Childhood can be a wonderful, exciting time, full of joy, love, laughter and learning. All children and young people have a right to lead happy, contented lives and to grow with health, both physically and emotionally.
Unfortunately, at times, children and young people, much like adults, experience difficulties with life. Such difficulties could be expressed through a young person’s behaviour, mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and through problems coping with the challenges of everyday life
In the UK almost 850,000 children and young people aged between 5-16 years of age experience a mental health problem. This is approximately 9.6% of the 5 to 16 years population. This means that in a class of forty students, three to four children are experiencing a mental health problem at any time. Or in an average size upper school, 150 young people could be experiencing a mental health problem right now.
For children and young people depression is increasing. As nation we have almost 80,000 children and young people who experience severe depression. Furthermore, 8,000 of these children are aged under 10 years old.
We know that when children and young people experience positive wellbeing and good mental health they do better in every way. School and home life is enjoyable, life in general just seems to be better with more friends they can rely on, they can deal with stress in a healthier manner and they grow up in in a world that is friendlier and more fulfilling. With these factors in play mental health issues are less likely to show their face.
At Future Focus we firmly believe that all children and young people have the right to positive social and emotional development opportunities. To encourage this, we work with children and young people to help them build skills and resources that promote well-being and healthy lifestyles.
Our approach is to help children and young people to build their levels of resilience and in doing so help them navigate through the problems that they will experience as they move through life’s path. Future Focus provides an innovative range of practical and inclusive resources to enhance the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people.
Our programmes are designed to be useful to all young people, not just those with mental health problems.
We aim to:
- Improve self-efficacy
- Increase self-esteem
- Improve behaviour
- Improve goal setting and attainment
- Promote teamwork and co-operation through good communication skills