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VIEWS & OPINION Helping teenagers


talk about their lives Comment by DR MARGOT SUNDERLAND, Director of Education and Training at The Centre for Child Mental Health (CCMH) and Co- Director at Trauma Informed Schools UK


Many teenagers never have the opportunity to think deeply about their lives. They never talk to someone who really listens to the pains and joys of their relationships, their hopes and fears, the challenges they face, what delights and interests them, and what they feel passionate about. Without the chance to talk, painful emotional experiences remain


unprocessed. As a result many teenagers suffer debilitating mental health symptoms.They may experience critical inner voices, continually repeat destructive relationship patterns or make bad decisions with long term consequences for their future. Furthermore, without the opportunity to make sense of key experiences


in their life, many are left with intensely painful physiological arousal, leaving them feeling overwhelmed and out of control. Some try to regain control through obsessive compulsive rituals, self-starvation or binging and purging, self-harm, and/or body numbing drugs or alcohol. Others seek alternative sources of help, such as websites that tell them to ‘cut deeper’ or ‘end it now’. But, surely teenagers talk about these things with their friends? - In


reality friends don’t make the best listeners – they interrupt, divert the focus back on themselves, add their own anecdotes, and look at their phones. They don’t offer the concentrated, attuned, empathic attention that research shows is fundamental for recovery from mental health problems.


We can help ensure that teenagers are not left in emotional isolation.


They can be supported to think psychologically and reflect, by talking with an emotionally available adult (EAA) in school. Where appropriate, EAAs can help teenagers link their present feelings to past experiences and also look to the future.


This is beautifully communicated by Alain de Botton in The School of Life (2018):


“Without ill intention, most people in our lives don’t listen too well. They are bored, keen to prove a point or distracted by their own lives


… But the [emotionally available adult] brings a focused generous attention. They strive to enter into our experience … they look at reality through our eyes.”


Any naturally empathic member of staff in a school or community can


train to be an EEA - 10 days spread over three months with work based learning. Trainees learn how to be active listeners, how to voice empathy and develop the skills involved in narrative competence – to understand the teenager’s life story and ‘tell it back with meaning’, as well as engage with the teenager in collaborative sense making. Dialogue with an EAA, enables the teenager to feel both empowered


and supported, so they can articulate what really matters to them, make positive changes in their lives, and find solutions to problems they saw as intractable. This vital life skill enables them to move from the superficial to thinking more deeply about themselves. As Anna, age 15, said, “I just thought being bullied was normal.” In life’s unstoppable emotional flow, teenagers can be given


opportunity to stand back and take a long hard look at their experiences - the frightening, shocking, agonisingly painful, exquisitely tender, awe- inspiring, exhilarating and delightfully funny. All are worthy of attention, as beautifully stated by Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”


Explore the great outdoors


Comment by CIARA LAMB, senior content editor at The Key


It’s well documented that outdoor learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) boosts pupils’ mental and physical wellbeing. Indeed, Forest Research has found that outdoor learning also boosts confidence, social skills, communication, motivation and physical skills, as well as knowledge and understanding. While outdoor learning can benefit pupils of any age, the statutory EYFS


framework specifically requires you to provide access to an outdoor play area. If you're not able to do this, you must make sure you provide daily outdoor activities (unless this is inappropriate, such as due to unsafe weather conditions). Here are some things to consider when setting up your outdoor learning.


Check if your environment is set up to run quality provision Learning walks are a great way to assess your outdoor provision. An audit tool can also help you check whether you've got the key things you need to run this effectively. Areas for you to consider include:


• Can children move freely between the indoor and outdoor environment? • Do you provide outdoor access to a supply of water? • Are there a variety of hard and soft surfaces, as well as low-level slopes, to help add points of interest and new perspectives (which can in turn act as a catalyst for children's play ideas)? • Are there safe, quieter places where children can observe events without having to get involved unless they choose to?


May 2022


• Are there active places where children can be boisterous and noisy? • Do you provide good protection against different weather conditions? • Does your outdoor space offer independent access to well-organised storage facilities, so children can select and return resources as and when they need them?


No time limits for outdoor learning The statutory guidance doesn't specify an amount of time to spend outdoors - and thinking about it in this way can limit your ability to make best use of the space. It’s recommended that you start your planning by thinking about the opportunities or activities that you want to provide. How can you best facilitate these in either your outdoor/indoor environment – or both? It’s likely that your outdoor environment will be more appropriate for


messy and tactile activities such as those involving water. Likewise, children can explore their gross motor skills outdoors by climbing on crates or using monkey bars, for example.


Outdoor learning should complement indoor activities The outdoors can help you build on learning you've done indoors, by providing opportunities to carry out those activities on a larger scale, or using different mediums. Think about a painting or drawing activity. When indoors, you give children paper. But outdoors, they could paint a fence, or a wall, with water. They could even draw on the floor with chalk. It’s about more than physical development Finally, think beyond the activities you’d expect to see outdoors. Try to


experiment as much as possible with different outdoor resources so children can explore all areas of learning and development using your provision – not just physical development. Perhaps you already have a trim trail outdoors. What else could you add?


Think about providing different fabrics and textures that children could use to create dens. This would help develop other skills, and build on other learning you've done indoors.


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