Children’s mental health – working with families and children

All children deserve the opportunity to be healthy and happy, no matter where they live or what school they go to. That includes having strong, positive mental health. While there is more research into children’s mental health than ever before there is still relatively little awareness of the ways distress and trauma are expressed through young people’s behaviour.

We believe that by ensuring all families are heard and trusted when it comes to their children’s mental health, we can help more young people to thrive. This includes making sure parents get the right support for their own mental health and wellbeing, and that schools and nurseries are working in partnership with families to support children with early behavioural difficulties.

Working with the programme team

We are keen to keep in contact with parents who have direct experience of behavioural difficulties, and are interested in getting their input and opinions as the programme progresses. We also want to draw on their expertise to help frame how we talk about this issue. It is really important to us that the programme reduces stigma and the lack of understanding many families face and we want to ensure that parents’ experiences and voices shape what we do and what we say.

We hope this will become an ongoing collaboration, but involvement with the programme can be flexible and work around whatever time you’re able to give. ‘ If you’re happy for Impact on Urban Health to keep in touch with you about the work and let you know about future opportunities to share your views when they come up please fill in the form below.