How to support children's mental health

Staying Safe

Emotional wellbeing

Your emotional wellbeing is just as important as your physical health. Good mental health allows you to develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at you and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults.

Things that can help keep you mentally well include:

• being in good physical health, eating a balanced diet and getting regular

           exercise

• having time and the freedom to play, indoors and outdoors
• being part of a family that gets along well most of the time
• going to a school that looks after the wellbeing of all its pupils
• taking part in local activities for young people.

Other factors are also important, including:

• feeling loved, trusted, understood, valued and safe
• being interested in life and having opportunities to enjoy themselves
• being hopeful and optimistic
• being able to learn and having opportunities to succeed
• accepting who they are and recognising what they are good at
• having a sense of belonging in their family, school and community
• feeling they have some control over their own life
• having the strength to cope when something is wrong (resilience)
•  the ability to solve problems.

If you are worried about your emotional wellbeing, or that of a friend, you can ask for help by asking an adult in school or you can write your worry on a piece of paper and pop it in the Worry Monster in your classroom.