Emotional First Aid Youth Journal from TLG review by Becky Lawrence

 

Young peoples mental health has always been an issue close to my heart as I struggled as a teenager with depression and I know how dark and tough my world felt at the time.  My own experience is part of what prompted me to get into youth work in the first place – because I wanted to try and help young people who struggled like I did.  Over the last number of years the number of young people who require help through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services has grown and is still growing.  As any adult working with young people we all have a responsibility to support young people and their overall health, do what we can to prevent them from harm and help them to thrive and reach their potential.  The whole area of mental health can seem like a tricky one to tackle – as we may not feel qualified to advise or help.   Some young people will require extra help from a professional that isnt us (always recommend and refer young people to see their GP if you recognise them struggling with mental health), but most young people need someone to talk to, need to know and understand mental health better and know how to prevent a negative mental health spiral – these three things we can all help with and we shouldn’t shy away from it.

Everybody has mental health, and most people struggle with a mental health issue at some point in their lives.  Emotional health is linked into this, it’s understanding our emotions, how we feel and understanding what we can do about our feelings.  Our feelings don’t have to rule us and we can learn how to manage our emotions and feelings and know and understand when we are struggling and need some extra help.  Thats where this weeks resource recommendation comes in – Transforming Lives for Good (TLG) have put together a great Emotional First Aid Journal for youth, which is a great tool any youth leader can use to explore emotional and mental health with their youth group or individual young people.

The journal is aimed at teenagers but I think it would be suitable for anyone in secondary school (age 11 up), i’d get yourself a copy and decide for yourself if you think it would work with your particular young people.  Using colourful pages, drawings and text the booklet helps unpack what emotional health is and also features practical activities for slowing your breathing to help when feeling overwhelmed, drop or walk techniques, and the importance of talking to someone to help process your feelings.  There are lots of sections to fill in & promote engagement, including 7 days of recording emotions, challenges, good things and questions to help analyse different feelings.  You could use this with a whole youth group by building an introduction session about emotional health and giving everyone a copy to take home and use.  You could use this in a small group setting and revisit the 7 days of recording emotions over a number of weeks instead of 7 days and go through the booklet together.  Or you could use this as a tool for 1-2-1’s with young people by touching base with them over a number of consequetive days or weeks to follow up on the content and go through the booklet together.  TLG is a christian charity and this booklet is created with a christian ethos – there is at least one Bible excerpt in the journal – but its described as a Hope Poem.  It has defininitely been made with both christian and non christian users in mind and is more than suitable for both.  You could also use this in a school setting too, or find another use for it in your context that I haven’t thought of!

£3.50 per booklet at the online TLG resources shop https://www.tlg.org.uk/get-involved/tlg-resource-shop

 

Also if you still feel out of your depth approaching the subject of mental or emotional health with young people there is some great free training offered by TLG also: https://www.tlg.org.uk/get-involved/training

The Emotional First Aid Course – This FREE 90 minute live webinar will help church staff and volunteers spot and respond to the signs of emotional distress in adults and children. This training provides a biblical perspective on being therapeutic, a three-step guide to responding in the moment to signs of emotional distress, and tools so you can continue to journey alongside someone who is struggling.

 

 

The Emotional Rollercoaster (for Churches) – This FREE interactive webinar incorporates all of the Emotional First Aid content and provides additional training specifically for those working with children and young people aged 8-14 years. Offering therapeutic responses, approaches and activities to explore emotional health, it is especially relevant for supporting children who have been impacted by lockdown and COVID-19.

 

The Emotional Rollercoaster (for schools) – This interactive webinar incorporates all of the Emotional First Aid content and provides additional training specifically for school staff who work with children and young people aged 8-14 years. Offering therapeutic responses, approaches and activities to explore emotional health, it is especially relevant for supporting children who have been impacted by lockdown and COVID-19.