News

I refer to the news report, “ ” (April 27). I applaud the work done in the Youth Epidemiology and Resilience study. However, the findings will remain as just information if we do not translate them into action. Among the study’s findings was that parents were less likely to identify mental health symptoms in their children, and that many parents do not really know their children very well. From my experience as a therapist dealing with youth mental health, I feel we need to go to the root issue – helping the adults. This is a typical scenario that I often see. A child starts with infant care, progresses to childcare, then to student care. This means that there isn’t a constant caregiver for the child’s first six years of his life. There are many studies that show the importance of having a bond or attachment by a primary caregiver during the first six years of a child’s life. Apart from parents doing their part to nurture their children, what will also help when the children go to school is for the education system to make changes such as having smaller class sizes. Supplementary and remedial classes may not be the best options to give more attention to students who need it. Can we expect teachers and students to have the capacity to teach and learn in the afternoon when most of their days start as early as 6am? If we have a nurturing environment at home and in school for every child growing up, then in the years to come, the troubling mental health issues among the young will start to change. Managing youth mental health is more than helping the youth. It has to start with helping the adults to change their way of thinking and doing things. This may help to narrow the gap between how young people and adults view youth mental health issues.