childrens mental health

Jenny Smillie emphasises the therapeutic benefits of nature for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). A lot of the time the children who will benefit most from being in nature don't get enough opportunities to experience this due to the challenges involved, from keeping children safe outdoors to practicalities such as weather. Jenny and Angelica discuss mental health, Forest School practice, unhurried time, forest bathing, children's therapeutic needs being met and much more.

Episode breakdown: 

• 05:00 - Applying SEND practice to outdoor learning
• 07:18 - It's not bad weather it's bad clothing!  
• 09:24 - Experiencing the joy of the outdoors
• 10:40 - The uniqueness of the outdoors
• 12:00 - Unhurried time: Slowing down practice outdoors
• 16:45 - Regular access to natural spaces
• 19:05 - Recommended physical activity guidelines
• 24:20 - Physical development within day to day routines
• 29:05 - Being outside is a multi-sensory experience
• 33:26 - Forest bathing: The benefits for mental health
• 36:50 - The freedom of the outdoors
• 38:40 - Rest and relaxation outdoors

Hear and read more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Join the conversation as host Camry Brown sits down with the pioneering psychologist and founder of The AAKOMA Project, Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble. Enjoy this enlightening episode as she shares tips for students battling mental health.

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Why is it in all our best interests to understand the long-term effects of childhood adversity?

To answer this question, our host Dr Johanna Lynch; a GP, enlists her trusted friend and colleague, Dr Cathy Kezelman AM; a medical practitioner and mental health consumer advocate, to the joint task of unpacking the popular book – ‘The Deepest Well: Healing the Long Term Effects of Childhood Adversity’ (2019) – by renowned pediatrician, Nadine Burke Harris.

Hear from Johanna and Cathy as they dive into ‘The Deepest Well’ revealing crucial insights into the ‘unseen epidemic’ of childhood adversity. Listeners will gain an understanding of the urgency and scale of this issue for clinicians; the role of awareness in medical funding and policy; and most importantly, the wealth of evidence backing Burke Harris’ key message that, in both the immediate aftermath and cumulatively following experiences of childhood adversity, the question is not ‘whether’ but rather ‘to what degree’ trauma takes its toll on us, our bodies, our health, and our lives.

Drawing on their combined professional experience in the area, Johanna and Cathy share their expertise in childhood adversity as an important context shaping their responses to ‘The Deepest Well’. Tune into Johanna and Cathy’s conversation and engage with them on multiple levels - as admirers of Burke Harris’ research, as mental health practitioners, and simply as readers of ‘The Deepest Well’ – to discover why, in their view, all practitioners should add this compelling book to their list of essential reads.

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Note: This episode of Book Club was originally released in August 2021 to the Book Club podcast show and has since been re-released on MHPN Presents.