Support for young people

Advice for young people

It’s too early to say what the full impact of coronavirus will be on children and young people’s mental health, but the signs are that it will be significant.

We want to support children and young people and work together to minimise this impact. That’s why we are sharing clear simple advice. You’ll find resources created with children and young people as well as some support from our teams.

Download and share our advice for young people

Dealing with bereavement

When someone you know dies, the grief that follows can be extremely painful. This short video won't take that pain away, but clinician David Trickey has some ideas which might help you get through it.

Remember, you can find a range of organisations offering 24 hour support by text, email or phone on our Urgent Help page and longer term help by searching on the Youth Wellbeing Directory. The AFC Crisis Messenger also offer 24 hours text support.

#SelfcareSummer packs

Self-care is all about what you can do to help yourself feel better or to keep yourself feeling good. It’s a way that we can look after our own mental health and wellbeing.

Everyone’s approach to self-care will look different. What works for some young people might not work for others. Our #SelfcareSummer packs aim to help children and young people create their own individual self-care plan for the summer holidays based on strategies which other young people have already identified as helpful. It also sign-posts young people and their families to additional support should they find themselves struggling over the summer period.

Download our #SelfcareSummer Primary pack

Download our #SelfcareSummer Secondary pack

#SelfcareSummer

Over the summer holidays, the Anna Freud Centre will be hosting #SelfCareSummer, highlighting some of the 90 strategies children and young people have said help them manage their mental health and wellbeing when they are feeling low or anxious.

The campaign will feature a range of voices including the Centre’s Young Champions, staff and students, and include Challenge Tuesdays where young people can share their artwork, photography, poems and crafts and share the activities which are helping them stay mentally healthy over the summer.

Self-care support

Our self-care resource for On My Mind has many simple self-care activities which you can do at home.

Written by young people to help other young people who are feeling low or anxious. The strategies should also be useful to adults.

In this video, one of the Centre's Young Champions, Phoebe, shares the self-care strategies which are helping her manage her mental health and wellbeing.

Hear from our Young Champions

Maddi shares the self-care strategies which help her

Aqib shares his self-care strategies

Farrah shares how physical exercise helps her wellbeing

Amaani's self-care tips whilst social distancing

Grazia discusses how structure and routine helps her

Olivia shares the self-care strategies which help her

Be kind to yourself

New self-care tile and video

We're often kinder to others than to ourselves, but being kind to yourself is really important for your wellbeing. Young Champions Maddi & Amy have created our 92nd self-care tile on Being Kind to Yourself for Mental Health Awareness Week.

Read Maddi's advice on Being Kind to Yourself and view Amy's video opposite.

Amy shares how self-kindness can help your wellbeing

BBC Bitesize

Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, the Centre has been contributing to the support being provided by BBC Bitesize.

Our own experts have written a number of articles which you can read the below and there's lots more support on offer on the BBC Bitesize website.

'Six ways to cope with lockdown loss' by Ros Law

‘When families disagree during lockdown and what to do when it’s happening to you’ by Emma Morris

‘Managing lockdown stress’ by Peter Fuggle and Yvonne Millar

Helping someone else

We understand it can be hard to know what to do when someone you care about is going through a rough patch, so we have put together some tips and advice, with the help of Common Room and young people from mental health support group Hearts & Minds.

We've put some information on how to talk to someone you're worried about, how to look after yourself during this time and how to seek help from an adult if you become seriously worried. In each section, you can read quotations that come directly from young people who have experience coping with similar situations.

View our Helping Someone Else page or click on the image to download as a pdf booklet.

Download Helping Someone Else

AFC Crisis Messenger

24/7 crisis text support

The AFC Crisis Messenger text service provides free, 24/7 crisis support for young people across the UK.

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis and need support, you can text AFC to 85258.

We know that finding the right support is important, especially if you need someone to talk to right now. We aim to connect every texter to a trained volunteer promptly to provide crisis help. They will listen to you and help you think more clearly, enabling you to know that you can take the next step to feeling better.

This service is provided by Mental Health Innovations and Crisis Text Line branded as SHOUT. You can read the MHI privacy policy and terms of service here.

Urgent help

If you or someone you know needs help right now, you should, if possible, try to talk to a parent, carer or trusted adult.

If talking to an adult is not possible, our Urgent Help page has a list of organisations which offer support by text, phone or email 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:

Additional support

Discover more about the advice and support we're providing to parents and carers, schools and colleges, those working in early years settings, mental health professionals and researchers.