A ‘bank account’ for young minds

Teenagers are being raised in an era of unprecedented complexity, ‘‘squeezing’’ their mental health, says an expert.

Melbourne-based psychologist and researcher Professor Lea Waters faced her own demons from a young age but she said children had even more challenges today.

‘‘Technology, terrorism, turmoil, trauma ... these things are all putting the screws on, squeezing their mental health.’’

In response, Waters has rolled out her Visible Wellbeing programme to build a mental health ‘‘bank account’’ in children that they can draw on in difficult times. The programme has been rolled out in more than 70 schools across five countries, including one in New Zealand.

Waters had a tumultuous childhood but her battle with eating disorders and anxiety, and the loss of her sister to suicide spurred her to change the way we think and speak about mental health.

Twenty years of psychological research in schools led to Visible Wellbeing, a model which combines the science of wellbeing with the science of education to give children the skills to enhance wellness.

‘‘We can teach the skills that promote mental health, rather than wait until a young person has depression or anxiety.

‘‘Let’s front-load them – let’s teach them those skills now.’’

Waters described mental health not as an endpoint but a their own mental resource that could be built up and tapped into.

‘‘I often talk to the kids about having a mental health bank account,’’ Waters said.

‘‘If you put a little deposit in every day, you are building up your mental health bank account, so that when life throws a curve ball at you – which it will, that is life – you have got this bank account that you can dip into.

‘‘You might get knocked over but you won’t get knocked over for as long.’’

While traditional psychology had a place – Waters said it was critical in her recovery – it focused on treating mental illness once it had arisen. Positive psychology was ‘‘the pathway to happiness’’, helping to build that mental health bank account.

Waters said the absence of mental illness wasn’t enough.

Just like with physical fitness, we should be mentally fit and thriving. ‘‘You can be averagely fit and you can walk down the street to get yourself a cup of coffee,’’ Waters said.

‘‘But then you need to run for the bus and you are out of breath.

‘‘It is the same thing with mental fitness – we don’t just want to be average level.’’

Waters said children were not only experiencing higher rates of mental illness, they were more eager to discuss it than previous generations. That helped in making wellbeing something ‘‘visible’’. A focus on positivity not only benefited students in crisis, Waters said, but also allowed all children to capitalise on the good times.

‘‘I call it the dirty window syndrome, because you never notice a window when it is clean, you just look through it.

‘‘It is the same with our mental health – we notice the dirt but when things are going well, we just kind of look through it.

‘‘When you have high levels of that resource, you can capitalise on it – you can capitalise on moments of happiness or a good relationship – it elevates you and boosts your performance.’’