Help for early years providers

Summary: Explains the significance of understanding children’s emotions for their overall development. Offers advice on providing consistent emotional responses, promoting self-expression through various activities, and creating a nurturing environment. The guide outlines emotional coaching steps and suggests incorporating storytelling, drawing, and roleplay to help children articulate and manage their emotions.

Visit: Gov.uk website

School and college resources

Summary: Offers a range of free mental health resources tailored for primary, secondary, and further education settings, including a toolkit to support childhood trauma, migration and asylum. Their ‘5 Steps to Mental Health and Wellbeing’ is an evidence-based framework designed to develop a whole-school or college approach to mental health, which can be particularly beneficial in managing children/young people’s emotions.

Visit: Anna Freud website

Summary: This article highlights that children are born with an innate curiosity, which is a key factor in their learning process. It discusses how this leads to success in school and life, supported by research showing a physiological connection with pleasure and learning. The article emphasises that curiosity activates the hippocampus, aiding in memory creation, and provides suggestions on how to encourage and value a child’s natural curiosity.

This resource is an excellent starting point for therapists to understand the importance of curiosity in child therapy and how to integrate it into their practice.

Visit: Psychology Today

Summary: These guides explore what self-esteem is and how to help individuals build their self-esteem. They suggest practical ways to boost a child’s self-image, such as offering specific praise, encouraging individuality, and helping children recognise their own strengths. It emphasises the importance of showing children they are valued for who they are, not just for their achievements or for being perfect. Overall, the guides provide comprehensive approaches to fostering self-esteem in children/young people, focusing on direct engagement, emotional support, and the importance of a nurturing environment.

Visit: Young Minds or visit: Child Therapy Service

Summary: The site offers resources to help children/young people with anxiety, such as from online bullying. It includes information on stress related to exams, financial hardship support, and self-care tools. The organisation has a deep understanding of the distress and isolation that anxiety can cause, making it a valuable resource for therapists working with individuals affected.

Visit: Anxiety UK website

Summary: These resources provide comprehensive information on recognising and treating depression in children and young people. They explain symptoms, how to help, and when to seek professional advice. The resources offer practical advice and are particularly useful for understanding the nuances between low mood and clinical depression in young people.

Visit: Royal College of Psychiatrists or visit: Young Minds

Summary: This article discusses the immediate and long-term effects of bullying on children and adolescents. It explores how counselling can support children and young people who have experienced bullying, covering various aspects of chronic trauma caused by bullying and the importance of supervision in therapy for such cases.

Visit: BACP website

Summary: This site offers a range of free learning resources including toolkits, educational materials, and webinars focused on addressing bullying behaviour. The resources are designed to support youth-led anti-bullying work in schools and include various activities and exercises for self-reflection and understanding bullying.

Visit: Respect Me

Summary:

This resource from the NSPCC provides comprehensive advice for parents and carers on keeping children safe from bullying, including online bullying. Cyberbullying is highlighted as a form of bullying that can occur via social networks, gaming, and mobile phones, potentially following the child everywhere. The material underscores that the effects of bullying can persist into adulthood, leading to mental health problems like depression and anxiety, fewer friendships, problems adjusting to school, and in severe cases, self-harm and suicide.

This resource offers insightful information and practical advice on understanding and addressing the impact of online bullying on children/young people.

Visit: NSPCC website

Summary: This site offers a guide for parents and professionals on social media and mental health, covering warning signs, support and tips to have a positive time online. It emphasises the opportunities the internet provides for children whilst also acknowledging the risks. The resources, including things like wellbeing activities, toolkits and webinars, offer a well-rounded understanding of the impact of social media on children/young people’s mental health and safety.

Visit: Young Minds and here for resources

Summary: Details for an organisation providing free, professional and specialist bereavement support services for children, young people and their families. They offer training and resources to support professionals and families with experiences and themes of death, grieving and loss.

Visit: Grief Encounter

Summary: This article explains how grief counselling assists children to explore and understand their feelings regarding bereavement, noting that children express grief in various ways. It explains techniques employing creative methods when a child is struggling to express feelings verbally. This includes drawing or storytelling, to allow the child ways to find their own means of self-expression.

Visit: BACP website

Summary: This page offers resources to support individuals and organisations working to nurture and protect children and young people following a trauma. It includes articles, animations, videos, guidance, handouts, presentations, and more, created by the UK’s leading childhood trauma experts. This range of materials may be beneficial for therapists working with children, incorporating elements of drama, play, and the arts in their therapeutic approach.

Visit: UK Trauma Council

Summary: This webpage offers guidance for professionals managing stress or wanting to build resilience. It provides practical tips and strategies for enhancing wellbeing which can be particularly valuable for professionals working with children and adolescents. Topics covered include stress reduction techniques, self-care practices, and strategies for maintaining good mental health whilst supporting others.

Visit: Mind website

Summary: This webpage provides an insightful overview of this occupational phenomenon. It highlights how modern lifestyles have blurred the lines between work and home life, leading to increased stress. The article emphasises the importance of addressing the underlying issues of burnout to prevent further harm to physical and mental health.

Visit: Mental Health UK

Summary:

This webpage highlights the benefits and outcomes of effective supervision in professional practice. It outlines how it enables reflection, insight and analytical thinking, identifying and addressing learning gaps, supporting continuing professional development (CPD). It demonstrates how supervision positively impacts clinical outcomes by raising practice standards, improving service quality, whilst providing a supportive environment to discuss concerns and alleviate workplace stress and anxiety.

Visit: HCPC website

Summary: This site offers information and CPD in child-led play and attachment, providing learning and guidance to professionals/parents supporting children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. Their online training hub provides access to around 30hrs of expert CPD each year, along with resources, research and ideas for self care. The ‘Directory of Attachment Play Specialists’ enables practitioners to share details within their community.

Visit: Clear Sky website

Summary: This website shares details of how Dramatherapy can support a wide range of client groups. This source offers a comprehensive overview of dramatherapy techniques, particularly suited for children, underlining its potential for addressing a wide range of therapeutic needs and objectives. It emphasises a contained, active, collaborative process of discovery and change. It shares techniques involved; creative activities, embodied experiences, and theatre practices, assisting clients to reimagine, work-through, and effect changes in their lives.

Visit: BADth website

Summary: This article discusses how role play can be used as a versatile technique in mental wellness and therapy, especially with clients who are reticent or feel guarded. It demonstrates how role-playing scripts can replace some aspects of traditional talk therapies, incorporating emotive, cognitive, and behavioural components. It gives examples to support clients to work through their feelings and beliefs in various scenarios and offers insights into interpersonal functioning, noting how the techniques can be effective when working with trauma.

Visit: Positive Psychology

Summary: TThis article highlights the multiple benefits of movement activities for all children’s wellbeing and learning, offering a break from traditional seated learning. It references seven key benefits: Preventing Overwhelm, Enhancing Brain Development, Reducing Stress and Enhancing Mood, Improving Behaviour, Boosting Cognitive Function and Self-Esteem, Enhancing Neuroplasticity and Memory Processing, and Developing Social Skills.

Visit: TATF website

Summary: This website offers ideas for movement and relaxation activities supporting; development, emotional wellbeing, cognitive abilities, social skills, and behaviour, in positive ways.

Visit: Child Therapy Service

Summary: This programme outline offers 9 weeks of ‘creative writing for tweens’ ideas, with goals including creative confidence, self-identity and self-expression. The course playfully explores ice breaker games, before learning how to build a character and develop a plot arc.

Visit: Ontarian Library

Summary: This website offers lots of story writing resources and activities, including Comic Strip templates, character/theme idea generators and game instructions such as Telephone Pictionary.

Visit: Imagine Forest

19 Best Narrative Therapy Techniques & Worksheets (+PDF)

Summary:  This resource outlines how narrative therapy can support individuals to externalise rather than internalise their difficulties. It provides techniques and worksheets enabling the client to be the expert in their own life, fostering a sense of personal agency, allowing them to reshape their identities and stories in a way that encourages growth and understanding.

Visit: Positive Psychology

Summary: This website provides links and resources enabling educational professionals (supporting the mental health of pupils), to employ therapeutic story writing techniques. The organisation delivers training to educational professionals, provides online support and delivers a Train-the-Trainer programme.

Visit: Centre for Therapeutic Storywriting

Summary: This website offers training to learn how to use a unique way to explore sand, water and symbols with your clients, enabling them to ‘tell their story’ in the sand. A variety of training is on offer to develop additional skills for your clinical work. Plus CPD workshops in person / online, are also available to support wellbeing and personal growth.

Visit: Sandstory website

Mental Health: Working with Children and Young People.
Unlock your ability to support the mental health of children and young people. Provider: Open University | Duration: 12 Weeks | Visit Future Learn for details

Communicating Effectively with Vulnerable Children and Young People.
Discover tools and techniques to engage effectively with vulnerable children and young people. Provider: University of Kent | Duration: 4 Weeks | Visit Future Learn for details

Social Learning and Collaboration in School: Learning to thrive through play.
Understand how children play to learn, and harness that power to develop their social and collaboration skills in your classroom. Provider: The LEGO Foundation | Duration: 4 Weeks | Visit Future Learn for details

Child Development: Behaviour and Mental Health.
Gain a practical, science-informed approach toward helping children be happier and healthier, with the tools to handle challenging behaviour, encourage social connection, and support mental health. Provider: Stanford (SCHE) | Duration: 6 Weeks | Visit edX.org for details

Therapy Fairground workshops.
‘Guided Tour’ to become familiar with Therapy Fairground, sampling games/activities, creating personalised session plans with your client(s) in mind. Or Learn how to ‘Brand your Practice’ identifying ways to promote your therapy practice, including crafting logos and developing core pillars. Provider: Therapy Fairground | Duration: 2hrs (each) | Visit: Therapy Fairground for details