Today’s report in The Independent (22nd Nov 2013) reporting that forty five per cent of children aged between 10 and 14 say they’ve been too worried to sleep, while 60 per admit to feeling anxious or sad at least once a week, is sorry news indeed.
The findings are based on research involving over 700 young people commissioned by YouGov. And, of course, the stresses of becoming a fully functioning adult in the World don’t stop after exams are complete.
‘Growing Pains’ have been around for generations but our young people face some really tough challenges around borrowing money for further education, affording adequate housing and finding a meaningful role in the world of work.
Counselling with younger people is a specialist role and finding a suitably qualified therapist is essential. UKCP keep a separate register of practitioners trained to work with children and young people and this can be found at http://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/our_registers.html.
The BACP ‘Find a Therapist’ site too has an option to pull up therapists who work with children or young people at http://www.itsgoodtotalk.org.uk/therapists/ .
If you are worried about your child’s emotional health ‘Young Minds’ have a Parent Helpline on 0808 802 5544 and a very useful site at http://www.youngminds.org.uk .