After the death of a young boy who reportedly left a note behind before taking his own life, one of Australia’s top professors called for increased awareness of the effects Covid-19 has on children’s mental health.
The primary school in the Illawarra region of New South Wales received a call for emergency assistance on Wednesday after the unconscious boy was discovered there.
The Year 5 student, 10, could not, however, be revived.
The incident is not being investigated as suspiciously despite the fact that a note was found there.
Parents need to be aware of the sharp rise in mental health problems young people are experiencing as a result of the “profound impact” of Covid-19, according to Professor Ian Hickie, Executive Director of the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Research Institute.
He told Daily Mail Australia that “health service data has supported the adverse effects Covid has had on children’s mental health.”
It has an impact on children and young people’s cognitive and emotional growth.
Younger generations were more severely affected by the pandemic, according to Professor Hickie, because they were still going through a formative period in their lives.
He cited a report indicating a rise in young people’s self-harm as evidence that anxiety levels among children have skyrocketed.
When compared to older groups, younger groups are experiencing more anxiety. There has been concern about Covid’s effects on health.
In contrast to older people, he claimed that younger people lack the crisis management experience.
According to the professor, the effects were made worse by the disruption of the health and education systems, the financial strains on families, the rise in domestic violence, and the use of alcohol in the home.
In order for children to experience better mental health outcomes, he explained, action was required at the “local community level” as well as from parents and teachers.
The root of the problem is social isolation. The re-establishment of social ties outside of the family is required.
“Parents can help by supporting schools so they can work as part of a community, working with schools, getting kids back into sport, and getting them involved in community groups,” says the report.
“Kids need to see that adults can handle these challenges,” the author says. They must make sure that kids have access to resilience and hope.
The renowned academic was asked what warning signs parents should watch out for to know if their child needs help, and she listed abrupt emotional reactions like crying and lash outs in anger, a decline in performance, skipping school or dropping out.
Professor Hickie admitted that Covid had already been “stressful” on the lives of teachers, whose line of work has been continuously disrupted, and parents, who have had to take a more proactive role in their child’s learning and wellbeing.
In order for educational institutions to be better prepared to handle such crises and for programmes that address mental health, he advocated increased funding for schools, particularly public schools.
“We underinvest in mental health and continue to do so,” he said.
The difference between the physical and mental health effects must be taken into account.
The university professor claimed that while the lockdown measures kept people socially isolated and worsened mental health outcomes, they were “too restrictive” and that blame should not be placed on them.
“We were slow to react to the impacts on mental health.”
For the future, we must draw lessons from it.