UAS Children’s Mental Health
What is Mental Health?
Mental health refers to how you feel in your mind and is your overall emotional and psychological wellbeing, whether you’re happy or sad. It doesn’t mean you’re “mad” or “crazy.”
Your mental health can be affected by the difficult experiences you’ve faced in your home country or during your journey to the UK. Many asylum seekers and refugees have witnessed loss, violence, or threats to their lives. These experiences can cause you to relive those moments, affecting your sleep, energy, concentration, and mood. This is called “trauma” and is a natural emotional response to distressing events. It’s also common to feel stressed, anxious, or low while waiting for a decision on your asylum case. This can affect your motivation and concentration.
Talking about how you feel can help you feel better, whether to a friend or a professional. The UK has many services that can support your mental health, and you don’t have to go through it alone.
Resources for Young People
There are lots of resources below that children and young people can work through to help them better understand their mental state. Including posters, videos, top tips and some translated materials; there are plenty of resources to help monitor and boost their wellbeing.
Young Minds Resilience Cards
The Young Minds resilience cards are a resource to promote resilient practice with children and young people. This document contains several phases that promote attitudes of gratitude and contentment.
This is done by highlighting certain things the young people have that should promote gratitude like ‘I have access to transport’ or ‘I can ask for help if I need it’.
Moments for Mindfulness
The Refugee Council’s mindfulness and self help guide offers mindfulness practices to aid in decreasing stress and promoting a positive attitude.
The guide can be used individually or in group sessions, and includes sections on mindful practices, structured daily routines and creative exercises.
Mindfulness in Arabic Course
The Mindfulness in Arabic course is a free 8-week mindfulness course entirely in Arabic. To find it, just click on the ‘Arabic course’ tab under ‘Course’ at the top.
All the recordings and resources are on the website, and the next sessions become available as you move through the course, so you can complete it at your own pace.
Wellbeing toolkit
The Brighter Futures Wellbeing Toolkit was produced by a young refugee and migrant group in London. It has some great games and exercises that are designed to help support young peoples mental health and wellbeing.
These can be used for mental health and wellbeing, both individually or in group sessions.
Resources for Working with Young People
There are lots of resources available to help those working with children and young people.
UASC Health
The UASC Health website offers advice about the main mental health and wellbeing issues faced by unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The UASC Health website includes a video made by separated children about what makes a difference to their sleep. It also includes information about a range of other topics, including:
- Semi-starvation on journey to the UK,
- Screening for psychological distress,
- Sleep packs and disordered sleep patterns.
Separated Child Foundation’s Sleep Packs
The Separated Child Foundation offers sleep packs. This is a pouch which contains:
- A night shirt,
- A plug-in night light,
- A lavender bag,
- A specially created ‘sweet dreams’ card,
- A stress ball,
- An eye mask and ear plugs.
The Foundation provides these packs for free (as well as arrival packs with basic essentials), you just need to pay the postage.
Red Cross Teaching Resources
The British Red Cross education team has produced a range of resources on loneliness and wellbeing. They also offer free workshops and support for educators.
These resources include at home activities on topics such as “Tackling Loneliness” and “Coping Skills and Resilience.” To find them, use the search function to type “loneliness”.
Professional Support
Children’s mental health support works slightly differently to adult services and self-referrals are not generally accepted. Referrals can take place either from any professional working with a child, young person or their family, so this could be a social worker, the child’s GP or school.
CAMHS
The team that works with mental health and wellbeing for under 18’s is called the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and is commonly abbreviated to CAMHS. Their contact numbers for the two North East NHS trusts are:
- Tees Esk Wear Valley (TEWV): Contact number: 0300 013 2000. Including County Durham, Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.
- Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (CNTW): Contact number- 01228 603 017. Including Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Northumberland and North and South Tyneside.
Support from Voluntary Organisations
Several voluntary organisations also offer various levels of advice, assessments and support for children and young people.
Anna Freud
Anna Freud provides assessments and therapeutic help for a variety of emotional and psychological problems up to the age of 25.
Bernardo’s Helplines
Offering free therapeutic support for children and young people under the age of 21 on the Ukraine and Afghanistan pathways who are living in England
Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH)
A free, anonymous and confidential helpline for young Muslims in the UK. You can call their helpline 7 days a week (4pm-10pm) on 0808 808 2008
UK Trauma Council
Free resources to help children and young people affected by war, migration and asylum. The below link has resources for both young people and for professionals.
