Well, it’s that time of year AGAIN. I’m tempted to check all the clocks as it seems mine must be running fast. At the time of writing, it’s almost December.

It’s been another busy year for Let’s all Talk Mental Health and we rounded up 2023 with our resident clinical psychologist. the fabulous Dr Sarah-Jane Knight, who was on hand to answer all of your questions in our last ‘Ask Away’ session of the year.

Dr Maryhan is a world-renowned parenting expert and psychologist. Her globally charting podcast is called ‘How Not to Screw Up Your Kids’ has been named one of the top 5 parenting podcasts by The Guardian.

She knows her stuff and has plenty of experience when it comes to helping and supporting young people in many areas of their life.

Dr Maryhan gave advice on making and maintaining healthy friendships and learning how to take control of toxic relationships.

During those testing moments in family life, the ones that involve teenagers, I try and remember what I was like at that age. As it was nearly 40 years ago, my brain is very different now, so it was great to have a wonderful lesson this week, on how the teenage brain works.

It came from Dr Russell Woodhead, the founder of Thriving Teen Psychology Russell is a fabulous guest and the man who introduced to me to one of my now favourite sayings “strike while the iron is cold”.

As parents and carers, we COULD spend our entire waking moments consumed by worry. When mine were first born, it was the obvious things like ‘are they getting enough sleep?’, ‘do they need a burp or is it something else?’…... the list goes on. And then they get older and they go to school. They start mixing with lots of other people and all of a sudden, bullying may be the issue that’s keeping them, and you, up at night.

After a half term break, we returned with a really interesting conversation involving our resident clinical psychologist, Dr Sarah-Jane Knight. SJ came with plenty of information and advice about social anxiety. Around a third of our teenagers experience it and Sarah Jane explained what to watch out for and how to help.

We’re coming to the end of ADHD month, which started with the news that no one taking medication for the condition wants to hear……there’s a shortage of ADHD drugs.

And at Let’s All Talk Mental Health, we just hope that if this is affecting you or someone in your family right now, we really hope that the situation is rectified as soon as possible.

I have no doubt it’s causing a great deal of worry for some people and we thought we would discuss the condition and ways to help, with a very knowledgeable guest expert.

While OCD is rooted in anxiety, Zoe was quick to reassure us that “OCD is one of the most treatable mental health conditions”. In her wealth of experience in patient facing working, as well training other specialists, Zoe was unequivocal:

“The right treatment for OCD is very clearly Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), but crucially it has to be offered with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)”.

This effective coupling of therapies has the patient confront fears or discomfort related to their obsessional thoughts (exposure), and then resisting performing compulsions (response prevention).

What a wonderful conversation we had with Anya Sizer this week about adopted teens. It was great to hear her lived experience on a subject that clearly resonated with many of you.

Anya shared her heart-warming story of when her young family adopted their third child. Her openness was astonishing at times, she spoke of some of the cliff-edges and potholes they have navigated through; how she has learned to be proactive in asking for help, and how they have adapted their parenting style to meet the very different needs of their adopted son.

There is still plenty of research being published about the effects of the pandemic on society as a whole. Another study came out this week, looking at the impact on the mental health of our children. It found what many of us know already…it really doesn’t matter how much money you earn or how big your garden is, anyone can be affected. This research concluded that traditionally advantaged groups of children had the biggest drop in mental health during the pandemic, compared to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Researchers speculated that increased social isolation and a reduction in services may have been contributing factors. It’s not a surprise but how do we reverse the effects?

“You are not your eating disorder”

I think that is such a powerful statement and it came from our guests Dr Bryony Bamford and Cliona Brennan, who joined us for this week’s discussion about eating issues.

I wouldn’t normally mention this, but I have had an eating disorder. I was a teenager at the time and, back in the late 80’s, I felt some pressure to be slim. I recognise that, for me, I needed some control during a time of my life when everything seemed to be changing so rapidly.

A friend has just started encouraging her 9 year old to have a bit more independence. He’s now allowed to go to the nearby garden centre and buy milk. He’s a hardy perennial so he’s taken to the new found freedom with great gusto. Mum’s now worried that it’s all happening a bit too quickly for her liking and that’s half the battle….wanting them to have independence but then worrying that they might not have the common sense to always do the ‘right thing’.

And teaching them to cope with risk and choices in the safest and most informed way was the focus of this week’s conversation.

Social media is currently swamped with back to school photos. The different platforms are full of children looking like they’re ready for the new term, and many are, but a snap shot can be deceptive. We’d all like our young people to feel prepared, but the return to the classroom and the settling in period can be a very difficult time for some.