Positive influences

So what can we do to make a difference? As we have seen there are four domains where we can make a difference and we will have the most control over how we act and engage with children and young people. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t get involved at other levels that are across your local or even wider environment and society.

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Later in the course, we will be looking in more depth at the interpersonal relationship level and how you can have meaningful conversations and interactions with children and young people about their mental health and wellbeing. We will talk more about encouraging children and young people to think about their mental health and wellbeing as something that changes, some days they will feel better than others and that there are things that everyone can do to improve their mental health and wellbeing. In an earlier step we asked you to look at what you do, what did you say? Common answers include things such as crafting and arts, exercise, journalling, meditating, spending time with friends, families and pets. Think about how these help you and if you need support with identifying strategies, maybe talk to others about what they do.

When we identify a risk factor, we can be more mindful of any current or upcoming unhelpful triggers for the children and young people, and proactively consider ways we can minimise their negative impact. This will reduce its potential harm for a child and young persons mental health and wellbeing. Single risk factors do not necessarily predict a children and young people’s mental health, but many factors are often interconnected; for example, a child or young person who experiences difficulties in their relationship with their parent, have a family home life that is not stable and they live in poverty, may experience greater risks to their resilience and negatively impact their mental health.

In contrast, when we identify a protective factor, we can look at how to strengthen this to boost the positive impact further as it will help build the children and young people’s self-esteem and confidence and can be used to enhance supportive interventions and the general context around that child. This will assist in strengthening a child or young person’s mental health and wellbeing, and promote their emotional resilience.