Mental Health Week takes place in Australia from Sunday 5 October until Sunday 12 October, 2014 (give or take depending on your state), coinciding with World Mental Health day which is marked each year on October 10.
The goal?
To activate, educate and engage one and all on the subject of mental health through a range of events across Australia!
You may already be aware that around one in five adult Australians will experience mental health issues in their lives, but it isn’t as well-known that mental health issues are frequently experienced by children. “The Child and Adolescent Component of the National Survey on Mental Health and Wellbeing recorded that 14% of Australian children and adolescents aged 4–17 experience mental health problems” (Source: https://www.chf.org.au/pdfs/hvo/hvo-2009-4-children-with-mental-illness-disorder.pdf).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says “There is no health without mental health”, which really makes you think about how important a healthy mental state is for playing, learning and growing.
Wondering what sort of mental health issues could affect children? Kids Matter talks about two categories of children’s mental health issues: internalising and externalising. The features associated with each are listed below as per the Kids Matter website.
Features associated with children’s ‘internalising’ difficulties include:
- nervous/anxious temperament
- excessive worrying
- pessimistic thinking
- withdrawn behaviour
- peer relationship difficulties (eg can be isolated).
Features associated with children’s ‘externalising’ difficulties include:
- challenging temperament
- reduced problem-solving skills
- attention difficulties, hyperactivity
- oppositional behaviour (eg doesn’t like to be told what to do; won’t follow rules)
- aggressive behaviour.
We believe in the power of music and the mind and as such, our Bonkers Beat program focuses on incorporating music, yoga and meditation, among many other areas, to help children to learn to experience and deal with feelings effectively. The results speak for themselves and we are continually blown away by the sense of control children are able to achieve over their own emotions when the right approach is taken consistently and they are given the support they need.
You can find out about Mental Health Week events in your area by clicking on your state below:
Queensland
If you’re interested in finding out more about how the Bonkers Beat focus on music and wellbeing in early childhood education, there are some special events taking place in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in October and November. You can register for those by clicking here or visit nqsrating.com.au.
As always, you can stay up to date and share your views with Bonkers Beat on our Facebook page.