Emotional & Mental Wellbeing
Anxiety is one of the most common problems experienced by children and young people. Lots of children also feel sad or upset some of the time but depression is different to feeling sad or miserable - it’s an illness and its symptoms last for a long time.
Gender dysphoria can be the experience of distress or discomfort with your body's sex characteristics or the gender role assigned to you. Check out some ideas that could help.
Anxiety is a common and natural feeling that everybody experiences. If anxiety is significantly impacting your child's everyday life, then it is important to get help for them.
A child's reactions to grief can depend on many things, including their developmental stage. Bereaved children and teenagers will need ongoing attention, reassurance and support. Find out more about the common reactions to grief and ways to support children at different ages and stages.
Signs of bullying might include tummy aches, nightmares, your child not wanting to go to school and loss of confidence. Your child may lose contact with friends and seem isolated. Find out what you can do.
Following a traumatic event like a natural disaster, it is normal for children, teenagers and adults to have strong feelings, reactions, and changes in behaviour. Children learn from their parents’ responses, as well as what they see and hear in the media.
It is perfectly normal and OK to feel anxiety in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This can result in strong feelings, reactions, and changes in behaviour. There are a number of steps you can take to help your children, family/whānau and yourself.
Depression is a serious illness that can make it hard to do everyday activities. It is important to get help if you are concerned about your child's depression. Depression can be treated effectively.
All children explore different ways of expressing their gender. For some children, gender can be fluid. Be open to wherever your child's gender journey leads. Find out how to support your gender diverse younger child or teen, and where to get your own support. Check the resources for takatāpui and whānau, and Pasifika young people.
Various digital tools, apps and programmes can help tamariki and rangatahi struggling with their mental wellbeing. These interactive programmes teach them skills to help them if they are feeling down, depressed, anxious or stressed.
Looking for something to help your child make sense of COVID-19? Check these resources - from videos for kids about the science behind coronavirus to online stories that can be important conversation starters in your household.
There are many reasons why people self harm. The most important thing to do is to listen. It is very important to encourage talking as that is a much better way to help the intensity of emotions than to self harm.
Children think deeply about things, but might not always have the words or skills to describe how they are feeling following a traumatic event (including natural disasters like flooding and earthquakes). Find out how you can help them and discover some resources about how to talk to kids about trauma. Updated with resources to support tamariki through flooding and cyclones.
Children and teenagers' emotional wellbeing is better when whānau can get the right support. Kiwi families have access to parenting support to improve emotional wellbeing for our tamariki.
Find out where to get help if your child or young person is having a mental health emergency.
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