Speaker 1: The way in which we can support young people from the adverse effects of mental health is to treat them as individuals and tailor our approach to safeguarding according to their individual needs. So we might need to safeguard them and take action. You know, safety is always a priority. If somebody's life is at risk, we will always do what we can to keep them safe. But empathy is our most powerful tool. And so we mustn't forget that in the middle of a safeguarding referral, we will have a young person who's often really scared and who might need some encouragement to be able to talk to someone.

Speaker 2: I think giving them the opportunity to speak a comfortable space for you to actively listen to what they have to say and ensuring that they have the understanding that, you know, mental health is normal and the same way that we treat our physical health is in the same manner we should be treating our mental health. I think there is a lot of stigma that the children might see on social media platforms or in the society in general around mental health. So it's about making them understand that what they're going through is normal and doing it in such a non-judgmental way that they feel supported.

Speaker 1: We stress how important it is to get help. So to be in contact with the professionals in their life who can offer that dedicated support, like a GP who can offer medical help, for instance. But we don't make it contingent to them getting better. There are no easy answers. There isn't a magic wand. And I think young people need to know that things might go really well and they might have lots of support. And if they don't go so well, we talk to them about what could happen next and, you know, what they could do. It's not the end of the road. It's figuring out with them, OK, if things don't go to plan, how can we change, change the plan a little bit more. At Childline, we ensure that young people know all of those things, but they're also, we build trust with them and we empower them to make their own decision, make their own choices. Talking to the child, engaging the

Speaker 3: child and making sure that the child understands that they've got a support structure in place is really important. We know that children and young people with support structures, whether that be a really strong family, community, school friends, teachers, whatever it might be, they fare better than those without that support system. So talking is actually really

Speaker 2: crucial. There's various different forms of coping strategies such as, you know, ways to manage your anger, you know, pacing, going for walks, taking yourself away from the screens, taking yourself away from social media. Things like that can act as coping strategies for

Speaker 4: children. For some young people, they may find face-to-face conversation, being in the room with somebody helpful. For another person or at another time, it may be that they want to access some advice or support remotely. They might want to do that via Childline on

Speaker 1: a web chat or on the phone. The way in which we work at Childline is to think about progressive steps that young people can take. It's about thinking about that young person's journey long-term, helping them to see what their hopes, what their goals are for the future, and helping them take even the smallest steps towards those goals is really empowering.

Speaker 3: We know that simple things like some physical exercise or physical activity every day can be really useful. We know that nutrition and diet also play a role in mental health. So making sure that the child and young person is eating some healthy food every day will support their kind of growth and their development, but will also support their psychological well-being. There's an awful lot of bad press around social media, but actually social media can be a really positive thing for children's mental health. They can communicate with their friends, they can play digital games, they can look up information about how to protect their mental well-being, they can download apps from the NHS website that actually help them manage anxiety. Sleep is a really important factor in mental health. The poor sleep is very well associated with poor mental health. This is one of those pieces of research that just keeps showing time and time and time again, so we're quite confident that poor sleep is an indicator for poor mental health.

Speaker 2: Another thing when you are supporting a child with their mental health, one of the things that are important to do is to work as a multidisciplinary team. So for instance, the schools are the ones that spend a lot of time with the child, and as social workers we see the child quite often once a week or twice a week or something like that, and then you've got other professionals like health professionals who also see the child, and I think when we are supporting a child with their mental health, coming together and bringing all those experiences and expectations together for the child will be beneficial in the long run.

Speaker 1: Ultimately it's about working with their emotions, working with them more long-term. There are no easy answers, but as long as we prioritise young people, that's all that matters.