How to Create a Positive Learning Environment

The post How to Help a Child With Separation Anxiety at School appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

Far too often, students struggle in silence and don’t access the support they need. Whether you are university staff, Students’ Union staff or a student, you should know how to recognise the signs of someone who may be struggling with their mental health and what you can do to help. Encouraging discussions and advocating for more support for students will help to break the ongoing stigma surrounding mental health.

What is Mental Health for Students?

Mental health issues are a widespread problem across all universities and all student bodies. The transition to university is often the first big change that students experience and can be challenging for individuals to adjust to. In 2022, 57% of respondents (students) self-reported a mental health issue during a survey by the mental health charity Student Minds. Of which, only 24% of students reported having a diagnosed mental health condition.

It’s important that you understand the difference between good or poor mental health and mental health conditions or problems, as the two are often confused. Everybody has mental health, whether it be good or bad, but not everyone has a mental health condition. The Mental Health Foundation defines mental health as “how we’re feeling inside, or how we are emotionally” and refers to it as our internal weather. Our mental health changes depending on what we experience and how we react to things. On the other hand, someone with a mental health condition, such as social anxiety, experiences symptoms of the condition in the longer term. This article covers supporting students who are struggling with their mental health, which may mean they are currently experiencing poor mental health or have a mental health condition.
If you want to learn more about mental health, take a look at our articles What are the Different Types of Mental Health? and Mental Health Myths vs Facts: What are the Realities?.

Causes of Mental Health Issues in Students

University students are at high risk of experiencing poor mental health. While university can be an incredibly rewarding and fun experience, it often comes with an extensive amount of stress, pressure and intrusive emotions. Additionally, these pressures come in many different forms, as we explain below.

Moving Away from Home

Whilst not all students move away from their family home for university, the majority move to different cities that can be miles away. For many, this will be their first time living away from home, which can bring a whole range of emotions such as homesickness and loneliness. Furthermore, students often move into accommodation with people they’ve never met before, which can carry a heightened feeling of worry. Students have to quickly learn how to live independently, make new friends and navigate university life.

Academic Pressure

When they start their degrees, students face the daunting prospect that they will be studying this subject for the next few years. Some students also find that their course is different from their expectations. Furthermore, although students are used to exams, deadlines and expectations, the intensity of university can still come as a shock. Students are asked to learn independently and think originally, which can differ from previous studies.

However, this isn’t only true for first year students. The building workload as students near the end of their studies further enhances feelings of stress and the pressure to perform well academically. Students also have to consider what they will do after graduation and begin applying for jobs, all in the midst of their final year studies.

Financial Pressure

With tuition fees, accommodation costs and the cost of living adding up, university can be very expensive. On top of academic and social pressures, trying to budget and arrange finances only adds to the growing amount of pressure. Some students may not be used to having to budget or live more frugally and find it difficult to know where to start. For some, the current cost of living crisis is making it challenging to manage and changing their university experience.

Social Pressure

Students are always being told that ‘university is the best time of your life’. For many people this will ring true, but for others it adds another level of pressure that they must enjoy themselves and have a great time. Moreover, students may feel pressured to attend all social events to try and make friends or because they feel pressured by their friends, even if these activities aren’t what they enjoy doing.

Making Friends

Often, students go to university not knowing anybody. This means that they have to juggle trying to make friends with other types of pressure. They may feel lonely and isolated as they try to settle in. 
For some, all this change can be difficult to adjust to. Some students may develop a lifestyle which isn’t good for their mental health, such as drinking alcohol more frequently or not eating a healthy, balanced diet. These factors, and others, can increase the risk of students developing poor mental health. An individual may experience a combination of signs and symptoms, or just one aspect can have a significant impact on their mental health.

The Effects of Poor Mental Health

Poor mental health and mental health conditions can be incredibly damaging, isolating and difficult to deal with. At university, the effects on a student may include:

• A disruption to their ability to live a normal life.
• An inability to make friends.
• Lower grades.
• Being left out of activities or not being invited.
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Sleeping problems.
• Missed lectures, seminars, tutorials, etc.
• Missing deadlines.
• Dropping out of university altogether.

The effects of mental health on student learning are profound, with a strong relationship between mental health and academic performance. Students who experience poor mental health, and particularly those with mental health conditions which aren’t managed, can suffer academically.

Spotting the Signs of Mental Health Issues

With over half of students self-reporting a mental health issue, it can be assumed that the majority of students will experience poor mental health at some point during their studies. We all have a responsibility to look out for the mental wellbeing of students. 

University staff must be able to recognise when students are displaying signs that they may be struggling, and know what support to give or signpost them towards. Meanwhile, students can be in a good position to identify if their friends or peers may be struggling with their mental health. They should understand what support to suggest and what else they can do to offer help.

The following are some of the signs and symptoms that a student struggling with their mental health may display: 

• A noticeable change in behaviour.
• Absence from or lateness to lectures, seminars, personal tutor meetings and other university sessions.
• A sudden drop in grades and/or the quality of work submitted, or missing deadlines to complete tasks.
• Seeming sad or having a persistent low mood.
• Irritability.
• Aggression.
• Forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating.
• Becoming withdrawn and isolated.
• Disengaging from seminar discussions.
• Neglect of personal care.
• Loss of interest and lack of enthusiasm for the day-to-day or things they previously enjoyed.
• Lacking energy, or displaying an excess of energy.
• Displaying feelings of low self-esteem.
• Eating too much or not enough.
• Sleeping too much or not enough.
• Drinking more.

Someone struggling with their mental health may exhibit other signs, including physical ones such as persistent headaches or digestive problems. The signs listed here may indicate something else and not result from poor mental health.

How to Improve & Support University Students’ Mental Health

As we’ve seen, mental health problems are widespread and can have many damaging effects on students. If you’re a personal tutor, or work directly with students, you play a vital role in supporting students with mental health problems. If you’re a student yourself, you can offer support to your friends, and know how to improve your own mental health or seek help if required.

Here, we explain how you can improve and support university students’ mental health. Their relevance will depend on whether you are university staff, Students’ Union staff or a student.

Encourage Conversations About Mental Health

Unfortunately, there remains a stigma around mental health, particularly when it comes to men. Annual figures released by NHS Digital show that only 26% of referrals to NHS talking therapies for conditions such as anxiety and depression were for men in 2020/21 (England). Student Minds found that male students reported finding it hard to open up about their mental health due to a lack of knowledge, feelings of isolation or the impact of gender stereotypes. This often means they are less likely to discuss or seek support for their mental health. Students should be encouraged to reach out if they are struggling with their mental health, knowing they will get the support and help they need by doing so. 

Students’ Unions should speak about the importance of recognising and managing mental health problems and encourage students to do the same. They should spread awareness about how to recognise when someone may be struggling with their mental health and give them the knowledge to understand what support students can access.

Personal tutors should arrange to meet up with their students at the start of a new semester and during it. That way, they can ask how things are going as the student’s studies progress.

Starting a conversation about someone’s mental health is a crucial first step to help them, but it can often be difficult to know what to say. If you have identified changes in a student and are concerned about their wellbeing it’s important to address this. 

Tutors must ensure that students know they can reach out to talk to them about any work and personal issues. Students should feel comfortable to do so and reassured that it’s part of their tutor’s role to offer this type of support. Tutors should enable this ease by establishing a clear and easy way for students to talk to them, such as having an open-door policy.

However, they must never push a student to talk to them or disclose more than they are comfortable with doing. Personal tutors must be appropriately training to recognise what they can offer their students in terms of guidance or signposting them to support.

If you are a member of university staff and need to initiate a conversation about your concerns for a student’s mental health, the Mental Health Foundation offer the following tips: 

• Set a space and time that has no distractions.
• Allow them to share as much or as little information as they want to. You shouldn’t push a student to talk about something they don’t want to discuss.
• Don’t try to diagnose them. Although you want to help, you aren’t a trained counsellor or medical expert. Don’t make assumptions or jump in with your own diagnosis.
• Keep your language neutral and ask open ended questions. For example ‘How are you feeling?’
• Discuss some activities that encourage positive wellbeing, such as taking a break, exercising and calming activities like meditation.
• Listen carefully to what they have to say. Show that you are understanding and let them know you respect their feelings.
• Ask if they want your support in getting help. For example, if they want you to discuss their situation with their parents.
• Know your limits. Whilst talking is a great way to help, there is only so much help you can offer. If you think they need help beyond your means, encourage them to seek professional help, such as from the university’s counselling service.

Whilst you should talk to students and offer your help, you may not be trained to deal with certain types of difficulties. In these situations, you should recommend that they speak to the university counselling service or other support that’s available at your university. Ensure that you offer your support throughout this process and, if appropriate, ask them how they’re getting on.

Students also play a key role in improving and supporting the mental health of students through open conversations. Talking about good and bad mental health and different mental health conditions will encourage others to do the same. This can make people feel as though they aren’t alone in their struggle and makes them aware that there is help available. It can also increase awareness of some of the risk factors for poor mental health and encourage people to acknowledge this and possibly make lifestyle changes to better their overall wellbeing.

Have a look at our article How to Talk About Mental Health for further advice about having a conversation with someone about their mental health.

Make Access to Resources and Support Easy

The Students’ Union staff team also plays an important part in supporting students experiencing poor mental health by signposting them towards services that are available. This includes ensuring that students and staff have an understanding of what help is available and how to access it. There must be clear processes in place to enable students to receive the support they require in a timely manner. The necessary people must understand what these processes are and know how to follow them; for example, personal tutors must know when to signpost students to alternative services and what form these take.

Examples of student mental health resources and services which may be available to support someone who is struggling include:

• A university-run disability service to give support to students to manage a physical or mental health problem.
• A free university-run counselling service. 
• Guidance from the Students’ Union’s welfare team.
• An academic contact to give support and advice about the student’s studies.
• Peer support groups on campus.
• Support to see a GP.
• External charities and organisations.

Mental health charities and organisations including the University Mental Health Advisers Network (UMHAN), Student Minds, Mind, Students Against Depression, Nightline, Young Minds and Samaritans have published useful guidance and resources which you can access. Many of these offer mental health support services for struggling students who reach out.

Be Open and Flexible

If you are an academic tutor, you must understand how you are expected to support your students with their mental health. It’s important that you are flexible, where appropriate. For example, if you are aware of a student who is struggling to manage their workload and their mental health, it may be appropriate to offer extensions on certain pieces of work or mitigating circumstances. Remember that every student is different and you must consider this on a student-by-student basis.

You should also offer as much academic support to students as possible. If students feel fully prepared to do their work, you will ease some of their academic pressure. Ensure that your students know they can come to you with queries and questions.

Promote Understanding of Mental Health

Finally, to improve and support university students’ mental health, there needs to be a clear understanding of mental health and what can make someone’s mental health worse. Students’ Unions in particular play an important part in ensuring there is knowledge of mental health university-wide. This means students and staff knowing what can improve poor mental health and what can help to prevent it. 

This must be delivered in a sensitive manner, acknowledging that many diagnosed mental health conditions can be managed rather than cured and can’t be avoided. However, there are strategies which can be implemented to help improve someone’s short-term poor mental health. It’s important to note that some of these strategies won’t be effective for some individuals, as what works well for one person may not for another.

Students’ Unions may choose to produce resources on how to improve mental health with the following suggestions: 

• Mindfulness. 
• Exercise, such as running, swimming or yoga.
• Breathing exercises.
• A balanced diet. 
• Seek support.

Want to Learn More?

We have created additional resources which you can use to help improve students’ mental health. Our Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health article explains how exercise can be used to improve mental health, while Reading and Mental Health: What are the Benefits? covers the positive impact reading can have on mental health. If stress is causing poor mental health, Stress Management Activities to Try at Home may help students to identify the causes of their stress and learn how to manage it.

Mental health problems can be isolating, damaging and incredibly difficult to deal with. At university, these problems can either begin or escalate. Universities have a responsibility to increase awareness and discussions of mental health and ensure students have access to the support and services they need. Whether you work as a university lecturer, personal tutor, at the Students’ Union or are a student yourself, you play an important role in supporting the mental health of university students.

What to Read Next:

• What are the Different Types of Mental Health?
• Mental Health Myths vs Facts: What are the Realities?
• How to Talk About Mental Health
• How to Talk to Someone Who is Suicidal: Raising Awareness Through Myths and Facts
• Reading and Mental Health: What are the Benefits?
• The Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health
• Stress Management Activities to Try at Home
• What is Exam Stress?: Tips for Parents and Teachers

The post How to Support University Students’ Mental Health appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will look at the link between food and mental health including the impact of what you eat and drink on your mental health. We will provide you with some practical tips to incorporate healthy eating into your daily routine and help to maintain good mental health. It can be challenging to maintain a healthy diet when struggling with mental wellbeing. As such, some of these suggestions may be useful during times when you need solutions which are simple and quick.

Food and Mental Health

Due to numerous factors, people may react differently to the same foods. However, evidence suggests that what you eat and drink can have a significant impact on how you feel and your overall mental wellbeing.

Different foods and drinks have varying impacts on mental wellbeing and it is important that you understand these effects and maintain a healthy, balanced diet when possible. If you were to consistently consume foods and drinks which are considered unhealthy, it is highly likely that you will experience a decline in your mental health.

If you are worried about the relationship you have with food and think you may have an eating problem, help is available. You can find out more information and access guidance on Mind’s dedicated webpage, here.

It’s important to note that someone may find it difficult to eat healthy foods when they are experiencing poor mental health. If you are struggling to eat well because of your current mental wellbeing, it’s ok to choose what is best for you. This might mean having some meals which are convenient and not necessarily highly nutritional during this time. We share some tips for eating healthy when you are struggling with your mental health later in this article.

How Does Eating Healthy Affect Your Mental Health?

Healthy eating can have a positive impact on your mental health. A healthy diet is one which is nutritionally balanced and includes a range of different foods and drinks which contribute to a good diet. You can find out more about what is meant by a healthy diet in our article ‘What is a Nutritionally Balanced Diet and Why is it Important?’. 

Evidence shows that various nutrients are essential for physical and mental health and that the consumption of healthy fats and protein enables the brain to function properly. Examples of how your diet affects your mental health include the following:

• If your blood sugar levels are low, you may experience feelings such as irritability or tiredness. To avoid this, you should eat regularly and prioritise foods which release energy slowly, maintaining steady blood sugar levels. Choose wholemeal carbohydrates such as brown pasta, rice and bread instead of white pasta, rice and bread. If your diet doesn’t regularly include foods which slowly release energy, you may find that you start to feel hungry, irritable and/or tired throughout the day. Over time, this can contribute to low mental wellbeing. If you have diabetes, you must not make any changes to your diet that may affect your blood sugar levels without talking to a healthcare professional.
• A high protein diet can help to regulate your thoughts and feelings. Protein contains amino acids which are needed by the brain to produce neurotransmitters to carry out this regulation.
• The NHS recommends eating at least five portions of different fruits and vegetables every day to ensure you get plenty of nutrients to keep you healthy, both physically and mentally.
• Fatty acids, including omega-3 and omega-6, are essential to keep the brain functioning well. These healthy fats are in foods including oily fish and nuts and seeds.
• You may feel bloated, constipated or don’t feel hungry when you experience stress or anxiety. This is because your gut can speed up or slow down when you are experiencing these feelings. To help with healthy digestion, it is recommended that you eat certain foods that are considered good for gut health. This includes fruits, vegetables, pulses, wholegrains and probiotics.
• Hydration plays an important role in concentration and thinking. If you don’t drink enough fluids, you may struggle with concentrating on tasks, lack energy and feel irritable. This can be particularly challenging in both work and social environments and could exacerbate existing mental health issues.
• Drinking too much caffeine can disrupt your sleep and cause feelings of anxiety and depression. Although caffeine initially gives you energy, once this sensation ceases you may experience symptoms of poor mental health. If you become reliant on caffeine and suddenly stop drinking it, you may get withdrawal symptoms such as irritability.
• Alcohol has a significant impact on almost every part of your body, including how you think and feel. It can disrupt the chemicals in your brain that are essential for good mental health. Drinking alcohol affects your brain and nervous system which can make you feel more relaxed and behave recklessly. This chemical change can lead to negative thoughts and feelings, including anxiety, depression and anger. Long-term and excessive alcohol consumption results in a reduction in the number of neurotransmitters in the brain, which are essential for preventing anxiety and impression.

Want to Learn More About Mental Health?

Our Mental Health Awareness Course aims to increase your understanding of common mental health conditions and of your own mental health, including how or when it might suffer, and what you can do about it.

How to Use Foods to Improve Mood and Energy

Whether you are currently experiencing poor mental wellbeing or consider yourself to have good mental health, there are ways in which you can use foods to improve and maintain your mood, energy and overall health. By making healthy eating a habit, you will help to improve your mental health. Here are some practical tips that you may want to adopt:

• Start small to establish a healthy routine that works for you. It takes time to build habits and so you should start by trying to incorporate small changes to your diet and build on these once you have established habits. Taking on too much and making numerous changes at once can be overwhelming regardless of your current mental health.
• Eat at regular intervals. This helps you to maintain your blood sugar levels while avoiding spikes and dips throughout the day. Low blood sugar levels can make you feel tired and irritable, while constant changes to the levels have been linked to anxiety and depression.
• Stay hydrated by drinking enough fluids. The NHS recommends that you aim for 6 to 8 cups or glasses of water, lower-fat milk and sugar-free drinks a day (including tea and coffee). This will help to prevent you from feeling irritable or lacking concentration.
• Aim to have five fruits and vegetables a day. You can find out what this includes on the NHS website, here. You may find it difficult to achieve this if you’re experiencing poor mental health, but remember that frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables count too. 
• Recognise the impact certain food and drinks have on your mental health. One way to do this is to keep a diary of what you eat and drink and record how you feel afterwards.
• Reduce your intake of stimulants such as caffeine, particularly in the hours leading up to your bedtime. Although it is a depressant, alcohol can have a stimulant effect initially and when consumed in small doses. Both caffeine and alcohol have been linked to low moods in some people.
• Plan in advance. For example, keep some batch made meals in your freezer for when you don’t feel able to cook something healthy from scratch. Many nutritional foods can be frozen or have a long shelf life, such as beans and legumes. Maintain a supply of these for when you need to put together a healthy, easy meal. You could also write a list of recipes that you have followed before to create a quick, easy and healthy meal, so you can refer to these when needed.
• Make cooking and eating an enjoyable experience. See this as an opportunity to explore new ingredients and foods which you haven’t had before, and to learn new culinary skills. Cook with your partner, friends or family or take it in turns cooking something for one another. Remember that your loved ones want to support you and that if you don’t have the energy or are unable to cook or purchase food, you can ask for help.
• If you need to keep things simple, try some one-pot meals or follow recipes that are intended to be quick and easy. Making a nutritional meal doesn’t have to require hours of time to prepare and cook. There are many cookbooks which specialise in meals that take less time, use fewer ingredients or can be made in one pot. You can also find recipes online that meet your specific criteria.
• If you’re an inexperienced cook, lack inspiration or are on a budget, there are plenty of free resources available online. BBC Good Food is a useful website with recipes, videos, guidance and information.

It can be difficult to keep to a healthy diet if you are experiencing poor mental health. Remember that it’s ok to eat and drink what feels manageable for you. While regularly consuming food and drink which is high in fat and/or sugar and has little nutritional value will impact your mental health and physical wellbeing, having it occasionally isn’t going to be detrimental to your long-term health and wellbeing.

Although people react differently to different foods, there is a clear link between diet and mental health. Eating a balanced diet ensures that you get all the nutrients you need to function and develop properly, including those required for the brain. In turn, this reduces the likelihood of you experiencing unwanted emotions such as irritability, tiredness and anxiety. To help you understand how the different foods you eat impact your mental wellbeing, consider what you feel after having consumed them.

Further Resources:

• Reading and Mental Health: What are the Benefits?
• The Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health
• The Healthy Eating Pyramid
• What is a Nutritionally Balanced Diet and Why is it Important?

The post The Link Between Food and Mental Health appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will explain some of the reasons why employees should return to the office, suggest some advice on how to encourage your workforce to return to non-remote work, and provide tips for employees heading back to the office to ensure a smooth transition.

Why Should Employees Return to the Office?

Although there were a myriad of studies released during the coronavirus pandemic that sang the praises of remote or hybrid work, suggesting that this form of working created happier, more productive employees, newer research from today’s post-pandemic world is starting to demonstrate that the opposite may actually be true. 

Whilst immediate results of changing to a more remote form of working may have seemed positive, we’re now starting to see the more long-term effects which paint an altogether different picture. To get a glimpse of how employees felt about home-working during the pandemic, read our article on the challenges and benefits of working from home, here.

Does Working from Home Decrease Productivity?

As we’ve had time to collect and monitor data from employees working from home over the past few years, more accurate insights into their productivity are now coming forth, and these show some interesting results. 

One example of this is a working paper published by two doctoral students from Harvard who, during 2020, found an 8% increase in the number of calls handled per hour by employees of an online retailer that had made the move to home working. Upon revising their study with more precise data in 2023, however, they found that this initial increase had actually become a 4% decline in productivity, with fewer calls being answered than in the office as well as lower quality interactions. So, what factors of remote working contribute most to this loss in productivity? 

Less Efficient Communication

We’ve all gotten used to dealing with the complexities of virtual meetings, and whilst it can seem nice to interact with colleagues among their pets and plants, with their favourite mug in hand, there’s no denying that speaking through a screen and at the mercy of your internet connection has its difficulties. 

Remote work strips colleague communication of the subtle non-verbal cues and natural flow of discussion that makes up the bulk of normal conversation. In fact, inevitable time lags and the inability to hear multiple people talk at once on virtual calls, makes truly effective collaboration nigh on impossible.

Difficulty Building and Maintaining Professional Relationships 

As well as decreasing the efficiency of communication, home working removes any spontaneity from workplace conversations. Whereas in an office it’s common to overhear and jump into conversations on impulse, remote conversations are mainly meticulously planned and are invite only. This makes it difficult to build solid professional relationships, as communication with employees outside of your team becomes sporadic if not scheduled in. Additionally, online meetings with strict agendas restrict the personal aspects of conversation that can help to build and strengthen workplace relationships. 

Inhibition of Innovation

Whilst online work inhibits relationship-building, it can prevent employees from being truly innovative. This is due to a restriction in focus, a key element of innovation. Constant work notifications, such as messages on slack, and distractions from family at home can make it hard to truly focus on one task and get the creative juices flowing. Without innovation, however, employees can feel like they’re running in circles and lacking in motivation. 

Decrease in Mental Health

The common consensus is that remote working has improved mental health by restoring workers’ work-life balance and giving employees more time to get outside, spend time with family, and exercise. In many cases, however, this may not be the reality. To start with, blurring the lines between work and home can make it difficult for many employees to ‘switch-off’. This lack of boundaries has been found to increase stress in home workers, with one study finding that 41% of remote workers felt stressed compared to only 25% of those continuing to work from an office.

Furthermore, it can be isolating to work from home in comparison to an office filled with people to communicate and connect with daily. As a result, remote working can increase feelings of loneliness, which can considerably impact mental health. 

Slower Development 

It’s generally agreed that regular feedback and advice is essential for growth and development, but home-workers are shown to receive significantly less feedback than those in offices. As a result, those working remotely are likely to progress in their professional development far slower. 

One recent study found that remote workers spend 25% less time on career development than their office counterparts. It’s also been noted that many skills, particularly soft skills such as leadership, are mainly learnt through observation. With home-workers being isolated from their colleagues, they’re less able to learn from their peers. 

How to Encourage Employees to Return to the Office

Although there are disadvantages to remote working, 82% of people say that they prefer working from home to going back to the office. Therefore, it’s evident that employees may need to be provided with motivation to return. 

Ultimately, many workers are reluctant to return to the office as they’re worried it’ll mean giving up the perks of remote working. Encouraging employees to return to the office is therefore mainly a case of outlining the benefits of an office environment, and adapting your workplace so that it proves a worthy rival to people’s own homes. 

Communicate Clearly and Honestly

Firstly, it’s essential to clearly communicate why you’d like employees to return to the office. Transparency is key to employee engagement, and therefore being totally honest about your reasons for making this change is likely to receive the best response. 

Use Factual Evidence and Statistics

As the quote goes, ‘you can’t argue with facts’. Using hard evidence for asking employees to return to the office will strengthen your case, particularly if some of your statistics are taken from your employees themselves; Why not create a survey for employees to complete and use the results in your line of reasoning. 

For example, being able to firmly declare that ‘X% of our team has shared that they feel lonely at home’, or that ‘X% of our team find collaboration easier in the office’ makes a compelling argument for returning to non-remote work. Including your employees’ own opinions within your decision will also help them to feel involved, rather than merely instructed. To find other methods of effectively motivating your team, read our article here.

Introduce New Benefits

Understandably, employees may be reluctant to give up the benefits of home-working without receiving any compensation or alternative advantages. Introducing new benefits such as a transportation or child care stipend may help to make office work more manageable for those who have gotten used to saving money in these areas by working from home. 

Additionally, creating new ways to make the office more enticing, such as social events, provided lunches or pet-friendly areas, may incentivise more workers to swap the perks of home-work for those of being in the office. Introducing regular team-building activities will help to strengthen bonds within teams and help to create a company culture that your employees want to experience in-person daily. You can find some ideas for team building activities which could help to incentivise employees in our article, here.

Optimise Your Office Space 

Returning to working in a closed office cubicle isn’t going to be an exciting prospect for anyone. Instead, to encourage employees to return to the office, it’s a good idea to ensure it’s an inviting space that people want to be in. 

Consider redesigning your office to maximise both productivity and fun. One idea is to separate your office into different areas designed specifically for various activities. For example, having designated deep-work sections, huddle areas, standing desks, social areas including games and comfy seating, and more. 

Create a Hybrid Work Schedule 

Asking every employee to immediately return to the office full time may be a difficult transition for many. Instead, try to phase in a return to the office and offer structured flexibility for those that need it. 

You could try a hot-desking system where employees sign up to work in the office on certain days, can book office space, and see which other employees will also be in the office at the same time as them. This encourages teams to coordinate their office time to get the benefits of collaboration and team-building on office days, whilst also reaping the benefits of sometimes still working from home.

Tips for Returning to the Office

It’s important to remember that returning to the office will seem like a big change for some, particularly as some newer employees may never have worked in an office environment before. With this in mind, here are a few tips for ensuring everyone is prepared to return to the workplace and are comfortable when doing so. 

Ease into the New Routine

Having to commute to an office involves more time management and preparation than having your workspace within your home. As such, it’s important to consider the extra time it will take to commute to work once you return to the office and slowly adapt to waking up earlier so that it’s not a shock to the system when you have to suddenly factor that extra time into your day. 

Additionally, it’s important to think about mealtimes at the office, as you may not have a full kitchen and your favourite ingredients readily available there as you would at home. It may be wise to plan what you will pack for your lunches and do some food preparation at the start of the week to avoid this becoming an added stress in your day.

Decorate Your Workspace

It’s easier to work in a space that you feel comfortable in, so don’t be shy in decorating your desk within the office to really make it your own. Bringing in a few home comforts such as plants and photos can help to make your workspace feel more joyous and motivational, and make the transition between working from home and at the office less of a leap.

Take Enough Rest Breaks

It can feel intimidating to take regular breaks whilst working in an office, as you’re constantly surrounded by other people who seem hard at work. But taking frequent breaks to relax and stretch your legs is just as vital in the office as it is at home, if not more so. 

To learn more about the importance of rest breaks and the regulations surrounding them in the workplace, read our article here. For employers, it’s essential to ensure that the office break room has everything that employees will need, such as comfortable seating and facilities to make drinks or snacks. 

Learn Methods to Help Manage Stress and Anxiety

Change is always scary, and therefore making the move back into the workplace from home-working may create or compound feelings of stress and anxiety. Although these feelings may seem overwhelming or unmanageable, there are a number of methods you can try to help deal with these emotions and avoid them from impacting your daily life. 

Want to Learn More?

To discover some suggested ways of dealing with difficult emotions, read our articles on coping with stress or anxiety at work. Additionally, you can discover more ways to promote positive mental health in the workplace, here.

One of the major downsides of remote working is that it restricts effective communication. If you’re making a return to office work, now is your chance to make the most of being able to discuss things face to face with your colleagues at any time. Getting to know the other employees in your company and widening your network of support will only enrich your working experience, make coming to work more enjoyable, and provide further opportunities for growth and development. 

If you have any concerns about returning to the office or have any suggestions for how to improve the workspace, you should voice these to the relevant person so that they can get resolved as soon as possible. 

There are many merits of working from an office that, if we’re being honest, just can’t be properly replicated when working remotely. As such, it’s time to start thinking about encouraging employees to return to the office. It’s important to do this correctly though, and ensure that employees are motivated and can benefit from this change. Remember, an immediate return to office-work full time may be infeasible for some, so consider taking a soft approach such as implementing hybrid or flexible working schemes. 

Further Resources:

• Weekly Working From Home Structure: Free Schedule Template
• Health & Safety For Home Workers
• How to Motivate a Team
• Business Essentials Courses

The post How to Get Employees Excited About Returning to the Office appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

The cost of presenteeism is high, as not only does it cause productivity to drop, costing employers money, but it also adversely impacts workplace morale, health and safety and the wellbeing of employees. 

In this article we’ll cover what presenteeism is and what can cause it, as well as the financial and human costs it creates. We’ll also explain some of the things you can do to reduce presenteeism in your organisation.

What is Presenteeism?

Presenteeism is defined as reduced productivity at work due to health problems. It occurs when someone attends work despite being either physically or mentally unwell. Although, in most cases, they will be trying to work as hard as usual, their productivity and quality of work suffers because of how they’re feeling. 

This creates a ‘productivity gap’ between how productive they would usually be and what they can achieve while unwell. Presenteeism is costly for employers who are paying the same amount for lower quality or less work, as well as harmful to the person doing it and potentially those around them. 

Identifying and measuring presenteeism is challenging. Employers may not recognise that it’s happening because employees still show up to work and may hide any symptoms of being unwell. Or, they may not know what presenteeism is or be inclined to ignore it, thinking that the more their employees work, the better.

However, you can measure the impact of presenteeism on employee productivity using the Stanford Presenteeism Scale.

Presenteeism in Remote Workers

The increase in hybrid and remote working has made identifying presenteeism more difficult. Many peoples’ homes have become their workspace and, while working from home can offer freedom and flexibility, it can also cause the line between work and life to blur. 

This can mean that some remote workers struggle to ‘switch off’ and will work from home when they wouldn’t have gone to work otherwise. For example, if a remote worker is unwell, they may be more likely than a non-remote worker to still attend work as they don’t have to leave the house and won’t infect other people. 

There’s also less risk of their coworkers or managers realising they’re unwell or working at a reduced capacity when they’re only communicating through screens. They may even feel more obligated to attend work while sick because of the flexibility remote working affords them and this is just one of the reasons why presenteeism is on the rise.

Presenteeism Vs Absenteeism

While presenteeism involves an employee attending work when they shouldn’t because they are unwell, absenteeism is the opposite and occurs when an employee repeatedly does not come to work, without good reason. 

It may come as a surprise, but presenteeism is actually a bigger drain on workplace productivity than absenteeism. This is because people who take time off work can rest and recover, while those who attend work unwell can prolong their illness and, in turn, the time they spend in the productivity gap. The overall cost of presenteeism can end up being more than if they had just taken a day off. 

Leavisim is another workplace occurrence that drains productivity. This is when employees use their annual leave either to recover from sickness instead of taking a sick day, or to catch up on work at home. 

You may think that leaveism would benefit employers by increasing the hours employees work, without increasing pay. In actual fact, like presenteeism, leaveism stops employees from taking a well-needed break from work which can reduce their overall productivity and eventually result in burnout or brownout.

Burnout is where a person becomes completely overwhelmed, primarily by overworking or work-related stress, and has a physical or mental collapse. It can result from presenteeism.

Brownout is a form of presenteeism where a person comes to work but is tired, withdrawn, disinterested and discontent with their role or workplace, leading to reduced motivation and unproductiveness. You can learn about managing stress at work here. 

These phenomena are all detrimental to workplace productivity and all stem from flaws in an organisation’s culture and policies. 

Causes of Presenteeism

Presenteeism can happen in any kind of workplace but is more common in offices rather than settings that measure productivity based on physical acts, such as a construction site.

Presenteeism is also common among workers who feel responsible for others in their role, such as health or social care workers. However, there are lots of other factors involved in why someone might choose to come into work while unwell, including: 

• A lack of job security and/ or fear or seeming dispensable. 
• Fear of being reprimanded or perceived as not working hard enough. 
• Worrying they have taken too much time off already. 
• Feeling obligated to work remotely.
• Being unable to afford a sick day and/or a lack of paid sick leave. 
• Thinking they are the only person who can perform their role in a company or that others will be impacted if they are absent, particularly if there are staff shortages.
• Not wanting to miss a deadline or having a heavy workload. 
• Company loyalty and desire to be reliable. 
• Perceived pressure from management. 
• Unwillingness to disclose the reason for absence or feeling it isn’t ‘good enough’, for example, worrying that disclosing a mental health condition will lead to stigma or lose them opportunities. 

Effects of Presenteeism in the Workplace

Whilst presenteeism can cause your business to lose money and valuable working days, the real cost of presenteeism is a more human one. Alongside the impact it has on the UK economy, presenteeism also causes the following problems:

• An unhealthy workplace – if an employee comes to work with a contagious illness, they can easily pass this illness on to the people they work with, causing them to become unwell, too. This can lead to increased absence rates and even more presenteeism. 
• Employee’s aren’t able to recover – if an employee repeatedly comes into work while unwell, particularly if they are suffering from a mental health issue, they won’t get the time they need to rest and recover which could prolong or worsen their illness. If they are unable to work at their usual capacity or quality they may miss targets or deadlines which can cause a great deal of stress. 
• Lower workplace morale – working alongside a team-mate who is unmotivated, unhappy or disinterested can be an emotional drain on all members of the team and affect relationships. This can negatively impact morale and the workplace atmosphere, reducing motivation and productivity all round.
• Unsafe working – employees who come to work while unwell are more likely to have and/or cause workplace accidents as they are less focussed on performing tasks properly and safely. This puts both them and others at risk. 
• Lack of progress – presenteeism can cause a lack of personal and professional progress. If people aren’t giving tasks their full commitment then they’re unlikely to develop their skills and, if they’re not feeling great, may be less interested in developing themselves. What’s more, a lack of progress can cause roadblocks for other colleagues who may be waiting for the sick employee to get back to full health before assigning them tasks or waiting for them to get on top of their to-do list. 
• Reduced quality of work – even if someone is producing the same quantity of work while unwell, it’s likely that the quality will suffer and they may make mistakes that cost time and money. This can have a ripple effect, impacting other people’s work if they are relying on this person or working as a team.

Need a Course?

Our Resilience Training Course will help workers to build on their own levels of personal resilience and understand why it is important. To do this, it provides actionable steps for developing the five pillars of resilience: emotional wellbeing, inner drive, future focus, relationships and physical health.

Presenteeism Statistics in the UK

Presenteeism is becoming more and more common in UK workplaces, particularly among remote workers, and it’s an issue that employers, managers and supervisors literally cannot afford to ignore. The following statistics show the true cost of presenteeism in the UK: 

• The cost of poor mental health of employees is estimated to be between £42bn and £45bn per annum, of which £29.3bn is due to presenteeism.
• 65% of HR staff report observing presenteeism in the workplace, while 81% report observing it among those who work from home.
• Almost half of workers (46%) admit to working despite not feeling physically or mentally well enough to perform their role.
• In 2022, employees lost 20.2% working hours from being unproductive, the equivalent of 51 productive days per employee, per year.

How to Reduce Presenteeism in Your Workplace

As an employer you need to look at whether some of the causes of presenteeism we listed earlier may be at play in your workplace. If so, there are some changes you can make to encourage healthier working among your employees, including: 

• Promoting a wellness culture – your organisational culture should promote the mental and physical wellbeing of everyone working there. You could introduce health promoting benefits, such as a cycle to work scheme, discounted gym memberships, subscriptions to mental wellbeing apps or private healthcare.
• Establish and communicate a strong sickness policy – you must communicate to employees that taking time off to recover when they’re unwell is important, encouraged and will not have negative consequences. Managers must also follow this policy to set a good example.
• Providing job security – if you can, offer guaranteed hours of work for employees rather than zero hour contracts and provide sick pay. This will give employees confidence that they can take time off for sickness without facing any negative repercussions.
• Improving communication – one problem with remote working can be a lack of regular communication. When line managers regularly check in with employees, they can identify if a worker is unwell or struggling with their workload and needs support. Managers should be trained to recognise the signs of physical and mental health problems and know how to provide support. You can learn about supporting mental health at work here. 

Mental Health Awareness

To increase your understanding of mental health and wellbeing, including how to support others suffering with their mental health and initiate conversations about mental health, you can take a look at our Mental Health Awareness course.

• Review absence policies – having a strict absence policy can drastically increase presenteeism. To make your absence policy less threatening to employees, make trigger points after certain lengths of absence positive rather than negative. For example, rather than giving a ‘warning’ after a length of absence, offer a wellness discussion to determine any issues and potential support you can provide to help them get healthy and back to work.
• Consult your staff – to get to the root cause of presenteeism in your workplace, you need to know what your staff think. You can put out an anonymous survey to staff to find out if there is anything that would put them off taking a sick day, such as an excessive workload or pressure from management. This will help to identify where changes need to be made in your organisation. 

When people don’t feel well, they can’t do their best work or be their best selves. If you want to create an organisation where employees are motivated, engaged and productive, you must accept that absences will happen, within reason. It’s your responsibility as an employer to promote wellbeing to reduce presenteeism, but also to make sure your employees feel they can take a day off when they need it.

Further Resources:

• How to Promote Positive Mental Health for Healthcare Workers 
• Managing Mental Health & Wellbeing in Hospitality 
• Work Related Stress: Your Responsibilities as an Employer
• Resilience in the Workplace: What are the Benefits and How Can Businesses Develop It?
• 6 Types of Leadership: Which Leadership Style is Right For Me?
• How to Motivate a Team
• Mental Health Awareness for Managers Training Course 

The post The Cost of Presenteeism in the Workplace & Why it’s Not Just About Money appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.