The Spark Blog
Tag: mental health
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What Young Adults Wish You Knew About Adolescence
During adolescence, the brain remodels intensively until the individual has reached their mid-20s. Up until that time the decisions, moods and emotions of a young adult are in a state of flux. The front of the brain – the prefrontal cortex – is the last section to be remodelled and is the part of the…
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Can Anger be Positive and Useful?
Anger gets bad press. It is linked with aggression and violence. Anger can get us into embarrassing scrapes or trouble. We feel very uncomfortable when we get angry and sometimes find it hard to manage. Often people will describe anger as a negative emotion, but perhaps there is another way of looking at anger. Can…
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Anxiety: 6 Self-care Tips From a Psychotherapist
Anxiety can be described as “distress or uneasiness of the mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.” In some situations, it can be very helpful and even life-saving. As John-Roger and Peter McWilliams explained in their seminal book ‘You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought’, an element of anxiety was essential to…
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How to make a comfort box for an anxious child
Anxiety is a very unpleasant experience for your child and for you as their parent. Finding tools and techniques to help them combat anxiety is something every parent seeks to do. In this short article Children and Young People counsellor, Linda Smith looks at an effective method known as a comfort box. Helping an anxious…
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High school leavers and workplace relationships
Starting work straight out of school is an exciting but nerve-wracking next step for many young people. On the one hand, earning your first pay packet and escaping school is a big attraction. On the other hand, it can be hard to imagine how you will fit in and build workplace relationships with people often…
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Music and mental ill-health: how influential is a song?
We are what we eat. That is the simple truth that has launched a thousand cookbooks. Eat unhealthily, expect to be unhealthy. Slowly we are starting to realise that the same applies to our minds and mental ill-health. We are what we consume and what we consume nowadays is social media, films, streamed boxsets, the…
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How to Be Happy – part 3
According to American pundit William Bennett, the pursuit of happiness can be thought of this way: ‘Happiness is like a cat, if you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you’ll find it rubbing…
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How to Be Happy – Part 2
Picture the scene. A teenager opens their exam results: an A in Art, two Cs in English and French and an F in Maths. The response from their parent is likely to focus on either the good bits or the not so good bits. For example, their response might be: ‘An F in Maths. What…
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How to be happy – part 1
This is how to be happy according to Stacey Kramer. “Imagine if you will a gift. I’d like you to picture it in your mind. It’s not too big, about the size of a golf ball. So, envision what it looks like, all wrapped up. Before I show you what’s inside I will tell you…
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