Eleven-year-old Jaheem Herrera woke up on April 16 acting strangely. He wasn’t hungry and he didn’t want to go to school.
But the outgoing fifth grader packed his bag and went to school at Dunaire Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia.
He came home much happier than when he left in the morning, smiling as he handed his mother, Masika Bermudez, a glowing report card full of A’s and B’s. She gave him a high-five and he went upstairs to his room as she prepared dinner read full article
Being satisfied with one’s appearance is one of the most important prerequisites for a positive self image. However, in today’s appearance culture it is the rule rather than the exception that children and young people are dissatisfied with their appearance. [continue reading…]
 Tortured by taunts- the BBC takes a look at why kids can be cruel about mental illness.
Samantha Hilton remembers her friends literally walking away from her. She had started self-harming because of depression from the age of 13.
School was “hell” she says – a catalogue of rejection by teachers, friends and doctors, who put her behaviour down to “teenage angst” or hormonal changes.
Her account does not shock PhD student Emma Lindley, who has devised lessons to help teachers combat the stigma surrounding mental illness in children. Continue reading
Emma herself has bipolar disorder, but manages her condition well and is a PhD student and works as a lecturer at the University of Manchester. The mental health campaign group Time To Change surveyed more than 3,000 adults living with mental health problems – and a majority thought education to prevent negative attitudes should start in school.Â
How would you react if someone you knew had a mental health issue?
Link to Time to Change to find out if you are a mental health helper or hinderance?Â
Girls targeted by bullies at primary school are two and a half times more likely to remain victims than boys, according to research from the University of Warwick and University of Hertfordshire.
Researchers found girls being directly victimised by bullies (being beaten and suffering physical or verbal threats) at six years old were significantly more likely to still be a direct victim at age ten.
The study also revealed that the nature of bullying changes as children grow older, from direct victimisation (physical bullying and threats) to relational victimisation (spreading of malicious gossip or the withdrawal of friendships leading to social exclusion). [continue reading…]
