It’s Mental Health Awareness Week 10 – 16 May 2021.  In this blog, Claire Austin, one of our amazing Counsellors at our Young People’s Service, gives us more insight into flashbacks.

We hear the term “flashbacks” mentioned so easily sometimes or being “triggered.”  A flashback is something that comes from trauma, something that doesn’t feel nice.  When a person who experiences this says they are “triggered” they literally mean a thing has happened or been said that gives them a flashback.

But what is a flashback and how do we identify what it feels like for us?

My work mainly focuses on working with young people impacted by sexual and domestic violence.  My experience of flashbacks comes from my own lived experience and that of what young people share.

A flashback is commonly identified as a memory from a past trauma that feels as if it is taking place in that current moment.  Feeling as if the traumatic experience is happening again.

What I hear so often is how flashbacks occur in so many forms but it’s not always understood why or even that it’s a flashback occurring.  Someone can feel the emotions again even if they don’t “see” the memory in their mind, or they may feel some of the physical sensations again and not know why.

In counselling, there are many different ways to work with flashbacks, the best being within a therapeutic space with your counsellor.  By first understanding the experience is a flashback, it can be a great start to unpicking the power it has and how we learn to start controlling it.

When a traumatic experience occurs all our senses are ignited, our brain kicks into survival mode and we do what we can at that time to stay alive.  What happens next is our memory starts to hold onto the experience through our senses and starts to store it in different places.  Our flashbacks occur when these areas become heightened after the experience – touch, smell, taste, image, colour, places – these can all be factors that heighten these stored senses and cause the image to ‘replay’ in our mind.  It doesn’t always make sense, but your brain is kicking back into these negative associations and making you feel unsafe and scared.  It’s also common for this to happen through our dreams, someone can relive the experience in the dream and it feels even more like it doesn’t make sense.  Working with dreams feels important for me, it’s a huge part of our processing to explore and attempt to make sense of our dreams.  This can be another huge step in taking control of the links our subconscious makes.

There are many ways to work with flashbacks, but a nice place to start is with our deep breaths – breathing is something that is always in our control.  There’s no special technique to this, just in and out through the nose, I call it an equal breath.

Breathe in 1…2…3 and breathe out 1…2…3. 

Our breath is a grounding force and by linking into that we can focus our mind and body; it also sends signals to the brain that we are safe.  Concentrate on the breath and breathe in and out until you feel calmer.

Tapping is also a great way to connect with our body, use alternate taps on the knees and thinking of somewhere that makes you happy and safe.  You can bring your breath in again but just do what feels manageable to you at that time.  Lastly, journaling, writing or drawing down those flashbacks and dreams can give you a lot of power over the flashback.  When it is there in front of you, you decide what happens, or how the story goes.  You don’t need to keep them if you don’t wish – rip them up or throw them away after you have put them on paper.  The process of ‘dumping’ it onto paper can be therapeutic and gets it out of your brain and off the carousel that’s repeating again and again.

Flashbacks are powerful and scary and our aim is to take the power out of them. Talking about them is a huge help, but understanding what they are, allows you to take control and start the process of healing.

Luke Bramhall, who leads our Poverty Proofing and Participation Service, on why we need a fresh, new child poverty strategy:

Poverty: in my world, this word flies about constantly – my job title at Children North East is Poverty Proofing and Participation Service Manager – and, as we hear more each day about the social and economic impacts of the Covid pandemic, there is undoubtedly a risk of people becoming desensitised to the term. But we must never become immune to understanding the serious consequences for children and families of being caught in poverty’s grip.

Because income inequality – a longstanding injustice now exacerbated by Covid-19 – not only damages childhoods today but blights children’s life chances tomorrow, with households having low and inadequate incomes being a major underlying driver of physical ill health, worse mental wellbeing, poor living conditions, lower educational achievement and lives being prematurely lost. As a result of families not having enough money, children are unable to fully participate in all aspects of childhood and therefore face barriers every day to being able to thrive.

So when Parliament’s Work and Pensions Select Committee opened an inquiry into children in poverty (focussing initially on how this issue can most accurately be defined and measured), we teamed up with our colleagues at the North East Child Poverty Commission to make a very clear submission: that the defining feature of child poverty is families not having enough resources to meet their basic needs and participate fully in society and the fundamental way to tackle child poverty is therefore to increase household incomes.

Cabinet Minister for child poverty

But we know that recognition of this on its own is not enough. Equally important is having a comprehensive, ambitious plan in place to reduce and then eradicate child poverty, with targets to measure progress and a Cabinet Minister responsible for meeting them, including by ensuring that no policy across Government hinders the achievement of this aim.

This will undoubtedly be a lengthy and complex task but if we do not take meaningful action now, then organisations like Children North East will continue to invest time, resources and effort into alleviating poverty, while we continue to see income inequality increase even further. This is all the more frustrating when we know from relatively recent history that significant reductions in child poverty can be achieved with targeted, joined-up action in place.

I believe there is support across a range of sectors for a new child poverty strategy, and I am comforted every time I speak to yet more people who have had enough; who recognise that it’s not right – in one of the largest economies in the world –  that ever-increasing numbers of children and young people are being held back by inequality and disadvantage; and that it is in all of our interests to change this.

Indeed, our colleagues at Voluntary Organisations’ Network North East, the umbrella organisation representing the third sector regionally, have previously combined forces with the North East Child Poverty Commission and the North East Chamber of Commerce to demand urgent and ongoing action from Government to tackle child poverty levels in our region.

More recently, the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, joined with church leaders across the North East in calling on the Chancellor to use his Spring Budget to ‘set out a plan to tackle deeply concerning levels of child poverty in our country.’ And we at Children North East added our voice to those of over 80 others in urging the Chancellor to ‘put children at the heart’ of both the Budget and the Comprehensive Spending Review expected later this year.

It is heartening to know there is a groundswell of cross-sector support for action.

Let’s grow this coalition and ensure we use the compassion, determination and commitment shown across our country throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to wage war on this other disease that blights our communities. And, as MPs explore the issues associated with child poverty, we hope that our region’s call for a different kind of roadmap to recovery – one that clearly outlines this nation’s route out of child poverty – will be acted upon by Government.

School Research and Delivery Practitioner, Gwen Dalziel, shares details of a new online, interactive storytelling game, offering a fun and engaging way to support children’s mental health:

I’ve been thinking a lot about how in Covid times we all seem to be in a constant state of doing at least two things at a time.

We are expected to be experts at our job and now IT consultants or at least IT competent!  Many of us have had a steep learning curve to adapt the way we work and harness technology in a more widespread way to be able to carry on.  As parents, we have faced the dual role of teacher and parent while probably failing miserably to be good enough company so our little ones don’t miss their friends too much. Schools have squared up to unprecedented demands to offer learning in-person and online while desperately trying to support their communities through change, loss and tough times.

At the moment I’m involved in helping schools to support the mental health and emotional wellbeing of their pupils. We at Children North East have joined forces with our esteemed colleagues at Mortal Fools to offer schools a wonderful resource – the MELVA game.

MELVA is an interactive digital resource for KS2 children.  The resource consists of a game for electronic media interspersed with activities for the classroom or at home. Not only is it great fun but it does a serious job too. It allows schools to fulfil their obligations for supporting mental health and relationship education. This amazing tool supports busy school staff to ensure the continuation of this compulsory aspect of the curriculum, while also offering an opportunity for parents to engage in key wellbeing discussions.

The best part is that the MELVA game is a great multitasker. If we all have to do more than one thing at once, well then why shouldn’t our resources. A great game that teachers and parents can do together, and it provides space for these relationships to flourish. It adapts to all students and different circumstances; it is suitable for use in the classroom when school communities can be together and remotely, accessed for home learning or in periods of self-isolation. Or a blended mixture of both!

Multitasking can be hard; while MELVA as a tool develops coping strategies for the young, it also reminds us to look after ourselves and our worries. We can tell ourselves sometimes the pressure of doing two things at a time can be good bringing creative and efficient development, but we need to look after our well-being too. Engaging with a fun resource like Melva means we can enable young people to support their own well-being alongside, if you use it with young people, being reminded of the importance of looking after our own.

Any schools interested in accessing the MELVA game please contact Gwen Dalziel at [email protected] | 07936 369405. You can also find out more in the MELVA leaflet.

Today, 11 March, is the ninth International School Meals Day.  We asked Francesca Hogg, from our Poverty Proofing and Participation Team, to give her thoughts on the role schools play in children having access to healthy and nutritious food.

As we celebrate the ninth International School Meals Day this year, I have been reflecting on the importance of food provision for families living in poverty, findings from our own Poverty Proofing the School Day programme and how schools can play a role in ensuring all children have access to healthy and nutritious food.

The benefits of access to a balanced meal during the school day are well evidenced, and our poverty proofing work has given extensive insight into how schools support their families with food provision.  For example, uptake of school meals is most successful when children and parents have been involved in developing the school lunch menu, through taster days and opportunities to feedback on things such as portion sizes.  Crucially, this also gives children and young people a voice in decision making that impacts them.

Lunchtime is also a vital opportunity for children and young people to socialise with their peers.  Where schools allow pupils receiving school dinners to sit with their friends with a packed lunch, there tends to be high uptake of school dinners and, importantly free school meals, as pupils are not influenced by their peer’s lunch choices.

There are almost 93,000 children in receipt of free school meals in the North East, equating to 23.5% of pupils, making it the highest figure for English regions and compares with an England-wide average of 17.3%.

This leads me on to the importance of free school meal provision and how schools can ensure families are able to take up the support they are entitled to.  Free school meals ensure children have access to a healthy meal at least once a day.  This helps boost their learning, health and wellbeing whilst easing pressures on family budgets to cover other essential living costs.  However, there is a lot of stigma associated with free school meals.  This means, despite being entitled to a free school meal, many families do not take up this offer.  To ensure families can benefit from this support, regular communication around free school meal provision is essential as family circumstances can change throughout the school year.  Any communication must be poverty sensitive and use a range of methods such as newsletters, texts, social media and face to face.

Having a member of staff in school who can support families in applying for free school meals is also hugely beneficial and can help remove barriers to the application process.

The way in which the free school meal allowance is administered can also make access to food easier.  For example, enabling pupils to spend their allowance at breakfast time or morning break gives children and young people flexibility and choice.  This is particularly important for children who may not have been able to eat breakfast before coming to school.  Finally, allowing unspent daily free school meal allowances to roll over allows students to use it on a day when they need a bit of extra food, and means they aren’t losing out if they attend extra-curricular activities during lunchtime.

So my ask to schools on this International School Meals Day is to reflect on your food provision policies and practices, celebrate what you are doing well and consider what opportunities there are to develop your practices further.

For more information and advice about how your school can address poverty in the classroom, we have recently published the ‘Turning the Page on Poverty’ resource in collaboration with the National Education Union and Child Poverty Action Group.

DOWNLOAD TURNING THE PAGE ON POVERTY

Let’s make sure we focus on the pleasure of reading, not the pressure to have the best costume say Georgina Burt and Grace Dunne from our Poverty Proofing and Participation Team.

As children in over 100 countries across the world celebrate World Book Day we salute and acknowledge the purpose and ethos of the charity ‘World Book Day.’ For 24 years, they have strived to ensure that every child across the country is provided with their own book to take home, with the mission of ‘encouraging children to explore the pleasures of books and reading’.

While this mission is essential in our society and to be encouraged, we have found many challenges around the delivery of World Book Day within schools through our Poverty Proofing the School Day work.

Since last World Book Day, parents, children and teachers have all been under increased pressure as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. After a stressful year of school closures and home schooling for many, families could be feeling the strain to come up with an imaginative costume for their children this World Book Day. For some families, however, the pressures will be not only creative but also financial.

Parents and children alike have expressed time and time again the pressure that having to provide a dressing up outfit for their child can have on household budgets, and the feeling of dejection and disappointment as some children always seem to miss out on the opportunity for dressing up.

Regularly we go into schools and see pictures of classes of children dressed up in outfits of their favourite book, while two or three children have to suffer the consequences of not having an outfit and just wearing their school uniform.

It would be easy to delight in the costumes that were on show, if we didn’t already know the stories behind the pictures that we’ve heard from the mouths of children:. ‘My parents are struggling with money’, ‘My mum didn’t have time’, ‘We didn’t get enough notice’, ‘I think that my parents forgot’.

Some parents have told us they aren’t going to send their children in on World Book Day as it costs too much money – a clear example of how costly school activities can impact upon children’s attendance and attainment. Let’s be honest – which parent really wants to send their child to school in uniform on a day when their classmates will be having fun dressing up?

While World Book Day should be an essential part of school life and celebrated in all its forms, we have to move away from the idea that it is all about dressing up. I know some children (and teachers!) really enjoy this, but we have to balance the benefits of dressing up with the negative impact this can have on some of our most disadvantaged children.

What can schools do instead of dressing up for World Book Day?

The solution can be simple, with many schools moving away from the dressing up ideas. How about:

• Pupils creating outfits or head dresses in school during the week leading up to World Book Day, with the big reveal on the day itself? Pupils could also be given a plain t-shirt to decorate with the front cover of their favourite book.
• Providing a ‘junk box’ of fabric and other craft materials, and challenging pupils to create a costume in a set period of time. They could then put on a catwalk show and guess who their friends have dressed up as?
• Decorating masks or designing a front cover for their favourite book on a plain t-shirt
• Teaming up with local fancy dress shops and putting out a costume rail so that children can either bring their own or use one of the dressing up outfits provided at school.

This year’s theme of ‘Share a story’ is a beautifully simple one, focusing on the joy of reading together and coming back to the original focus of World Book Day. Schools could focus on this aspect of sharing by asking teachers to read their favourite stories and talk about why it is so special to them. Pupils in school could have a storytelling session with blankets and hot chocolate, or schools could send a ‘Sharing stories box’ home to pupils, including their World Book Day book and a sachet of hot chocolate each for them and their parent or carer to enjoy together.

While some schools opt to have a pyjama or onesie day instead, it’s important to consider how these items can also be expensive, and the pressure that children may feel under to have the most up to date and fashionable option.

We have to ensure that those children who do not have the money for dressing up outfits are not singled out, and some simple changes can eliminate another barrier that children with less financial backing can have in school.

The result of incorporating these changes has, on many occasions, been incredibly positive with some head teachers being thanked by parents for rethinking how World Book Day has been carried out. Coming up with a really imaginative idea (like dressing up a potato as a favourite character) can even gain a school positive press coverage.

So let’s think about the implications World Book Day sometimes has on disadvantaged children and the steps we can make within school to ensure that no child is missing out so that every child has equal access to the opportunity that this fantastic celebration presents.

For more information on ideas and opportunities for World Book Day then please do get in contact with us at Children North East at [email protected]

Children North East is working with Newcastle University on the VOICES project, gathering the viewpoints of children and young people in order to inform service delivery and build back better post pandemic. Here, one of our School Research and Delivery Practitioners, Gwen Dalziel, writes about the importance of our child-centred approach

As Children North East celebrates its 130th anniversary, our ability as an organisation to stay relevant remains. The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed us all into uncharted territory and into truly unprecedented times. Our children are experiencing huge changes to their everyday lives and are living part of their childhoods with restrictions we never had. But what exactly do children think and feel about those changes?

I am lucky enough to be involved in the VOICES project – an innovative and exciting piece of research Children North East is working on with our friends at Newcastle University that sets out to answer this question and, more importantly, in true Children North East style aims to ensure that children’s responses are listened to and acted upon.

The research is a regionwide consultation to understand the challenges children and young people in the North East are facing as a result of Covid-19. We are contacting schools and youth organisations to ask for small groups of young people to act as focus groups and, via a short video call, answer some questions on how the pandemic has changed their lives and their opinions on the impact on their everyday lives. We are working right across the region and across the five to 18 years age range.

The research aims to provide schools, local authorities and services with information on how children have been affected by Covid-19 and give a unique understanding of what is currently important to young people.

This is a wonderful opportunity for young people in our part of the country to have their voices heard and inform the planning and adaptation of services post Covid,  ensuring measures implemented are centred on their needs and concerns rather than on adult assumptions about how young people feel. This isn’t just a snapshot of a moment in time, it is providing a platform for young people’s voices and it’s ultimately about taking action.

For me, I am honoured that the young people I have spoken to so far have trusted me with their opinions, their fears and they’ve told me in no uncertain terms what has frustrated and upset them. This is an invaluable piece of research, not just for an insight into unprecedented times but, in keeping with the ethos of Children North East, this is going to be used practically to help children and young people as we emerge from the restrictions imposed on us.

Our research continues and any organisation wishing to be involved in this vital work, please contact us via [email protected]

Visit the VOICES website

Children North East celebrated our 130-year anniversary in 2022.