Program to help children’s mental health

With rising concerns about a lack of emotional resilience in our children,a new program has come along to help littlies cope.

A new mental health program for young children has been launched.

A NEW mental health program for primary school children will be launched in Brisbane next month.

Actively Balanced Kids (ABK) is the first program of its kind in Australia.

The evidence-driven program is designed specifically for children aged 4 to 12 and teaches self-regulation skills using child-friendly techniques including yoga, breathing exercises, muscle relaxation and mindfulness.

The whole structure is based around fun, original and engaging children’s stories.

ABK founder Amanda Tuppack said it had a range of benefits for children including better attention and focus, emotional self-regulation, resilience, confidence, coping and calming skills.

She spent more than a year developing the program with her husband Ben, a child

psychologist.

“We have studied and used the best evidence available to create a program that aides in building children’s key executive functioning skills,” she said.

“It’s a form of mind-body therapy. While there are programs that include one or two techniques, our program encompasses all the techniques, including breathing, mindfulness, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation and emotional literacy.

“As far as I know there is nothing like it; no one has ever put a program together before combining all the elements together.

“It’s a very structured program but lots of fun – for example, one class follows a story about super heroes, with associated super hero poses and breathing to keep the kids engaged.”

Ms Tuppack said there was an increasing need for programs that focused on children’s mental

health, with an increasing incidence of kids suffering psychological issues, particularly with anxiety, resilience and self esteem.

“Our program is filling a gap in the market for primary school aged children who don’t necessarily have mental health issues but could do with a bit of help,” she said.

“A lot of parents are worried about resilience and anxiety in their children, as well as emotional regulation, but there is virtually nothing outside professional therapy to help primary school aged children develop coping and calming skills, emotional self-regulation, confidence and resilience.

“All children can benefit from a simple intervention such as this, and don’t need to be experiencing a clinical level of difficulties.

“It’s so important to develop these skills before children get to adolescence, with recent reports finding up to 25 per cent of those in the mid to late teenage years experience psychological stress.”

ABK recently ran pre-launch trials, with a large number of parents registering interest.

Parents will receive a take-home manual and “mindfulness tin’’ to practice what their children have learned in the classes when signing up for the term program.

It will officially launch at the start of Term 2, with half hour classes for each age group running on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Classes will be held at the Sea Scout Den at 284 Graceville Ave, Graceville.