Tween And Teen Anxiety Surges

Skylight counselling and resilience hub has noticed a surge in enquiries for help with tamariki experiencing back to school anxiety.

Skylight Counselling co-ordinator Vonnie Marshall said half of the agency’s counselling enquiries in the last fortnight had been children in the 10-13 years age bracket experiencing anxiety as they returned to school.

“Parents are concerned and reaching out for help. For some tamariki and rangatahi the time spent lockdown reduced the pressure and anxiety they were feeling and the thought of stepping outside their bubble is frightening,” said Vonnie.

The nationwide not-for-profit, which specialises in supporting children, young people and their whānau, is helping meet demand. It has a team of 15 counsellors, personalised support information packs, articles, library books and Skylight publications, all aimed at helping alleviate anxiety and accessible on the Resilience Hub

Latest additions to its free library service include the following books: “Hey Warrior”, “All Birds Have Anxiety”, “Help-I’ve got an alarm bell going off in my head,” and “Starving the Anxiety Gremlin.”

The agency’s online resilience hub includes several articles on anxiety including free downloads.

In addition their shop has a number of publications including a children’s support booklet for 8-12 year olds called “What are you worried about?” ($3.00). For youth they have a pocket-sized leaflet series which includes one on “Anxiety” ($13 for 50) and provides information on how to manage anxiety.

Skylight has been awarded essential health service status.

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