As the new school year begins on Monday, a psychologist is urging parents to pay attention to their children's emotional, physiological and behavioural well-being. Cheryl So, a senior clinical psychologist at Kwai Chung Hospital, stressed that students of different ages face different forms of stress. While pre-schoolers struggle to leave their comfort zones and adapt to unfamiliar environments, primary and secondary school students are expected to learn to be independent. Parents are advised to look out for signs of potential problems such as depression, extreme mood swings, headaches, stomachaches, prolonged sleep disturbances, fear of separation from family or excessive self-criticism. "If such symptoms persist for more than a month, they should seek professional help," So said. She said that teachers and parents can play different roles depending on the developmental stage of their students. "Like for kindergarten, for parents, I think the first day of school is better to give them a very positive goodbye. They have to leave familiar people. They have to go to some uncharted area, that is, school," she said. For more than two decades, the hospital has worked with the education sector and charities to raise awareness of mental health. More than 16,000 students from over 100 schools have taken part in programmes that facilitate interaction with people who have recovered from mental health problems, with the aim of combating stigma. "We provide some talk on common mental health issues students will face. And then we'll also teach them some stress management, emotion regulation skills. We also provide some workshops to train them," she said. "How to deal with mental health issues... how to interact with a person in recovery... so through the contact with them, they will realize mental illness is not that horrible. And they will have a more accurate understanding of mental illness and better experience with people in recovery."
