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Children’s Mental Health Resources

The fact is that there are simply not enough funding, resources or professionals to provide the timely and expert care that our most precious young people in Australia need.  This is an international issue, and an outrage that more support and funding is not being provided to ensure children and young people have the best start to life, and that their parents and caregivers can give the support that is needed.

Unfortunately in the Whitsundays’ region the situation is quite dire, with very long waiting times to see a childhood psychologist. At Whitsunday Family Practice our GP’s and entire team strive to assist parents and caregivers to provide the needed care for children, and we hope the below information and resources will be useful.

Crisis Telephone numbers and support- Helpful-contact-numbers-and-links

  • My child is threatening self harm/ self harming or in need of immediate mental health care, what do I do? Call 000 or present to ED.  Please feel free to call and book an appointment, your GP will be invaluable in helping to make referrals and assist with the next steps, however our waiting times are sometimes long and not suitable for urgent assessment and treatment.
  • I think my child has a mental health problem (maybe a developmental issue, mood issue, control of anger issue, anxiety issue or other problem). What do I do? First please call us to book an appointment with any of our GP’s, we are here to help. While waiting for your appointment please consider doing the following to assist in getting your child the help they need-
  • 1.  Please complete the following questionnaires in preparation for your appointment– scas  WSR-II  and for children aged 16-30 months m-chat.
  • 2.  Please speak to your child’s teachers/ daycare etc and have them also complete these questionnaires and to gain as much information on your child’s symptoms to write down and discuss with your GP.
  • 3.  Please take some time to write down a summary of your child’s history and symptoms.  This will help your GP to make a management plan at your appointment.  For example- was your child born premature or any issues during pregnancy? What about after delivery did you child need help to breathe or to stay in an intensive care unit? Did you notice normal devleopment for your child early on, such as suckling normally, trying to crawl around 6 months, trying to speak some words around 12 months? Did your child have issues with fine motor tasks such as playing with small beads or lego or holding a pen? Did your child have trouble with big motor tasks such as riding a bike or skipping or balance? How does your child find interacting with other children- any fighting or emotional trouble? Any anxiety? Any diffiuculty with speaking or eye contact or social skills? How has your child found learning tasks such as learning to write, read, recognise shapes and colours? What is the current trouble and how long has it been going on for? Is there any family history of diffiuculty such as ADHD, bipolar disorder or learning difficulties.  Please bring this summary / notes with you when you see your GP.
  • 4.  Please consider trying some of the below suggestions and self help resources while you wait for your appointment.

Additional resources-

Smiling Mind- a great app for adults and kids teaching how to use mindfulness in everyday life  https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app

Quirk CBT- a fun program for children from around age 11 to learn behaviour therapy and thinking skills

Stop, Breathe and Think- an app to help with taking a moment to think and act calmly, using mindfulness. A free resource for adults and children

ADDitude – a fantastic website with free videos, information downloads and a very comprehensive resource website. https://www.additudemag.com/tag/download/ 

ADHD Experts Podcasts- an excellent podcast series with paediatricians and psychologists from around the world with expertise and experience in ADHD  https://www.additudemag.com/category/adhd-podcast/

Mindfulness in Everyday life- a useful summary from Black Dog Institute on bringing mindfulness to daily life. 

Calm- very helpful resource for self help with evidence of benefit in anxiety and mood.  https://www.calm.com/

Black Dog Institute Expert Insights– Podcast series with a range of expert health professionals discussing mental health and treatments. https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/education-services/podcasts/expert-insights/

E Couch– a university and Beyond Blue combined project offering a self-help CBT program