Mental Health

How to Become a Better Listener

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

A concept that comes up a lot on this blog and in our dealings with children and parents is the importance of listening.

Really listening to your children is an integral way to build or maintain a healthy and mutually respectful relationship.

And especially for adolescents, having someone to talk to openly and honestly about the challenges you are facing can make all the difference…

For parents, actively listening to your children helps you to understand where they’re coming from in all matter of issues, from bullying to problematic behaviour or depression and anxiety…

And this can help you to make better choices in your interactions with them going forward.

But how do we know if we’re being good listeners?

And how can we become better listeners?

The Simple Reason that Meditation Works

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

You’ve likely noticed that there is something of a ‘meditation’ trend happening.

Prominent figures such as Oprah have even jumped on the bandwagon, having launched a meditation app collboratively with Deepak Chopra.

But this is one ‘fad’ that we can definitely get behind, and one that shouldn’t be going away any time soon.

Why?

A New Way to Look at Anxiety

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

We all experience ‘anxiety’ in some form throughout our lives.

We can describe this anxiety as a feeling of worry or nervousness about something.

And for many people, these uncomfortable feelings are both fleeting and surmountable.

In many situations, it may even be more appropriate to ascribe these feelings to ‘stress’, rather than anxiety.

But for those who suffer more seriously or frequently from anxiety, or even from generalised anxiety disorder, it can be hard for those who don’t to relate.

Helping Childhood Anxiety with a ‘Worry Box’

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

The prevalence of childhood anxiety has more than doubled in the last twenty years.

And while we all experience anxious feelings at times, certain children will suffer more greatly, with their anxieties interrupting the functioning of their daily lives.

This could mean that it affects their sleeping, their socialising, or their ability to concentrate at school.

We’ve discussed a number of techniques for dealing with childhood anxiety on the blog…

But a useful tool for very young kids dealing with anxiety can be introducing a ‘worry box’ into their daily routine.

Practical Tips for Helping Your Child Through Exams

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

We’ve discussed a lot of issues surrounding the final years of high school on the blog over the years…

How to help your child survive the VCE, part 1, part 2 and part 3;

How to deal with the pressures of year 12 (by reducing them);

Motivation and success during VCE; and

How to help your child pick their final year electives.

But for many of you, you will now be in the grips of the climactic point of your child’s high school education: their final exams.

So Australia’s leading online mental health organisation for young people — ReachOut — has published some practical tips for parents, to help you help your child through this stressful period.

Dealing with the Immense Pressures of VCE

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

We’ve talked about motivation and success when it comes to study and examinations.

But an increasingly important issue surrounding these ideas is the pressure that is put on our students…

By the education system, by parents, and by the students themselves.

Studies show that in Australia, we are bordering on an adolescent mental health epidemic.

Instances of anxiety and depression in young people are becoming increasingly and alarmingly common.

And a huge source of these conditions is stress from schooling.

The pressure is even taking a toll on parents, with a mental health organisation setting up extra counselling services for parents of high school students.

So how do we help our kids, and ourselves, to deal with the pressure?

Evolutionary Psychology – A Way for Kids to Understand Their Anxiety

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Most of us will understand the concepts of evolutionary biology:

The theory that all species have developed from earlier species, and have continuously adapted to the environment through a process of natural selection.

Evolution has been instrumental to developments in our understanding of science and medicine, but it has also led to developments in ‘life sciences’, such as psychology.

And although evolutionary psychology has its skeptics, it can provide a foundation for understanding why we think, feel and behave the way we do.

These explanations can be particularly useful in creating self-awareness and acceptance in children.

Especially when it comes to anxiety.

Is Your Child Suffering, or are You?

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

An interesting article in The Age recently brought up concerns regarding parents who may be unnecessarily anxious about their children’s health.

The article cited a recent survey that showed that 75 per cent of pediatric specialists said many of their referrals could have been handled exclusively by the referring GP.

The relevant issue at hand here is that parents are increasingly seeking out specialist support for normal issues in childhood development…

Common issues such as bed-wetting, constipation, and even concerns about their children’s height.

This speaks to an increasing anxiety among parents, and their quest to ensure their child is developing ‘normally’.

Understandably, this kind of pattern of anxious parenting comes up not only in the physical development of the child, but also their emotional and psychological development.

So how can we know when we’re self- or over-diagnosing our children?

The Psychology of Cleaning

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

‘Tidy House, Tidy Mind’.

A phrase we have most likely all considered at some point in our lives… usually when we’re in the middle of a distinctly un-tidy situation!

And in recent years, the topics of cleaning and de-cluttering have even featured in the NYT best-seller list…

Why?

Because tidying has been linked with both good and bad outcomes.

10 Tips for Being a Better Parent: From a School Principal

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Teachers may not be child psychologists, but they sure know kids.

Their day-to-day activities, likes and dislikes, attitudes and behaviours…

And they’ve often got good insights into where their behaviours come from.

A recent article in The Guardian revealed how teachers might sometimes understand more about your kids than you realise.

This author of the article — a school principal in the UK — has identified a number of strategies we often use in our work with children and parents.

How can we help?

Book your initial parent consultation to get the right advice for your child's needs

Why have 2,866* parents chosen us?