If your child/ young adult is beginning to feel anxious the quicker your child receives support the faster your child can learn new strategies in dealing with challenging situations as they occur, rather than simply leaving it and hoping it will sort itself out. In some cases, it does sort itself out, but in many the conditions simply worsen. Children/Young adults show their anxiety in many different ways.

Shown in children under 10 years Will typically show anxiety in forms of: Involuntary noises or movements e.g. sniffing, scratching, biting fingers or nails, coughing, playing with fingers. Temper tantrums, separation anxiety, reluctant to try new things, not wanting to go to parties or friends house, unable to go to sleepovers, bursting into tears at the slightest thing, suffering from frequent stomach aches.

‍Anxiety shown in children over 10 years Usually they are able to hide their anxiety easier, you may witness signs such as: over reacting to changes, counting, tapping, particular routines carried out, withdrawal from social or family situations, less communicative with family or people when out, fearful, not wanting to go to school, panicky or over whelmed in new situations or when facing new challenges, not wanting to go out alone, changes in eating patterns, needing the toilet more often, headaches, digestive problems, poor memory or concentration.

Stress or Anxiety can show itself in many different forms, if your child/young adult has been demonstrating any of the following traits for a period of time, weeks or months, either in challenging or stress situations or throughout the day in general, they may express some form of anxiety that they themselves may not even be aware of.

Counting, Tapping, Coughing, Sniffing, Rubbing Hands, rubbing arms or Legs, biting skin on their fingers, Repeating a phrase or word. Frequent washing of hands, body or clothes, Hiccup or burping noise, habitat routines, to name but a few

Children /Young Adults behaviour can be baffling, stressful, hurtful and often worrying. But in most cases, it doesn't mean that there is anything more serious going on than the natural process of growing up.

Many of the common behaviour issues that parents find hard are an essential part of and growing up and puberty. It is not usual for children to be, demanding, confrontational, aloof, want more time alone or with friends, feel misunderstood, maybe even reject your attempts to talk or show affection, or appear sullen and moody. It is often nothing more than an over expression or habit that is soon resolved with understanding, mutual respect, support and boundaries put in place.

However, sadly it doesn't always work out like that; when this type of behaviour continues or becomes extremely challenging or totally unacceptable, we need to take better look at how we can support our children.

Anger or behaviour issues become a problem when it harms the child/ adolescence or the people around them. Learning how to express the feelings of anger in a more acceptable way and how to eliminate the feelings that cause the anger in the first place are an essential part of the program to enable the child/young adult to deal with any future changing situations in a more productive and acceptable behaviour. Behaviours such as violence, verbally and physically, swearing, hitting, biting, throwing things, destroying things, stealing, lying, deceitful, aggressiveness, bullying, refusal to comply to rules and boundaries, are typical behaviour traits of a child/young adult struggling to stay in control of their anger or emotions.

‍Family Support My aim is not only to support the Child/Young Adult but also the whole family that may be involved. Parents are often at a loss on the best way forward in how to support their child. Parents are very often inconsistent with their approach in dealing with their child/young adult and the condition or issue their child is struggling with.

My role is to support all the family members. It is not usual for me to act as a mentor with siblings and parents to help restore broken relationships and poor communications. In addition I often work alongside; Schools, Colleges, Universities, Head Teachers, Educational Psychologist, Occupational Therapist and Special Needs Teachers enabling them to also support myself and the child to achieve the best results possible with the treatment program. If we are all working on the same page, we can help the child/young adult to make the required changes faster.

In between the clinic appointments there maybe additional emails, telephone calls, all depending what each child/adolescent or the family requirements are.

If a Child/Young Adult has been a victim of being bullied, loss of confidence, low self-esteem and negative self-worth often stays with the person for a lot longer than the bullying does. A person can often carry these feelings around which will affect them during their childhood and often into carried into adult hood if left untreated.

I see many adult clients who are not working or living to their full potential due to limiting self-beliefs that have occurred due to childhood bullying. This needn't be the case if we are able to treat the effects that the bullying has had on the child/young adult as earlier as possible, restoring confidence and self-belief.

I have found in some instances during an Anger Management & Behaviour Program working with the bullies themselves to find an alternative way for them to deal with, people, situations and re-establishing a healthy moral compass can stop future bullying.

Self-harm can take lots of physical forms, including cutting, burning, bruising, scratching, hair-pulling. There can be many reasons why children /young adults self-harm, once started it can become a compulsion.

Rather than being a cry for attention or an attempt at suicide, self-harm is usually a way for young people to release overwhelming emotions.

The exact reasons why children /young adults self-harm are not always easy to work out, in some instances they might not even know exactly why they do it.

Some situations that cause a child/young adult to self-harming could be due to being bullied, under too much pressure to do well at school, being emotionally abused, grieving or having relationship problems with families or friends.

Often, the physical pain of self-harm might feel easier to deal with than the emotional pain that's behind it. It can also make a young person feel they're in control of at least one part of their lives. Sometimes it can also be a way for them to punish themselves for something they've done or have been accused of doing. It may also be copying behaviour that they have seen in the media, online or a friend.

Mindset and Solutions Programs has proven very successful in supporting children/young adults to stop self-harming by finding new strategies and techniques to use when in a situation previously they would have self-harmed.

Fears are common and expected in childhood; however, for some children and young adults, their fears can become very severe over time, and even develop into a phobia.

A phobia is an intense and unreasonable fear of a specific object or situation. This means having an extreme anxiety response towards something that is not causing immediate danger, a phobia of dogs, spiders, or elevators the list is endless.

Some children/young adults develop a phobia after being exposed to a traumatic or frightening event such as a fear of water after a near drowning or fear of dogs are being bitten.

Research suggests that phobias can run in families. Some children/young adults develop a phobia by observing others' anxious response to objects or situations.

It is not uncommon for a child to develop a spider phobia after watching an older sibling scream and run when in contact with a spider.

On average most phobias start before the age of 10. A fear or phobia can be easily resolved completely during childhood.

Sadly, it is becoming ever increasingly common to see children /young adults demonstrating negative and destructive behaviour and thoughts towards themselves and to others.

It’s not uncommon to hear children complaining or doubting themselves, saying comments such as " I can't do it, I don't like it, I'm not good enough, I'm not clever enough, pretty enough, thin enough. It's too difficult, I'll never cope, I'm too scared, I'm too frightened, I will fail" This negative thinking can very easily become a habit, always seeing, and thinking the worse is about to happen.

If left unchecked the negative thinking turns into destructive thoughts, not only saying scary things to themselves, but also destructive, hurtful and harmful things about themselves to themselves. They then start to believe the things they say about themselves, feeling unworthy and unlovable.

Young adults can then turn these negative and destructive thoughts into destructive behaviour towards themselves; drinking, bulimia, anorexia, drugs, sexual activities, self-harming, breaking the law and destroying relationships, resulting in their lives taking an extreme negative downwards spiral.

With the right program, support and strategies, this self-destructive behaviour can completely turn things around and get back on to the right track, to have the right mindset, to take control of themselves and to be the best they can be.

Sometimes children/young adult feel fed up, sad or lonely for no apparent reason. Their mood may be low, and they may seem uninterested in family life or enjoying holidays or days out. This may just be a passing phase or simply a bad day.

However, in some cases these feelings stay for longer and children/ young adults become quieter and more withdrawn, as if a black cloud is overshadowing their lives. They may become lethargic, unmotivated, withdrawn from social events or school activities, poor eating habits, poor hygiene, uncaring about themselves or others.

Poor quality sleep is often the reason that lays behind these feelings, the body is not producing the enough of the right chemicals and hormones at night that is required to enable them to cope and enjoy the following day.

Restoring good quality sleep is often enough to overcome these feelings. Feeling sad or withdrawn can also occur after a change has taken place; new school, new house, a move of area, an illness to themselves or family member, a loss of a pet or loved one, a divorce. If these feelings of sadness continue without help it could lead to a more concerning issue.

Self-esteem is how a person feels about themselves and what they do. Someone with positive self-esteem will generally approach things thinking they are a good person who deserves love and support and can succeed in life.

‍Children/ young adults with high self-esteem
‍Have a positive image of themselves.

• Are confident
• Can make friends easily and are not anxious with new people
• Can play in groups or on their own
• Will try and solve problems on their own, but if not able to will ask for help
• Can be proud of their achievement
• Will try new things and adapt to change

Children/young adults with low or negative self-esteem will generally think they are not good at things, don’t deserve love or support and that situations will work out badly for them.

‍Children/young adults with low self-esteem
‍Have a negative image of themselves and may feel bad, ugly, unlikeable, or stupid.

• Lack confidence
• Find it hard to make and keep friendships, and may feel victimised by others
• Tend to avoid new things and find change hard
• Can't deal well with failure
• Tend to put themselves down and might say things like "I’m stupid" or "I can't do that" (before they have tried)
• Are not proud of what they achieve and always think they could have done better
• Are constantly comparing themselves to their peers in a negative way

Most children will have dips in self-esteem as they go through different stages or challenges in life. Starting a new school, moving house, changes in the family and many other factors can affect a child’s confidence, but with support from parents and other adults they usually get through this.

However, some children seem to have low self-esteem from an early age. This may be partly down to their personalities – some people naturally have a more negative outlook on life than others. Or they may have had an unsettled time as a baby or toddler, due to health problems, family difficulties or having a parent who was depressed or preoccupied.

Some children/young adults develop low self-esteem following a difficult time such as divorce, bereavement or being bullied or abused, and can't bounce back. Children and young people with low self-esteem are more at risk of developing depression, anxiety, self-harming, and other mental health problems as they grow up and will often find the ups and downs of life in general harder to get through. Addressing this earlier can prevent any future issues.

1 in 4 children experience a traumatic event by the time they are 18 years old. Traumatic events can be life threatening and are bigger than what your child should ever have to experience. Your child could experience a one-time traumatic event or a repeated trauma that happens repeatedly.

Mindset and Solutions Programs can help the child/young adult deal with these events and stop them from taking the memory of the event forward and not allowing it to affect their future.

In addition to resolving poor sleeping habits, issues such as Bed Wetting, Night Terrors, Sleepwalking, Sleep Talking are also treated at Mindset & Solutions.

It is not uncommon for children or young adults to go through a period of poor sleep as we all do from time to time. Evidence shows that nighttime sleep is just as important as healthy eating and exercise for children to develop. Those who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight or obese. They are likely to crave sugary or starchy food during the day to give them energy to stay awake.

Younger children who are persistently sleep-deprived seem irritable and overactive, seek constant stimulation, and don’t concentrate well.

Young Adults create additional sleeping problems by abusing their natural sleeping patterns by; watching TV, playing computer games, reading on iPads, using social media, studying, socialising, all carried out late at night or even into the early hours of the morning. All of which has a detriment to their health and mental wellbeing.

Sometimes relationship have completely broken down, it pretty much comes down to one thing ‘communication’, the lack of it or poor communication. Communication problems often lead to relationship issues, which is no great surprise. If you can't communicate with your parents, siblings, friends, teachers, how can you cultivate a sense of trust, support, friendship, closeness, and love? Basic communication challenges often lead to broken relationships.

Mindset & Solutions programs teaches children and young adults effective communication which is the starting point to help to rebuild broken relationships.  

During the DISC program I teach parents the way in which their child communicates and their child’s behaviour and personality styles. I teach parents best way to communicate with their child effectively. We know not all children will respond to the same way of communicating, rules or boundaries, DISC profiling enables us to find the best way to get the best results.

The objective is to establish a healthy, loving, respectful communicating relationship with both parties, this is so much easier to achieve with the understanding of the DISC profiling. When we communicate consciously in a more effective manner each relationship can be affected in a positive way immediately.  

Each child/young adult receives a DISC Personality Profiling during their bespoke program.  

To find out more look at DISC Profiling. (Link to DISC Profiling page)

Helping students to reduce stress and anxiety relating to exams, students often become overwhelmed by the sheer thought of an exam, some students become overwhelmed by the pressure they put upon themselves to achieve high results.

Coaching students to remain; motivated, driven, focused and disciplined throughout the academic year, to help support and find practical strategies to study and revise during exam times.