Being able to identify emotions, understand why emotions exist and how to deal with them when they arise, are important for the development of emotionally intelligent children.
By building emotional intelligence in children, we can give them the skills to strengthen their resilience and overcome the challenges they face, including mental health challenges.
One in seven young people aged 4-17 years old experience a mental health condition in any given year, and over 75% of mental health problems occur before the age of 25*.
Teaching kids how to deal with strong emotions from an early age can help to prevent or mitigate mental health conditions like anxiety or depression, and enable kids to identify when they need support.
Our Emotikids program in Shepparton is teaching young kids about emotions, and so we spoke with Sarah Langley, Acting Team Leader for Family Mental Health Support Services, to tell us a bit about the program and how it’s supporting young children.
What is the Emotikids program?
“Emotikids is a free six-week program which we run every school term, primarily aimed at 5-7-year-old children who are showing signs of increased worry or anger. The program teaches kids about core emotions like sad, worry, and angry which might be deemed as negative emotions, and positive emotions like happy, kind and feeling loved, and that it’s okay to feel all of these emotions.
We also show children some different ways to express their emotions to people in a positive way. We run the program in schools, usually with a group of 4-6 children, but we can run the program on a one-to-one basis too if we’re unable to get a group together.”
Who is the Emotikids program for and how does it help?
“The Emotikids program is primarily for children who are really at the early intervention stage for mental health concerns. We get referrals into the program from school groups, particularly when they identify children displaying a certain emotion strongly or when children present with an issue.
We support these children when they’re at a very early stage of developing and understanding their emotions, so that we can improve and guide their learning. The children are really engaged in the program and are achieving great outcomes!”
How long have you been involved in the Emotikids program?
“I created the Emotikids program as there was a need within our Family Mental Health Support Service to offer more supports to younger children under 8 years old. It took a year to create the program and there was lots of trial and error and tweaking to make sure the program would best support childrens’ needs.
I ran the first edition of the Emotikids program in January 2019 and it has continued to evolve from there.”
What do kids and parents think about Emotikids?
“The kids love the hands-on activities and they enjoy meeting other children! During COVID we adapted the program to Zoom and we received positive feedback from parents on this too.
One father discussed that they were going through a difficult couple’s separation, and during this time their son had begun checking in with them each morning about how they feel using a feelings toy that had been created through the Emotikids program. It’s stories like these that show us how Emotikids is making a real difference in these children’s lives.”
If you think your child or a child at your school could benefit from the Emotikids program, contact our Family Mental Health Support Service team in Shepparton on (03) 5820 0444 to enquire.
We also offer a similar program in Melton called Stress Busters. For more information on this, please visit our Family Mental Health Support Service webpage.
Liz Gellel | Communications Coordinator
Caroline Carter | Executive Assistant, Admin Team Leader & Emergency Relief Coordinator
*Beyond Blue Statistics
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