Area 43 – Powys schools & community-based counselling services

Lisa Head is the Communications & Engagement Manager, she has been at the charity Area 43 since 2017. She joined the organisation as a Senior Youth Support Worker, then moved to Centre Manager, Services Manager and Operations Manager, before commencing her current role. Area 43 provides safe spaces, information, support, counselling and training to young people aged 11 – 25 at their flagship Youth Café, Depot in Cardigan in West Wales. Their counselling services span the whole of the mid and west Wales area supporting children and young people aged 3 – 30.

In October 2023 Area 43 became the new provider of Independent School and Community Based Counselling Services for Powys.

I recently met up with Lisa to find out more about the work of Area 43.

What drew you to your role at Area 43?

It’s a long story. I am a single parent of 2 girls, one of which was particularly challenging when she was younger. They are both in their 20s now, but when they were little, I was so disillusioned by the lack of support available to children, young people and their families that I embarked on an Open University degree to learn how to support my children better. It began as something I was doing for my own personal interest, but the more I learned, the more I realised I could do to help others in my community.

In 2011, I set up a youth club in the village where I lived, the young people wanted to launch the club with a mini music festival, so they worked with me to plan, coordinate and manage the event. I had a background in Arts Marketing, so I had the marketing and events management knowledge and plenty of contacts who were happy to perform. We attracted over 1000 visitors and the youth club went from strength to strength. I ran the club for about 8 years and over that time we expanded on the music festival idea to re-establish a village carnival, with young people in the lead. We ran that event 3 times.

I had known about the work of Area 43 for a long time, but at that time they only worked with 16 – 25 year olds and my children were much younger. However, when I saw the Senior Youth Support Worker role advertised early in 2017, I jumped at the opportunity to join the team and put all my learning and experience into practice.

During the lockdowns of the Covid pandemic, Area 43 took the opportunity to conduct a large-scale consultation with young people in the Ceredigion area to ask them what they felt they needed in Cardigan. They overwhelmingly told us that they needed safe spaces and an affordable café, where they could hang out and socialise without the pressure of having to spend money or feeling that they are not welcome… And so, Depot was the result.

Tell us briefly how Area 43 came about

Area 43 was born out of a community needs-led project in 1996. Back then there were 30 odd pubs in Cardigan and all the young people were hanging around playing pool and there were issues with them not going to school or college. It was identified that they really needed a place to go to that was not alcohol-fuelled or potentially putting them at risk. A group came together to put in a lottery bid to establish Cardigan Youth Project. They were successful in receiving lottery money and it snowballed from there.

From the early days, we had volunteers and eventually staff – including counsellors and support workers. We were quite early in offering counselling to young disadvantaged people in this area. When it became statutory law in Wales to offer counselling in schools in 2008 we were successful in tendering for a couple of those contracts because of this experience, and have held on to most of those ever since.

We now deliver services throughout Powys, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion and will see in the region of 5000+ individuals this year.

There are a total of 30 counsellors and therapists in Powys and another 28 covering West Wales. When Area 43 recently took over the contract from Kooth, most of the staff transferred over, so they all have plenty of experience with young people in the Powys area.

How can counselling help children and young people who may be struggling with their mental health?

Area 43’s counselling service is delivered by highly trained professionals and managed by people who fully understand the values, aims and limitations of counselling.

Counselling can allow a space for children and young people where they feel they are not judged and offers the opportunity to increase self-awareness, develop personal resources and understand their problems. It is a skilled way of helping those with personal, emotional and developmental issues or difficulties that takes place in a safe and confidential environment. This allows them to explore, discover and embed strategies to cope with change and live in a more satisfying, resourceful way.

By helping children and young people to share their worries and concerns with a counsellor or therapist, the young person can gain a better understanding of themselves, making sense of what they are experiencing, which helps them gain clarity and build resilience within themselves.

How is the school counselling going in Powys and what do you offer?

Thanks to the great team that Area 43 inherited from the previous provider, our service is running seamlessly. Area 43 will continue to provide counselling services for all eligible young people to the age of 25. The Powys model works slightly differently from the west Wales model, but essentially there are counsellors and therapists in all the secondary school settings and selected primaries.

Counselling is predominantly delivered face to face with the flexibility for online provision for those aged 10 – 19 (year 6 to Year 13) in education settings, but there is also an option for up to 25 year-olds to access counselling support either online or in the community.

All young people in Powys up to age 25 are eligible to access the counselling service.

We have 20 counsellors and therapists available for 37 days per week in secondary schools, 11 counsellors and therapists based in 15 of the primary school settings and we provide at least 3 days per week of online or community counselling sessions.

How are children and young people in Powys referred for counselling support?

Whilst parents and professionals can use our referral forms, any young person can register in exactly the same way and we encourage self-referral. It helps young people to feel ownership of the counselling support and let’s be honest, counselling or therapy isn’t something that can be done to somebody, it’s a meaningful, emotional process that takes a lot of commitment and vulnerability.

Referral forms, support resources and counselling information to help children, young people, parents and education staff to have discussions about counselling and decide whether it is suitable for them can be accessed through the Area 43 website page Powys Counselling.

Tell us more about the Youth Café you run in Cardigan

It’s about driving young people’s dreams forward, allowing their voice, hearing them and acting upon their needs. We utilised the lockdown scenario to do some online consultation and canvassed young people in the whole of our area as well as external services, to see what they would like from Area 43. Young people told us overwhelmingly that they needed safe spaces to hang out and socialise with friends where caring professionals could offer alternative views and provide additional support.

They also explained that they didn’t feel welcome in the town centre cafés - they felt stigmatised walking in as a group. The result of the consultation is Depot, which is led by young people for young people - it is their space, we just facilitate it and keep it safe.

In the youth café, young people don’t need to buy anything, they can just come in to keep warm and see other people. We heavily subsidise the cost of food and drink. We have managed to access some food poverty grants to keep costs as low as we can, and we work with Neighbourly and Fareshare for surplus foods, so we are often able to offer free meals.

Our Cardigan building is open 6 days a week up to 7pm for 14 – 25 year olds, we also hold transition sessions on Saturday mornings for 11 – 13 year olds. There are young people out there essentially living independently at the age of 14 – 16 including homeless young people, sofa surfing or sleeping rough. They come to Area 43 to stay warm, have human contact, receive support from our team, and link up with existing specialist services - drugs and alcohol, or housing options, and we facilitate this.

We also offer supported paid work placements for young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) to help them develop the skills to progress into the workplace from a safe, supportive environment where they can make mistakes and learn from them without dire consequences.

Do you have plans to develop and expand your offer in Powys?

We are working closely with Powys County Council, watch this space…

What are the main challenges working in this field?

I guess the main issue is securing consistent funding to provide these essential services. There is no doubt that the need for mental health support is very real. Whilst talking about mental health difficulties more openly has decreased the stigma, it has also opened the floodgates, and the need for support and counselling services means the demand is great and waiting lists across the sector are growing.

Contracts for counselling services go through a competitive tendering process and although we support the campaign by Young Minds and Dr Alex George (UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador) to obtain statutory funding for early intervention mental health hubs, we are still heavily reliant upon grant funders like the National Lottery.

Tell us about some of the most rewarding work you have done at Area 43

Seeing the Youth Café come to fruition is a proud achievement, we see over 200 young people every week, and last year had over 1600 visitors, it’s amazing and proves how much the safe space is needed by young people.

The most rewarding work is the direct work with young people, slowly building trust, and learning about them, their needs, background and challenges. Then having the honour of being permitted to walk with them on their journey and see them grow as they navigate the obstacles, dramas and emotions that fall in their way. I have seen some young people come from the most distressing situations where they have a lack of supportive adults at home, a tough time in education (if they attend), and substance misuse, bullying or other abuse in their lives, manage to find themselves and their strength because they learned that they had someone they could trust, who believed them and wanted the best for them. It’s amazing what young people can achieve with the right support if they want to.

How do you like spending your time when you’re not working?

I like peace and quiet and the opportunity to rejuvenate when I’m not working. I love a spa day! I also like to curl up in a cosy armchair with a book or to get out in nature, walk with my dogs on the beach or through the woods.

Feedback from children & young people who have been supported by Area 43 

About counselling and therapy

"Helped me release all me feeling and emotions."

"It has been helpful to be able to talk to someone. It has helped all the negative energy and thoughts to disappear."

"It helped me by boosting my self-esteem and giving me more confidence in making the right choices for myself, it also really helped with my family and friends relationships which i am thankful for."

"It was good to have someone to talk when my anxiety was a problem. I was able to work out how to control my anxiety and now have way to stop it."

About the Youth Café

“The first time I went to the Youth Café I was an upset teenager determined not to speak to anyone. But after a Youth Support Worker coming up to chat with me I opened up more than I had in a while. I felt a lot lighter when I left.”

“Coming here (Depot) for the past 3 years has done more for my confidence than almost a decade of support groups.”

“I feel that Depot youth café is a treasure to the community for young people, as a mental health sufferer this place has helped me get out of a dark place, the support I have received from the youth workers has changed me massively in ways I didn't think was possible. I've made new friends, I've learned to accept myself for my self with my mental illness and I don't feel like I'm figuring it out anymore. I have started to come out the house more as I'm less anxious of the outside world."

Many thanks to Lisa for telling us about the work of Area 43. 

If you want to find out more you can contact Lisa by emailing lisa@area43.co.uk

There is also further information on the Area 43 website including an online referral form.

The value of play to children's emotional wellbeing

by Rachel Maflin, Manager, Play Radnor

“Children need the freedom and the time to play;

play is not a luxury, play is a necessity.”

Kay Redfield Jamison

We know that allowing children time to play brings enormous benefits to children’s development. Play helps children to make sense of the world, through exploration, imagination and experience. It helps children to express themselves, regulate their emotions and cope with their feelings. Playing with others enables them to learn how their behaviour affects others and develop empathy.

Play is vital for a child’s emotional development in so many ways….

• Emotional resilience.
• Self-esteem.
• Self-confidence.
• Reduced anxiety.
• Self-worth.
• Understanding winning and losing.
• Exploring feelings.
• Self-expression.
• Empathy.
• Understanding the world they live in.
• Dealing with fear in a safe environment.
• Problem solving.

The benefits of play can be found in a wide range of play opportunities, such as:

• Playing outside e.g. swinging, climbing trees, running, jumping.
• Pretend play e.g. dressing up or den building.
• Adventurous play e.g. climbing, balancing, rope swinging.
• Group activities - playing with other people helps children express and control their emotions with others e.g. creating their own play ideas.

Activities don’t need to be expensive, the simplest stuff is often the best. We have a low cost / no cost approach using wherever possible loose parts – a variety of objects both natural and man made which can be used in a variety of ways. Loose parts play uses a range of resources that can be found both in nature and around the house, such as ….

• Cardboard boxes, paper, shredded paper.
• Materials – old sheets, duvet covers, shower curtain, wool, ribbons, old clothes for dressing up, bandages for role play.
• Buckets, tubs, tubes, pipes, containers of all shapes and sizes, funnels, plastic bottles, guttering.
• Kitchen equipment – mashers, whisks, pots, pans, sieves – mud kitchens.
• Sand, water, mud.
• Old phones, computer keyboards for role play.
• Crates, tarps, rope / string.
• Great outdoors for sticks, leaves, seeds, moss, shells, stones, pine cones, conkers, flowers, herbs e.g. potion making.
• Chalk, pens, pencils, etc.

‘When children interact with loose parts, they enter a world of “what if” that promotes the type of thinking that leads to problem solving and theoretical reasoning. Loose parts enhance children’s ability to think imaginatively and see solutions, and they bring a sense of adventure and excitement to children’s play.’    (Daly and Beloglovsky, 2015)

Loose parts create richer environments for children to play. As they are flexible, they can be used in a variety of ways, providing limitless opportunities. These play experiences promote imagination and curiosity, problem solving and independence, with children being able to choose their own direction of play.

With Christmas just around the corner, make a little space for play. Like your grandma used to say, they’ll leave the present and play with the cardboard box. It’s often the cardboard box that has the greatest amount of play value.

Play Radnor/Chwarae Maesyfed is a rural children’s charity that provides play, leisure and recreational opportunities for children and young people in Powys. We run a number of projects for children, young people and families both at our dedicated centre in Llandrindod Wells and through our outreach work. These include:

Play Rangers project: Delivering open access outreach play sessions on green spaces within local communities during school holidays.

Thumbs UP! Club: A project for families who have a child with a disability or additional need and their siblings. We run weekly sessions for children aged 5-11 and 12+.

Mud and Sticks: A Children in Need funded outdoor parent and toddler group (0-5) that meets in the woods for regular play sessions. Our aim is to inspire greater confidence in getting outdoors more as a family and develop strong relationships.

Toy Library: a low cost service enabling families to borrow toys and resources that encourage children's educational and social development. These include a wide range of physical, imaginative and multisensory resources.

Wildcraft: A twice weekly group for children aged 5-7 and 8-11 that offers opportunities for a variety of outdoor play. This could include campfire cooking, nature crafts, simple wood working, den making etc. We also run a monthly weekend session for parents and children to attend which offers low cost / no cost ideas for outdoor play.

Cooking Club: Sessions delivered in our community kitchen for a range of ages. Learning important life skills, cooking healthy and tasty food.

Stay and Play / Fun Fridays: Two hour play sessions for children aged 0-5 yrs and their parent/carer to have fun, play and socialise with others. Facilitated by volunteers.

Messy Play – Occasional sessions for parents and children aged 0-5 during school holidays and term time.

KiVa anti-bullying programme in Powys schools

This week’s guest post is from Dr Sue Evans, a Consultant Child Psychologist working as the Lead for Parenting and Children's Social Competence Programmes at Powys Teaching Health Board. Sue has been leading on work to introduce the KiVa anti-bullying scheme to schools across Powys over the past couple of years. I caught up with her lately to find out more about how it’s going.

What is your role as a Consultant Child Psychologist?

My role is very much about working with agencies and schools across Powys, and also across Wales in using evidence based approaches which promote children’s emotional health and well being and social competence. This involves working with parents, teachers and children using complimentary approaches. I feel very privileged to have been able to train staff from a whole range of agencies in evidence based approaches. I have focussed particularly on the Incredible Years® programme but since 2014 my role has also included rolling out and researching the KiVa anti-bullying programme.

I am also an honorary lecturer at Bangor University and through this post have been involved in supporting training and research across Wales.

How can childhood bullying impact on people, not only at the time but also later in life?

Sadly there is a good deal of evidence about the potential negative impact of bullying both in childhood and on into adulthood. Children who have been bullied may experience anxiety, depression, and loneliness and they may not do as well as they could do academically. There are risks into adulthood for depression, low self-esteem & difficulty sustaining relationships. Children who bully others are at risk of criminal offending in adulthood and may learn to use aggression as a means to get what they want. Children who are both bullies and victims carry the highest risk factors. 

Tell us about KiVa. What is it, and how did you find out about it?

I found out about KiVa through my work at Bangor University. Kiva was developed and researched in Finland, it has a lot of robust research evidence of its effectiveness. It was great to have the opportunity to train as a KiVa trainer in Finland in 2014. After successfully piloting the programme in 2014 with 10 schools we made a decision to offer it to all primary and special schools in Powys through a rolling programme of training,

KiVa includes:

Actions for all in the form of:

• A classroom curriculum for Key Stage Two (pupils aged 7 – 11 years). 
• Whole school assemblies, posters and other material to remind pupils that the school is a KiVa school. 
• Online resources for teachers. 
• Online resources for parents. 
• Online resources for children, including KiVa games, to help pupils build strong and supportive relationships with each other and learn how to deal with bullying. 
• An annual online survey to measure bullying and well being. Pupils complete the survey anonymously online and the University of Turku provide feedback. 

There is also a structured procedure for schools to use if a case of bullying occurs.

Watch this ITV Wales news item which explains the KiVa approach in Powys. 

Why did you want to bring the KiVa anti-bullying scheme to Powys schools?

KiVa is predominantly a personal social education programme for creating a safe and happy school. It is important to understand that schools don’t have to have a specific problem with bullying to introduce KiVa. All schools in Wales are required to have a policy for dealing with bullying and KiVa is one of the best evidence based programmes for tackling bullying. 

What training do staff and pupils undertake to use the KiVa approach?

KiVa should be used as a whole school approach. The first stage is to train senior school staff, usually the head teacher and another member of the school KiVa team. This training takes place over two days and staff who attend the training are given materials to train their whole school staff and ideas and materials for introducing the programme to parents and children. It’s really a cascade model of training with head teachers being responsible for introducing KiVa to their school.

A multi-agency model is used; I provide training on behalf of Powys Teaching Health Board, funding for the training and equipment needed is provided through the Children and Young People’s Partnership and schools implement the programme themselves and pay a registration fee to access the online resources.

Which schools have already signed up to KiVa so far and how is it working for them?

Since 2014 we have trained 50 schools in Powys. This includes all three special schools and 47 primary schools from across the county. Schools are at different stages with KiVa, some have been delivering for three years, and others have been delivering KiVa for one or two years.

The feedback we have had from schools has been very positive. Teachers really like delivering KiVa and most pupils really enjoy it. Head teachers tell us that KiVa is making a real difference in creating a safe and happy school environment. Teachers also tell us that they feel more confident in dealing with bullying when it occurs.

The general feedback from schools has been excellent but we have also got good evidence from research we have carried out. We have a clinical doctoral student researching KiVa outcomes in Powys and she has found significant reductions in pupil reports of bullying for KiVa schools. The great news is that we have found significant effects after just one year, but bullying continues to reduce year on year for schools who continue to use KiVa. 

What has been the most challenging aspect of rolling out the KiVa programme?

The main challenge has been keeping KiVa alive in schools who have trained. Inevitably key staff members change in some schools and we have needed to provide retraining for some schools to ensure continuity.

We know that KiVa works if it is delivered in the way it was intended, so this is the challenge for all schools.

Tell us about some of the most rewarding work you have done with KiVa so far

It has been very rewarding to have great feedback from children and teachers about the impact of KiVa. Here are some of the comments:

“It complements our whole school values and behaviour programme brilliantly, permeating everything we do, and has been embraced by children, staff and parents alike.”

"We initially introduced the programme to the staff to help them to understand what it would be like to be bullied. It enabled them to see the benefit of working together as a team to develop a positive behavioural approach and to develop a culture of anti-bullying. This was cascaded to pupils through a whole school assembly then through in-class KiVa activities which immediately captured the children’s ability to empathise with others. A parents open evening followed in order to give parents the opportunity to understand this approach."

Children now feel empowered to deal with a range of social situations:

“KiVa has made us happy.”

“KiVa has brought us together.”

“It has helped me get along with others, in my old school others were hurting me.”

“It has helped me get new friends.”

“There is no calling names now.”

“We have learnt to recognise what bullying is and how to stop it.” 

Many thanks to Sue for telling us all about the KiVa anti-bullying scheme in Powys. If you would like to contact her, please email: Sue.Evans5@wales.nhs.uk

Mental health and children, young people & families

By guest author Lucy Taylor

Hello, my name is Lucy Taylor and I am the Children, Young People and Families Officer for Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations (PAVO). 

My role is to support the organisations across Powys that work with children, young people and their families. This involves acting as a conduit between the organisations, for example Action for Children which works with families, and the statutory partners, for example Powys County Council which, in some cases, commissions part of their work. I use a blog, Facebook and network meetings to keep the sector up to date and informed. 

Another part of my work is to support the Play Networks and to raise the awareness of play. We ask: are there enough opportunities, time and space for our children to play in Powys? It was working with organisations looking at what services are available, and what support is needed for children and young people, that the gap or thinning of services that support them when they are having low level mental health worries was noted, hence this blog post.

Listening to young people speaking at the Mental Health Today conference in Cardiff in May this year I was struck by their common sense approach to some of their issues. They knew that life was not always going to be plain sailing - that events or relationships could knock them back. They wanted to be self-reliant, not turn to medical interventions or for the medical community to medicalise their problems. They recognised that in helping and supporting friends through their low patch in life, they may put their own mental wellbeing and stability at risk. Their request – “A toolkit for life, not a bucket of sand to hide from it.”

Mental Health Today conference presentation

This is the issue and where some gaps in support appear. Everyone can experience a wobble in their wellbeing. But, with a few self-help tools, some supportive friends and community, the knowledge of where to go for help early on, we may all take a role in our and our community’s wellbeing, leaving the expertise of medical interventions to those whose condition requires it.

The Young Adult Peer Support Project (YAPS) which was run by Ponthafren Association as part of the One Powys Connecting Voices lottery-funded programme was really excellent. When it wound down recently as the funding came to an end none of the young people (age 16 – 25) involved with the project was happy to see it go. Peer support projects like these are extremely valuable, as the first port of call for a young person struggling with their emotional wellbeing is friends and family.

The Making Sense Report was produced in January 2016 as a response to the Together for Children and Young People programme. It had emerged that referrals to Children & Adolescent Mental Health Services across Wales had increased by over 100% between 2010 – 2014, and four organisations – Hafal, Mental Health Foundation, Bipolar UK and Diverse Cymru – joined together to find out why and consider what could be done to address the situation. Young people themselves, who had been in contact with CAMHS teams in Wales, reported on their health and wellbeing and called for “non-mental health professionals such as education staff, counselling services and youth groups to share responsibility for the emotional needs and development of young people”.

For children, young people and their families to have access to informal and non-medical support, we – the families and communities – need to be able to recognise when we, and our neighbours, need a bit of help. It is also crucial that we know how to source help in our particular locality. Information and connectivity is the key. The PAVO Community Connectors help people in Powys (aged 50+) and their families or carers, to access community-level services and activities, (tel: 01597 828 649) – and Powys People Direct “one number for children, adults and families for information and support services” (tel: 01597 827 666) can also help.

The third sector as a whole plays a huge role in providing services and opportunities for children and families in Powys. From the playgroups and play networks, guides, cadets and St John groups to sports clubs and arts organisations. Then there are the agencies offering more targeted support or drop ins. Think of Action for Children, Mid Powys and Brecon Mind or Ponthafren Association.

Powys Youth Service supports young people around their emotional wellbeing in youth clubs or at school. The service has recently noticed that where it used to work with pupils around exam stress, now stress is more general and anxiety about life and the future prevalent. Online counselling and advice is available via an organisation called Kooth (Xenzone) .

But what of families, education and skilling our young people for life? If “it takes a village to raise a child”, what part do we all play in ensuring the wellbeing of all the children? Can Google or YouTube really teach you everything? The ability to budget, know about nutrition, healthy eating and exercise, or how to cook from scratch? These are the life skills the young people want, alongside how to protect their mental wellbeing, perhaps using such techniques as yoga, meditation or mindfulness.

Would it surprise you to know that a walk in the park or taking time to walk and be around trees can also help? The Japanese call it “Tree Bathing” and have invested in public awareness of the benefits of being outdoors. 

PAVO staff are working with organisations from the mental health and children’s arenas, alongside green or outdoor providers, to look at how best we can work together and bolster our communities and families by making the most of the green resource we have on our doorstep. We will be meeting in the coming months to discuss the support we can all offer. For more information call 01597 822191 and speak to Lucy Taylor or Jane Cooke.

Why not take five minutes out from your busy day to walk in the fresh air, appreciate the sights and sounds of nature? Perhaps grab some friends and all walk together. Take the children to the park or share a picnic with other friends and families. It may not solve any problems but it can help soothe your mind and give you a place to start. Like eating elephants you can take life one bite at a time.

There is currently a Welsh Government consultation on: The Emotional and Mental Health of Children and Young People. If you, or someone you care for, has been in contact with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, then you can give feedback up until 29 September 2017.

The Children, Young People and Education Committee’s Inquiry will consider whether the ‘Together for Children and Young People Programme’ is on track to deliver the ‘step-change’ in CAMHS services that is needed. It will also consider how effective the programme has been in promoting the resilience of children and young people, including a focus on the role of education in preventing mental health problems. The Together for Children and Young People (T4CYP) programme is a multi-agency service improvement programme that is aiming to reshape, remodel and refocus the emotional and mental health services provided for children and young people in Wales.

Thought for the Day: should mindfulness be taught in schools?

The long summer holidays are almost over and school is back just next week. How many children listen to Thought for the Day on the Radio 4 Today programme at 7.50am as they pull on school uniforms and pack sports kits and musical instruments at the start of a new school day? I’m guessing probably not that many… But they miss out on some good stuff about them!

Last Thursday I was in my kitchen piling fresh sandwiches into my lunch box as Vishvapani Blomfield read his latest Thought for the Day. I was stopped midway between slicing camembert and beefsteak tomatoes by some very thought-provoking words. Vishvapani is a Buddhist writer and mindfulness teacher based in Cardiff. According to his Wise Attention website his work explores how “time-honoured Buddhist practices such as mindfulness and meditation can be accessible forces for social change in the modern world”.

My rhubarb yoghurt hit the lunch box. And Vishvapani was on to the recently published The Good Childhood Report – research carried out over the past decade by The Children’s Society. This indicates that when it comes to reported wellbeing British children languish in a table of 15 countries at number 14, below Algeria and Ethiopia.

Vishvapani continued: “It's sad news; and we know from elsewhere that mental health difficulties are rising sharply among young people. Bullying is a particular problem and English girls are especially prone to feeling bad about their appearance and confidence. But why is this happening?”

“Various causes are proposed — our exam-focused education system, the influence of advertising and social media and so on. A common thread is that they encourage us to compare ourselves to other people or an idealised view of how things should be — how we should look, what we should achieve or the perfect existence we ought to be having. Psychologists call this 'the discrepancy monitor'.”

When looking at children aged 14 – 15, the researchers carried out an interesting exercise by analysing “the most commonly occurring words in children’s responses, which included ‘friends’, ‘family’, ‘bullying’, ‘parents’, ‘school’, ‘drugs’, ‘home’, ‘fun’, ‘education’ and ‘money’". Bullying is number three in the list.

Clare Foster wrote about the “discrepancy monitor” on the Everyday Mindfulness website, in her piece Social Media, Mental Health & Mindfulness. Elsewhere extensive research has been done over the past decade looking into why “people suffering from depression often believe themselves to be falling short of their own or other’s goals or expectations.”

Vishvapani’s Thought continued. He went on to suggest that rather than constantly comparing themselves with others, young people could focus on the present moment, using a technique used in many mindfulness approaches. “Pausing and accessing a sense of calm can create the space for a young person to start letting go of the anxious belief that they're fat or ugly, or don't fit in.”

Many of the researchers reach the same conclusions, that “people who engage in prolonged periods of meditation practice report that it profoundly alters their concepts and experiences of self”. So what is happening in schools? Are children able to engage in mindfulness? 

The Mindfulness in Schools Project is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to encourage, support and research the teaching of secular mindfulness in schools. Teachers who practise mindfulness themselves can sign up to a 3 day course to teach “Paws b” – a mindfulness course for 7 – 11 year olds.

The Mindfulness Foundation promotes the Mindfulness in Schools Campaign and wants to make mindfulness available to all UK school children. It’s strapline is: "Mindfulness in Schools - as important as sport and as politically relevant as health."

And last month a large-scale trial was launched by the Wellcome Trust to assess the effectiveness of teaching mindfulness in UK schools. It will involve 76 schools and up to 6,000 students aged 11 – 14 “to establish whether and how mindfulness improves the mental resilience of teenagers, and an evaluation of the most effective way to train teachers to deliver mindfulness classes to students”.

It sounds like a good start. What do you think? Should all children receive teaching in mindfulness, and would that help address the so-called “discrepancy monitor”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.

And, by the way, there is mindfulness training for adults coming up here in Powys very soon. Mid Powys Mind is offering a new Autumn 2015 mindfulness course, with teacher Jo Mussen, at Crossgates near Llandrindod Wells. Tuesdays 10.30am – 1pm, orientation session 15 September, course 29 September – 24 November.

Finally, the Centre for Mindfulness Research & Practice – holds its All Wales Mindfulness Practitioners’ Network Day on 3rd September 2015 at Bangor University. It is the second event to bring mindfulness practitioners, teachers and trainers working across Wales together. So, as the new school term in Powys starts, Sarah Silverton, of the Mindfulness in Schools Project, will talking about Mindfulness Education.

Play and mental health: mucky is good!

My colleague, Yvonne Owen-Newns, is the Children & Young People’s Facilitator at PAVO.  As part of her role she focuses on play, lucky person! I am seriously envious! Is she out playing Please Mr Crocodile, Freeze Tag or What’s the time Mr Wolf? while I’m busy emailing everyone the June issue of our mental health ebulletin….? I’m going to ask Laura if we can have play breaks in our team!

Anyway, Yvonne actually takes her work with play very seriously. She looks at the importance of play to children’s health and wellbeing, and works closely with a myriad of other organisations to ensure that the children of Powys have genuine opportunities to play. She recently went to Wrexham to check out some of the amazing children’s playgrounds they have developed there… they are more like the wild dens out in the woods that I recall playing in with such freedom and enthusiasm as a child… Lucky children of Wrexham!

Yvonne is helping to organise a conference on play on 25 June in Llanelwedd at the Royal Welsh Showground, and reading about the content of the day made me think more about the importance of play to children’s emotional wellbeing.

In 2012 Play Wales produced a report outlining the relevance of play to both physical and emotional wellbeing, with recommendations for the role of public health professionals in promoting play opportunities.

How playing contributes to children’s emotional well-being:

• Creating and encountering risky or uncertain play opportunities develops children’s resilience and adaptability – and can contribute to their confidence and self-esteem.
• Socialising with their friends on their own terms gives children opportunities to build emotional resilience, to have fun and to relax.
• Fantasy play allows for imagination and creativity, but it can also be a way of children making sense of and ‘working through’ difficult and distressing aspects of their lives. 

There is an increasing realisation of the importance of outdoor and what we might now think of as “risky” play…. How many parents would allow their youngsters to do as I did as a child – head off on my bike with my mates into a nearby wild woodland area with a large lake and build tree dens unsupervised? Instead young people sit in front of their electronic devices for hours on end… In the recently promoted Children’s Outdoor Charter of Rights there is a section on risk-taking which states: "Children have the right to learn from challenge, to experience failure as learning and to become confident and adventurous explorers of the environment. Safety concerns therefore need to be balanced with the child’s need to experiment and grow."

Journalist Rob Parr asked why fun is not taken more seriously in The importance of play in a recent Times Educational Supplement article. His piece outlines studies around play which “found that play-deprived children manifest responses on a scale ranging from unhappiness to aggression.” Several studies show clear links to criminality and reduced creativity, and Research Professor Peter Gray from Boston in the United States states: “what I think is the most dramatic effect of the play deficit: the increase in childhood depression and anxiety, and decrease in self-control…over the past half-century.”

And it seems play is, indeed, not just about having fun… it is a serious business, it’s about learning the skills for life, as outlined, again by Peter Gray, on Psychology Today in 2009. “A lively outdoor group game may be physical play, language play, exploratory play, constructive play, social play, and fantasy play all at once. Play, in all its forms combined, works to build us into fully functioning, effective human beings.” And children “playing strive to perform well, because performing well is an intrinsic goal of play, but they know that if they fail there will be no serious, real-world consequences, so they feel free to experiment, to take risks in ways that are crucial to learning."

                                                                                                                               

So… what plans are afoot in Powys to further develop play opportunities? Powys County Council has a statutory duty to “provide sufficient play opportunities” and to promote them. There is already a Powys Play Partnership which “aims to become a wide network of organisations and agencies (from statutory and voluntary sectors) who work with the communities in Powys and have an interest in developing more child led play for more families.” The partnership developed the Powys Play Pledge in 2013.

This latest conference will look at how agencies and groups can incorporate play into their services “using simple techniques and methods which will benefit the residents and visitors of Powys”. It will also address the subject of ‘Risk in Play’ – the myths, the issues, the barriers and the solutions.

Can you contribute and make a difference to play opportunities in Powys? And what do you think about the importance of play to children and young people’s emotional wellbeing?

Wednesday 25 June Play Conference: Managing Risk Playing More

Young with eating disorders 'missing out on vital help'

Eating disorders in children are not being taken seriously enough, depriving them of vital treatment, a leading expert has told BBC Newsnight.

Professor Bryan Lask said he is seeing ever younger patients, with increasing numbers becoming ill under age 10.

His pioneering research suggests a strong genetic predisposition to anorexia, which experts say needs to be tackled through early intervention.

New figures reveal eating disorders cost the NHS £1.26bn a year in England.

Specialists have reported that cutbacks in health spending are putting pressure on specialist services, with patients becoming sicker while they wait for admission.

BBC Newsnight

To see full story, click here

Talk Out Loud - Mental Health Stigma Programme

10 Minute video made by children with mental health problems about stigma.

The website gives information about mental health, different mental health needs and how to help others.

http://www.talkoutloud.info/

BBC Radio 1's Stories - Bruising Silence

Gemma Cairney leads a dynamic, poignant and revealing documentary about the hidden world of teenage abusive relationships.

The programme explores the issue of emotional and violent abuse through different types of relationships, including male on female, female on male and same sex - both from the perspective of the abused and the abuser, with additional contributions from experts in the issues.

We also wind back to the story of the then 19-year old hip hop star Chris Brown, who attacked his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna, beating, biting and kicking her until she lost consciousness. We will take a look at how the story was reported on Radio 1's Newsbeat and how quickly it was all forgotten.

This story is based on the first official study of its kind into young abusive relationships, which was commissioned by the NSPCC and the Home Office. It reports 25% of girls and 18% of boys have been physically abused and 75% of girls and 50% of boys have suffered emotional abuse. The study also found that sexual violence happened to one in three girls and one in six boys.

Gemma talks to victims, perpetrators and carers as she tries to get to the bottom of this 'secret' world and under-reported story.

These powerful stories and experiences will be brought together with Gemma's own personal commentary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lmppc/BBC_Radio_1s_Stories_Bruising_Silence/