Developing Resilience with Emotion Coaching

Helping children understand and reframe difficult emotions can go a long way to building resilience and countering unwanted behaviours. Janet Rose and Louise Gilbert share a powerful technique for helping both young people and adults improve their emotional intelligence.

Girl sitting at desk holding head in hands with adult sitting next to her

Setting the scene

Recent UK directives increasingly emphasise the role of educational establishments in preventing mental health problems and promoting wellbeing.¹ Changes to the Ofsted School Inspection Handbook include new reference to pupils’ emotional and mental health.² Indeed, parents have identified teachers as ‘the ones who provided the most help in these situations in comparison with other groups such as family doctor and family friends’.³

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      string(6056) "Vol 5.1 n www.teachingtimes.comMental healthEvery Child Journal54Schools are in the ideal position to catch andcurb pupil anxieties before they develop intolife-long mental health problems. But whatmakes for effective mental health practice inschools? Louise Kinnaird investigates.Identifyinggood mentalhealth practicein schoolsIn every classroom across the country,there are at least three children whosuffer from mental health problems.Neglect, abuse, bullying, schoolpressures, social disadvantage, familyadversity, cognitive or attention problemsand the increasing stresses of modernchildhood, such as pressures from socialmedia, can all impact a child’s mentalhealth and potentially affect his or herchances of living a normal life.Dr Mina Fazel, a child psychiatrist atthe University of Oxford, said: ‘Mentalillness often starts in adolescence, butdoesn’t end in adolescence: it is a life-longdisorder. It is therefore essential to findinnovative ways to approach treatmentand to reach young people to maximisetheir academic, emotional, and socialdevelopment, and schools are wherechildren spend much of their time.’www.teachingtimes.com n Vol 5.1Mental health Every Child Journal55Dr Fazel is the lead author of a study that estimates thatonly 25 per cent of children with a mental health problem getidentified or treated in high-income countries.1 This mightsuggest that more needs to be done, not only to identify thosechildren who are at risk, but to put policy in place to ensurethat problems leading up to poor mental health are dealt withsooner rather than later.The impact of poor mental healthSchool plays a large part, not only in achild’s academic attainment and cognitiveprogress, but also emotional control,behavioural development and physicaland moral development, all of whichboth affect, and are affected by, mentalhealth. And, as such, schools offer themost accessible and familiar setting forgood mental health practice and earlyintervention in mental health problemsfor young people. Indeed, many parentsturn to schools for guidance, and themore disadvantaged children may findsupport in schools more comfortable thanoutside services.Many schools and research literaturerecognise the importance of mentalhealth for academic achievement.‘Children with higher levels of emotional,behavioural, social and school wellbeing,on average, have higher levels of academic achievementand are more engaged in school, both concurrently and inlater years,’ says the DfE.2 Similarly, high levels of behaviouralproblems are associated with poor academic performance.“Indeed, manyparents turn toschools for guidance,and the moredisadvantagedchildren may findsupport in schoolsmore comfortablethan outside services.”Vol 5.1 n www.teachingtimes.comMental healthEvery Child Journal56The World Health Organisation says that half of all mental illnessesbegin by age 14, disrupting not only children’s education but also theirability to achieve their full potential.3 This means that up until aged 14,there is potentially scope to diminish the effects of the cause of mentalhealth problems. The Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF)sets out a number of indicators that refer to mental health and relatesto the mental health strategy, No Health Without Mental Health4. It saysthat in the past, some services have offered or been commissioned todeliver late or delayed intervention, with a focus on the symptoms,rather than the cause of poor mental health. The latest figure, reportedby the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in2005, is that 80,000 children in the UK are estimated to suffer fromsevere depression, including 8,000 below the age of ten.5So what would happen if schools, as policy, addressed their pupils’wellbeing as an integrated element of its pedagogy at the very startof their formal education? Evidence suggests that to do so mighteliminate a vast amount of pupil anxieties that may well evolve intomental health problems. If schools can provide appropriate supportand actively engage pupils in the care of their own wellbeing by, givingthem the tools they need to deal with anxieties as they arise rather thandeal with the bigger problems later on, then the less stigmatising andthe more engaging good mental health practice will be, and the morelikely teachers and other school staff will be able to identify children’smental health problems early on.Putting in place good mental health practice as a preventativemeasure could improve the outcomes for all pupils.What does poor mental health look like?The DfE document, Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools, definesgood mental health in pupils as those who have the ability to:n develop psychologically, emotionally, intellectually and spirituallyn initiate, develop and sustain mutually satisfying personalrelationshipsn use and enjoy solituden become aware of others and empathise with themn play and learnn develop a sense of right and wrongn face problems and setbacks and learn from them.6The DfE report also defined mental health problems or disorders as:n emotional disorders – e.g. phobias, anxiety states and depressionn conduct disorders – e.g. stealing, defiance, fire-setting, aggressionand anti-social behaviourn hyperkinetic disorders – e.g. disturbance of activity and attentionn developmental disorders – e.g. delay in acquiring certain skillssuch as speech, social ability or bladder control, primarily affectingchildren with autism and those with pervasive developmentaldisordersn attachment disorders – e.g. children who are markedly"
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Inclusion

Identifying good mental health practice in schools

27 Mar 2015

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      string(5816) "Vol 2.5 n www.teachingtimes.comSocial CareEvery Child Journal16Resilience is often seen as a vagueconcept. But if you adopt a rigorousapproach it can achieve unexpected andsometimes astonishing results, both forchildren and staff says Lucy BaileyGrowingstrongerEmotional well-beingSadly for our children the context is worrying. The UK hasa poor record of emotional well-being. In the most recentUnicef survey of life satisfaction of children in 21 countriesBritain came bottom in the league tables. The Institute ofPsychiatry announced in 2007 that the number of childrenwith emotional and behavioral problems in UK has doubledin the last 25 years. The number of adolescent suicides hasquadrupled and it is reported that 75-80% of depressed youngpeople do not receive the treatment they require and thatdepressed children are more likely to experience depressionas adults. A gloomy picture, although simple interventionscan and do work. They require commitment and investment,but as reported by The Children’s Society’s Good ChildhoodInquiry relieving this suffering would probably pay for itself.A child with a conduct disorder costs the taxpayer £70,000 incrime, social care and remedial costs by the time they are 28compared to £7,000 for a child with no such problems.’ (TheChildren’s Society 2007)This suggests that working with all children and youngpeople to develop skills and competencies to empowerResilience is a popular word that is used in manydifferent domains. For some resilience meansgritting your teeth, shielding yourself from negativesituations, keeping on going regardless of howmany times you are knocked down or maintaining a stiffupper lip. Perhaps useful in some situations, however theseinterpretations are quite rigid and do not allow for the rangeof everyday situations that life brings. Some other ideas ofresilience are about everyday muddling through, knowingyourself and your triggers of emotions and behaviours,stillness, relating to and relying on others, accurate andflexible thinking and having strategies and skills that allowyou the capacity to face and learn from adversity, bounceback from setbacks, but also to thrive and make the most ofyour strengths and opportunities.The ability to develop resilience skills is at the core ofimproving wellbeing, life satisfaction and happiness all ofwhich are of increasing concern for Governments, LocalAuthorities, health and education services. The benefits ofimproving wellbeing are well documented and include;reduction in the prevalence of mental illness, physical health,healthy behaviour, employability, productivity, earnings,educational performance, crime, pro-social behaviour andquality of life. However, the World Health Organisation haspredicted that by 2020 depression will be the biggest singledisease burden, costly to individuals, families, communitiesand the economy as a whole through lowered productivity,absenteeism and unemployment.www.teachingtimes.com n Vol 2.5Social Care Every Child Journal17strategies. It is not intended to solve individual problems,but rather to teach skills that can then be used to deal withproblems.The PRP materials cover a range of activities andmethods that build a safe learning environment for childrenand young people to understand their thoughts andfeelings, learn new skills and coping strategies and then topractice them through case studies, role play, investigationand talking games, worksheets all of which are reinforcedthrough homework. The underpinning skill is the A, B, C.This skill involves separating the facts of the situation, what’sactually happened, just facts of the A (Activating event).The B is the interpretation of the situation or our Beliefs.Whether we are aware of it or not we interpret situations, inthe PRP we call this our internal radio station, the thoughtswe have about the A. These interpretations create the C orConsequence, how we feel and how we behave. The C isdriven by the Bs. Here is an exampleThe 18 lessons build on this foundation skill to enablestudents to develop a more sophisticated understandingabout their thinking style and how this impacts both, onhow they feel and what they do. The aim is accuracy andflexibility. If students are able to think more accurately andflexibly about different or difficult situations then they willbe more likely to solve problems effectively, keep thingsin perspective, not give up and enhance their optimismand confidence. 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Inclusion

ecj2.5_p16-20_Social Care_Growing Stronger

14 Dec 2011

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      string(6113) "primarily affecting children with autism andthose with pervasive developmental disorders■ attachment disorders – e.g. children who aremarkedly distressed or socially impaired as a resultof an extremely abnormal pattern of attachment toparents or major caregivers■ other mental health problems including eatingdisorders, habit disorders, post- traumatic stresssyndromes, somatic disorders and psychoticdisorders – e.g. schizophrenia and manic depressivedisorder.The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition(CYPMHC) works with third sector organisations tocampaign on behalf of and with children and youngpeople to effect change in policy and practice thatwill improve their mental health and wellbeing. Theyare currently working with schools, and a paper waswritten to help schools understand the importanceof supporting their pupil’s emotional and mentalwellbeing.7 It suggests that doing so is importantbecause:■ One in ten, or at least three young people in everyclass, has a behavioural or emotional difficulty.■ Almost half of young people with fewer than five A*to C grades at GCSE said they ‘always’ or ‘often’ feeldown or depressed, compared with 30 per cent ofyoung people who are more qualified.■ In an average classroom, ten young people willhave witnessed their parents separate, one will haveexperienced the death of a parent and seven willhave been bullied.29Vol 6.5School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadingLearningMental health ■ One in four young people of secondary school age will have been severelyneglected, physically attacked or even sexually abused at some point in their lives.Furthermore, children with persistent conduct or emotional disorders are:■ more likely to be excluded from school■ less likely to engage with out-of-school programmes to help them manage theirbehaviour and improve literacy■ more likely to be assessed with special educational needs■ more likely to leave school without educational qualifications.The CYPMHC paper says that promoting the emotional and mental wellbeing of allyoung people, and providing effective support for those with behaviour and emotionaldifficulties will:■ help give pupils the skills to cope with the ups and downs of life, help themdevelop good relationships, and reach their full potential■ help make the school a healthier and safe environment■ help improve the academic attainment of all pupils.Mental health is gaining statusIt is increasingly recognised that schools need to promote positive mental healthin their pupils, and identify and address those with less severe problems at an earlystage and build their resilience. Indeed, the government has recently announcedthat treatment for mental health conditions will be brought into line with other NHSservices, offering £120 million to improve mental health services.Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of NCB, said in response to this: ‘Thisannouncement sends a clear message that mental health should be treated asseriously as physical health by the NHS…The peak onset of most mental healthconditions is between eight and 15 years, and young people tell us that having mentalhealth needs better addressed is one of the key improvements they most need.’A recent report from the NCB8 highlighted that suicide is a leading cause of deathin young people and suggested that many children who died from suicide had nothad any contact with mental health services – again highlighting the importance forschools to play the lead role in identifying potential health issues.30Vol 6.5School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadingLearningMental health What can schools do?The Mental Health Strategy cited earlier9 sets out anapproach for improving mental health and wellbeing.For children and young people, the overall aims of theMental Health Strategy are to:■ improve the mental health and wellbeing of allchildren and young people and keep them well■ improve outcomes for children and young peoplewith mental health problems through high qualityservices that are equally accessible to all.A report by the Children and Young People’s HealthOutcomes Forum says that schools and colleges play animportant role in relation to health and wellbeing, andreports that schools and colleges can:1. 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Leadership

Promoting positive mental health in schools

11 May 2015

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      string(5699) "that they have the experience of engaging with adults who are prepared to give the child their turn in an interaction, rather than imposing their own pace onto the interaction by ignoring the child’s cues. Reciprocity is the basis for turn-taking, language development, making the transition from one activity to another, and becomes a blueprint for all future interactions – hardwiring the child’s brain to carry expectations about how relationships work. It also gives us a sense of who we are as a person, and how we can both influence and be influenced by those around us. All very protective for our future emotional health and well-being. The course uses this idea, that attuned relationships are based on a two way flow of communication, to help parents think about how to use their turn in an interaction to shape a child’s behavior – to gradually calm down in order to make the transition from awake to asleep for example, or from being upset to being calm, and so the course addresses issues such as sleep and managing anger. It finishes by thinking about how to repair when things go wrong, which is (reassuringly!) actually essential to building a sense of resilience – the idea that we can cope when things go wrong, as long as they do come right again. Without this we may be left with toxic levels of stress – leading us to dissociate from feelings, cut off or suppress them, or become chaotic and overactive in an attempt to dissipate the sense of being overwhelmed. Finally there is a celebration, a certificate for completers and a follow-up questionnaire.Feedback from parents has been positive. One parent rang the Solihull Approach office to say that it was the best £39 she had ever spent. Others have said:“This has been a really valuable experience that in a way will impact on many aspects of my life”; “This course has been an absolutely invaluable gift to me. It has and will change so many aspects of my life. I am undoubtedly a better parent and more rounded and fulfilled person as a result. Some aspects have literally been like ‘Eureka’ moments to me! I WISH I’d known all this years ago”; “I have found the online course very useful. Now, I take time to think more during difficult situations and during arguments with my kids. It doesn’t work all the time but bit by bit, we are working towards a less confrontational household!”; “The Solihull Approach course I did made it clear parents don’t need lessons: daily life throws us enough of those. What we need is the space to step back and observe our children. We need some structured guidance to help us reflect on all the factors that make them behave the way they do; some developmental, some circumstantial.”The pre and post scores of the first 115 completers of the course indicate highly significant improvements in the relationship between parents and children, see Box 1. However more in depth research presents methodological flaws which are particular to this innovative media. Who is behind the Solihull Approach?The Solihull Approach was developed out of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Clinical Psychologists and Psychotherapists working in partnership with local Health Visitors and subsequently School Nurses, Education workers, Midwives and Social Workers, to identify helpful models and theories to support their work with families. The model, which was first published in 1998, brings together three key theoretical domains (Psychotherapy; Child Development research; Learning Theory), underpins attachment theory, and has an emphasis on practical application for workers across the children’s workforce. It offers practitioners a framework for thinking their interactions with families, and helps them to first engage with the emotional context of both the adult’s and child’s behaviours before offering practical advice. The Solihull Approach operates as an income generating, not-for-profit, department in the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. Online course in practiceIn practice the course can be purchased by individuals directly for a one off payment which gives indefinite access, with no renewal or subscription fees.  It can also be offered via a multi-user licence by schools (special School MUL rates available), children’s centres, GP surgeries, or employers. Templates for flyers, newsletters, postcards, websites, emails etc. are provided with the licence. Many parents will register the offer but may only take it up after seeing it several times. It is therefore a good idea to keep a regular flow of reminders about the course throughout the licence period.The course can also be used as scaffolding for one to one work, with pastoral workers supporting parents/carers to log on and set up an account, going through a module together, and discussing the content and its relevance. The worker can invite the parent to complete further modules before meeting again. Practitioners in children’s centres have fed back that the online course has, in some cases, prevented onward referral to specialist services.Some organisations have used the course to offer a hybrid course, bringing parents together using the online course as a structure, for example, making a computer suite available and offering refreshments. Parents can access the course at individual terminals but discuss the content together. They can be encouraged to complete further modules in between face-to-face sessions. It is important to keep the concept of availability to all even if used in a targeted way"
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Early Years

Better parent/child relationships can transform well-being at school

16 Oct 2017

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