Navigating adult mental health services as an autistic young person
I go by the name of Philip Milburn but you are welcome to call me Phil, I’ve spent some of my time interacting with the adult mental health service and …
Category: Mental Health
The emotional impact of parenting a disabled child
Instead of writing my own post for Mental Health Week, I’d like to share my column today with Jo Griffin, a Counselling Psychologist and parent carer. I met Jo through …
How can children be traumatised just by going to school?
In a post titled Send Children Being Traumatised By Not Getting Help Needed in School, Tania recently touched on the subject of SEN children becoming traumatised by the education system. She wrote about …
SEND children are being “traumatised” by not getting the help they need in schools
Watching the parliament TV broadcasts of the SEN Inquiry has been an interesting affair, but yesterday’s brought tears of outrage to my eyes. More on that in a moment. It …
Plans and promises: Will the new NHS really be brighter for disabled children?
Earlier this week the NHS’s Long Term Plan was published. It’s a pretty big document and, as I’ve been away, I’ve not had much chance to investigate in depth about …
“I’ve been bullied at school for most of my life” How Siena’s helping other autistic young people like her
Tania’s note: I really value being able to feature the voice of young people with SEND on SNJ, as we recently did with Lucy, from Ambitious About Autism. Today we’re …
Teens and mental health: being a supportive parent in a wild online world
Poor mental health among young people is a huge, and growing, problem. The causes are all too evident: pressure of school and exams, bullying exacerbated by social media, and our …
Help! I’m a parent carer and I’m on my VERY last nerve!
With contributions from Angel Kelly, SNJ Mental Health Editor It’s not just tough physically being a parent of a disabled child. The toll on mental health can be extreme. It’s …
Stress and parenting: Don’t fall into the guilt trap
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week from 14-18 May. The Mental Health Foundation is a UK charity that promotes good mental health for everyone and it’s chosen to highlight stress as the …
My autistic son is desperate for a friend, but other kids won’t accept his differences
If, like me, you were a bit ‘different’ at school, you’ll know the loneliness of being the last one picked, the shame of people talking about you unkindly or the …
Why boosting internet safety and promoting children’s mental health go hand in hand
It’s Children’s Mental Health Week, and the charity, Place2Be, have themed 2018 for children, young people and adults to celebrate their uniqueness. It’s all about #BeingOurselves. Place2Be provides emotional and …
Speak your truth on MORE plans to transform children’s mental health care
Mental Health is one of the most challenging areas of the NHS, especially when it comes to providing effective, compassionate help for our children. In December 2017, the government launched …
Good mental health support needs one thing: proper funding
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. According to the latest estimates from the World Health Organisation, more than 300 million …
Inclusion and putting the ‘Disability’ back into SEND
Tania writes: A leading advocate for inclusive education, Richard Reiser, says he is increasingly concerned about the direction of inclusion in the Children and Families Act. For many parents, special …
To medicate my anxious child or not. It’s an emotive question
My son, Monty, has autism as well as many other, co-morbid conditions. Co-morbidities are conditions which overlap with the ASD diagnosis; for example he has chronic anxiety, ADHD, Tics, Dyslexia …
Interweb Safety Day: The stuff you don’t know as parents but should
The interweb is a big and scary place, and that’s just for the grown-ups. While we think our kids may have it licked because they know all the memes and …
Putting Social, Emotional and Mental Health at the top of our schools’ agenda
At Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), where I’m Executive Director for SEND and Inclusion, we’ve been thinking about Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs (SEMH) in our schools for some time. …
Future in Mind? Progress on child mental health plan a national disgrace
A shocker of a report was published yesterday into the progress on the funding boost to mental health services for young people that we talked about in this post 18 months …
Tips to help a bullied child: Anti-Bullying Week
The Anti Bullying Alliances’ theme this year for anti-bullying week is ‘Power for Good’. What I understand this to mean is that we ALL have the power to help make …
Top tips for keeping your cool when parenting styles conflict
One of the things that can cause big conflicts in a relationship, particularly where there is a child with special needs, is differing styles of parenting. We’ve had our own issues …