The stats are in, kids are struggling, how do you help?

The latest National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in July 2022, and it has sadly highlighted some shocking statistics.

Almost two in five people (39.6%) aged 16-24 years reported a mental disorder in the 12 months of the study period (2020/21). Those statistics included figures approaching every second girl (46.6%) and nearly every third boy (31.2%).

That is heartbreaking.

The thing is, in addition to those kids, most others will be having similar feelings, perhaps just not quite as strong or for quite as long.

The fact is that the emotional centre of the brain (called the amygdala) is never more active than in the teenage years.

That means they tend to experience feelings more deeply than at any other time. This is at the same time as the part of the brain that can rationalise their fears and anxieties and calm them down is nowhere near fully developed (and won’t be until at least their mid-20s).

That means that their lives can be one unending series of frightening events that have the potential to have huge negative impacts on their lives.

It also means they will live in a state of almost constant heightened tension. They may be very withdrawn and uncommunicative. They may explode at the drop of a hat. They are likely to be extremely difficult to live with, not because they want to be, but because their inner world makes it difficult to do anything else.

There is hope, however. What you do, how you interact with your child can make all the difference as to how your child (and the rest of their family) make it through what can be extraordinarily difficult times. Trying to ignore them does not help anybody in the long run. Pandering to their every whim is likely to make things worse in the long run and, if you are human, I know that you have tried yelling at them and realised that is not a good result either.

If you have concerns for your child and would like to improve the situation please use our online form at to book a free 15 minute, no-obligation phone call, within which I am happy to give you the very best of advice I can for your situation.

It may be that is all you need to make a huge difference and, if that was the case, I would be delighted.

It is the reason I do what I do.