By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A WORLD-WIDE preventative mental health program, which helps teenagers cope with bullying before it escalates, is now being offered at a Berwick medical centre.
The weekly My Friends Youth Resilience Program is an anxiety prevention and treatment program launched at Berwick Healthcare in May and run over 10 weeks, funded by a $10,000 pre-election commitment from the former Federal Government.
Doctor and co-ordinator Annie Wells said the program is catering for a group of up to 10 teenagers, aged from 12 to 16, in a fun and safe environment.
“There seems to be a gap in group services and there is a lot to be said for peer-to-peer learning,” she said.
“There is a lot of one-to-one services for the more severe end of stress and mental health but there didn’t seem to be lot on this early stage for resilience and social skill development.
“And you often hear the end story when kids are avoiding school, terrified of being in the playground at lunch time with 100 other kids.
“So we’re trying to look at things before that can happen.
“Some people need that one-to-one. For that earlier stage, a group situation is probably better.”
The 10 children participating in My Friends, with sessions run by representatives from Headspace, are chosen according to whether the program is deemed appropriate for their behaviours and personalities.
“The kids are screened to see that it would be a cohesive group,” Dr Wells said.
“Schools identified adolescents they thought might benefit from the program and they were asked if they would like to attend.
“If the answer was ‘yes’, school sent through the referral.
“Its aim is enhancing emotional resilience and social skills development.
“It’s not like group therapy amongst adults where they’ll all talk about their individual situations.
“A lot of the time (for My Friends) they’ll make up imaginary situations and say, OK, how would you cope with this? What are the alternative ways of coping with this? How did you feel about that? Can you explain those emotions?”
Berwick Healthcare practice manager Cathy Hermans, buoyed by the positive response to the sessions, said current funding will allow for another My Youth program to be run in term three, while there are hopes to gather additional funding to run a similar program next year.
Dr Wells said there was also a parents’ program on the cards.
“We know a lot about ages naught to five, we all know about the toddlers and the stages they go through there, but I’m not sure that parents are as aware beyond that what stages kids go through – what is teenage mental health development?” she said
For more information, contact Berwick Healthcare on 9796 1500.
