Mind You! - Mindfulness for Kids

Aim

Providing mindfulness workshops for primary school children to support them in coping with the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health.

Who are we?

Families deserve all the help they can get. Our work so far at Dream your Future has been to help mums and dads overcome the challenges they face so they can parent at their best. We believe people already know how to be a good parent to their kids, but the challenges of life can sometimes overwhelm their ability to be present and responsive. Through counselling we have helped many parents discover their own authority about what they and their children need and how to make their families flourish and thrive. In response to many parents’ questions about how to help their children’s anxiety, and drawing on the extensive skills and experience of our team, we are now creating a new initiative to teach children about mindfulness and resilience which can help them especially in these times of Covid19.

What's the situation?

The rate of children suffering from emotional disorders has risen significantly over the last three years*1, and the coronavirus pandemic has both increased the prevalence of mental health issues*2 and made accessing support more difficult*3. Even before the pandemic, there was a growing demand for children’s mental health services even as funding was being cut. Children are more likely to experience mental health problems if they face some sort of adversity, and as many families have been forced to struggle in the face of illness and bereavement, economic pressures, domestic violence and isolation from their peers as a result of the recent lockdowns, now more than ever our children need help.  

1 https://www.local.gov.uk/about/campaigns/bright-futures/bright-futures-camhs/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-and 

2 https://digital.nhs.uk/news-and-events/news/survey-conducted-in-july-2020-shows-one-in-six-children-having-a-probable-mental-disorder  

3 https://youngminds.org.uk/about-us/reports/coronavirus-impact-on-young-people-with-mental-health-needs/ 

What do we want to do about it?

Dream Your Future is creating a new initiative especially aimed at supporting children to learn skills of mindfulness. With the right support and skills, children can overcome many difficulties and develop their own inbuilt resourcefulness and resilience. By giving children the experience of slowing down and using all their senses to engage with the present moment, we believe they can connect with their natural joy, creativity and well-being, which can protect against the onset of mental health problems in their vulnerable teenage years. Evidence-based research has shown how effective mindfulness is in treating mental health conditions*4, and the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions before adolescence*5. We are developing a programme to offer this valuable skill to primary school children through Mindfulness workshops run at our partner schools in our local area. By offering funded and subsidised places, low-income families can more easily access the workshops, and their children do not need to miss out on this life-enhancing service. 

4 https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpp.12980 

5 https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-017-1917-4 

This project successfully funded on 16th December 2020