There was an excellent podcast on the BBC – Podcasts – Documentary of the Week page recently.  Sadly, BBC policy is only to host these documentaries for a seven day period, which has no expired, so unless you know someone with a bootleg copy, you’re probably out of luck.

Which is a shame, because I think this is one of those programs that anyone who has a day to day professional or parental involvement with teenagers should be forced to listen to.  It looked at depression and mental health issues amongst teenagers, which is often dismissed by parents and other adults as just being a “moody teen”.

I don’t think the audience is just limited to parents, though parents will take a lot away from this, I think anyone who teaches teenagers should also definitely listen to this – it offers some startling insights and some first hand accounts as well as talking about measures and support networks that are in place in the UK to help.

One of the references in the program was to NICE (National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence), a UK body, and their guidelines for dealing with depression in children and young people.  You can find their web page here:  Depression in children and young people: Identification and management in primary, community and secondary care.

Another resource I came across is http://teenmentalhealth.org/.  This appears to be a Canadian based organisation, but it contains links and resources aimed more at families, the teens themselves and educators, and may be a source of more accessible assistance than the NICE guidelines.

 

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