A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Depression is usually considered an issue parents have to watch out for starting in the turbulent teenage years. The CW channel, full of characters with existential angst about school, friends and young love, tells us so, as do the countless parenting books about the adolescent years in every guidance counselor's office. But what if by that time it's already too late? A [...]
Severe mental illness is challenging enough for adults to manage. Many spend years seeking treatment before they find something that works. For children, the picture is even grimmer. New research suggests that the rate of suicide and suicidal thoughts among children is skyrocketing. What’s behind this crisis in child mental health? Here are five key [...]
New international guidelines have been developed to tackle the problem of sports-related concussion (SRC) in children and adolescents, but medical researchers admit they do not know enough about the long-term damage it may do to young people. Every week across Australia, hundreds of thousands of children and adolescents descend on sporting fields, tracks and courts [...]
Meal times with young children can be stressful, especially after a day at work or a day caring for them. And if they refuse to eat the nutritious dinner you’ve cooked, this can easily lead to frustration. Here are six things you could do to make meal times a bit less stressful. Tip 1: Get [...]
Would you let your child smoke cigarettes if that's what they wanted to do? What about knocking back a shot of whisky? Of course you wouldn't. The risks attached to both drinking and smoking are too well known, and as a responsible parent you make the right health decisions for your kids, whether they like [...]
In the debut of a new Life Matters series clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller, long time educator and resolution consultant John Hendry, and our very own Michael Mackenzie sit down once a week to do what men should do more. Talk about feelings. They begin with the treacherous path to finding Love. - Andrew Fuller, John [...]
Psychologists have found that fantasizing about the future can lead to increases in depression — and a new study provides some more clues as to why that is. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Consciousness and Cognition in May, examined the role that rumination plays. “Much research on depression focuses on understanding and changing [...]
Boys who grow up in hardship are more than four times as at risk of starting puberty aged 10 than those who grow up in safer, wealthier households. And girls who grow up disadvantaged are twice as likely to start puberty early than others. The startling findings, which may help explain why disadvantaged children are [...]
The hormone melatonin is being handed out too readily to children who are struggling to sleep, despite the fact little is known about the long-term risks of taking it, experts have warned. Melatonin, a hormone the body produces naturally in reaction to darkness that helps prepare us for sleep, has been authorised for use among [...]
Many people have probably heard the term “positive psychology”, but know little about what it means in practice. Positive psychology aims to find ways to make life better for people, and ensure they’re the most mentally healthy person they can be. Officially established in 1998, positive psychology is a relative new field. It has quickly [...]
