I'm worried about my child

It's perfectly natural to be worried about your child if they appear to be struggling with their emotions. You might have noticed some of the following signs:

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• Extreme emotional outbursts

• Struggling to sleep

• Tearfulness

• Low mood

• Irritability

• Withdrawn or emotionally distant

• Saying worrying or alarming things

• Self injury

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It can be difficult to know how to talk to someone who is struggling with their mental health, especially when that person is your child. The following things might help in building that connection:

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• Regulate - Relate - Rationalise, in that order. When a person is highly emotional, their brain is not able to work in rational ways and trying to get them to do so may well increase their distress. Check out this website for more information and techniques

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• Listen to hear, rather than respond.

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• Stay calm, if you can. If you can't, seek support from someone else that you trust, who can.

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• Don't immediately blame yourself - this is about their feelings, not about how good a parent you are.
   

• Seek support. If you feel that your child might benefit from additional support, that's totally okay. It's also really normal, and it doesn't mean that there's anything terribly wrong. On The Horizon offers counselling support services for children and young people. Fill in the referral form to see how we might work together to support your child.