Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on children’s mental health
COVID-19 has had a significant effect on the wellbeing and the psychological health of children. The pandemic has led to behavioural, attention and emotional difficulties in children due to difficulties in accessing support. The national lockdown had a profound effect on children, particularly those with a history of mental health. Children were faced with challenges, in terms of dealing with pressures of school/college, loneliness, isolation and a loss of their routine making lockdown harder to cope. Without school, children could not see their friends and teachers so could not socialise, and with no spaces to explore and grow their skills and no routine, this had a predictably negative impact.
The Nishkam Mental and Emotional Wellbeing Service (NMEWS) understood the detriment that pandemic had on young children and wanted to explore the impact on children’s emotional wellbeing. With the guidance of Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh Ji, the proposed project - which was developed with a primarily preventative approach – was piloted for Nishkam primary school pupils.
The pilot project had six wellbeing sessions which aimed to build resilience, communication, trust and patience in pupils through observing and working with your partner, based around fun and engaging activities which aimed to instil confidence and contentment. Each wellbeing session had a different theme based on various Nishkam virtues, helping to build better mental and emotional wellbeing. To help the pupils with their stresses and strengths the sessions took place outdoors to help pupils connect with nature. They had a sense of adventure as well - learning how to encourage yourself and your partner to achieve the goals of the sessions with a sense of competition and problem-solving. Pupils learned to compliment and give feedback, creating an environment of respect and kindness where mature conversations about feelings and emotions could be had. A tangible approach was taken to introduce gratitude through gratitude journaling which is associated with optimism, enthusiasm, happiness and better wellbeing - a tool which they can build on and implement in their everyday routine.
The pilot project was aimed at pupils in Year 3-6 because with this target audience the sessions were provably more effective - at this age children have developed their self-awareness and are emotionally aware.
The success of the project is highlighted from the resulting survey which showed that 4 out of 6 children benefited and improved from the project. The pupils experienced a sense of calm which greatly helped them when faced with ‘big’ experiences and feelings.
With the success of the pilot project, NMEWS are soon going to launch a formal project for the students of Nishkam primary school. The sessions will be similar and will be in the playground as having outdoor sessions proved advantageous. NMEWS are also hoping to run a pilot project with the parents of the children which will include workshops with different organisations to give parents the support and signpost them in the right direction for their help. The care connectors want to create a space where parents can reflect on how they are doing, and where parents can talk and work with other parents about similar issues they are facing in order to learn how to overcome them.
The workshop administrators are not only wellbeing officers for the children but also care connectors for the parents. They wear the ‘turban’ of care and aim to improve children’s mental health and tackle the problem from the core.
Sarbat da Bhalla - for the wellbeing of all humanity