\n And now it seems that young people who talk about anxiety or depression are being dismissed as ‘snowflakes’.\n<\/p>\n
\n Apparently, youngsters are too sensitive, too easily upset and unable to cope with everyday life.\n<\/p>\n
\n But I wonder how many of those making such judgements have stopped to ask what life actually feels like for a young person today.\n<\/p>\n
\n Professor Peter Fonagy, who led a government-commissioned review of mental health, ADHD and autism, found that growing up amid social media pressures, financial insecurity and the after-effects of Covid can be harder than previous generations appreciate.\n<\/p>\n
\n Improving the mental health of young people in Brent is also one of the borough\u2019s biggest challenges.\n<\/p>\n
\n Brent Council\u2019s latest mental health needs assessment estimates around 18,016 children and young people aged five to 25 may have a probable mental disorder.\n<\/p>\n
\n Brent also recorded around 81 mental health hospital admissions per 100,000 under-18s, compared with a London average of 63.\n<\/p>\n
\n These are not just statistics but real children who live in our community.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is why I organised a mental health workshop for local parents and carers.\n<\/p>\n
\n The aim was to help adults recognise the early warning signs of poor mental health and feel better equipped to respond.\n<\/p>\n
\n Zaffar Van Kalwala calls for greater understanding of young people\u2019s mental health (Image: Zaffar Van Kalwala)\n<\/p>\n
\n Changes in sleeping patterns, mood, appetite, friendships or school attendance can be easy to dismiss as normal teenage behaviour.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sometimes they are.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sometimes they are a quiet request for help.\n<\/p>\n
\n The workshop was also about opening up conversations that too often never happen.\n<\/p>\n
\n In some households, mental health is still something people are reluctant to talk about.\n<\/p>\n
\n But children should know they can speak openly without being labelled difficult or weak.\n<\/p>\n
\n We should listen without judgement and encourage all residents to seek help before problems escalate.\n<\/p>\n
\n Schools, GPs, youth organisations and local services all have a part to play.\n<\/p>\n
\n And those services need the resources to respond when families reach out.\n<\/p>\n
\n Of course, young people also need to be resilient.\n<\/p>\n
\n Supporting their mental health does not mean shielding them from every disappointment.\n<\/p>\n
\n It means making sure they have the skills to deal with life\u2019s challenges.\n<\/p>\n
\n Brent\u2019s young people are not weak.\n<\/p>\n
\n Instead of calling them snowflakes, perhaps it\u2019s time we asked how we can help them flourish.\n<\/p>\n
Zaffar Van Kalwala is a former Brent councillor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And now it seems that young people who talk about anxiety or depression are being dismissed as ‘snowflakes’.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-641303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}