Early intervention key to tackling mental health issues

Early intervention is key to tackling mental health issues according to domestic abuse charity, My CWA, as Blue Monday prompts social media users across the UK to open up about feeling low. Blue Monday is about so much more than people who are feeling a bit skint having a good whinge. It’s a time to focus on raising awareness of mental health issues and talk openly about ways to improve mental wellbeing.

According to My CWA (formerly Cheshire Without Abuse) the only way to really tackle the issue of adult mental illhealth is by helping children to talk about their emotions from an early age. Working with its team of child psychologists, the charity is tackling mental health issues at the most critical time developmentally in any person’s life – their childhood.

By delivering training to professionals such as teachers, nursery practitioners, medical professionals and social workers, My CWA is helping toddlers, pre-school and early years children to talk openly and confidently about their wishes and feelings. They’re doing this through a lively and loveable character named Monkey Bob and a specialist Do You Feel What I Feel? training programme.

“Early Years – that’s children aged seven and under – is a critical time developmentally,” says Dr Bethan Taylor, My CWA’s child development expert. “Our brain develops at a faster rate from birth to five years old than at any other time in our lives. Stress and trauma can create changes in brain development that last a lifetime,” she continues.

“Early intervention – embedding key messages in children about how they’re treated by the adults around them – can make a significant difference to a child’s life,” Bethan adds. Monkey Bob has three clear messages for young children:

• It’s not ok for anyone to hurt or frighten you or anyone in your family.

• It’s always ok to tell someone you trust if you’re worried or frightened.

• It’s always ok to keep yourself safe if you’re afraid.

Monkey Bob and the training offered by My CWA have had proven success in encouraging children across the UK to engage with their feelings. In a pilot study in 2017 of around 900 children, there were two disclosures of domestic abuse and one disclosure of sexual abuse.

“Without Monkey Bob, those young children might not have received the support they needed when they needed it,” says Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie, My CWA chief executive. “Although Monkey Bob has been designed with children who have experienced domestic abuse in mind, he’s great for teaching all children about how to cope with their feelings,” she adds.

The Monkey Bob shop is now open online – at www.monkeybob.org.uk – so parents or professionals supporting young children with their emotional wellbeing can order him now for their own home or place of work. “Monkey Bob works well because he’s designed specifically for Early Years children,” says Saskia. “And they really do absolutely love him,” she concludes.