What can influence long-term patients’ mental health?
- Thoughts about the effects of long-term illness, anxiety, losing a sense of normal life (school, daily routines), becoming dependent on others
- Feelings of isolation and loneliness, missing friends and family
- Behaviours changing due to sickness, pain, fright and frustration
What can influence children’s mental health in general?
- Biological, social and psychological factors
- Children and young people have lots of different life experiences that can impact their mental health.
What happens to the brain when children feel anxious and stressed?
When children feel threatened or have high levels of stress, they go into fight, flight, or freeze.
- Fight mode – they want to fight back
- Flight mode – they feel overwhelmed and need to escape
- Freeze mode – they shut down, disassociate and cannot think clearly
When children are in survival mode it is a sign that they need support and guidance. This is the perfect time to support their mental health with music and creativity!
Mental Health Signs – indicators you may see
- Anxiety
- Lack of communication
- Lack of engagement
- Anger
- Irritability
- Hyperactivity
- Increased stress
- Low mood
- Low confidence
- Low concentration
- Low self-esteem
