Children still paying the price of pandemic – Kevin McKenna

The UNICEF report The State of the World’s Children 2021 further accused governments of a failure to make any significant investment in addressing the problem. It found that only about two per cent of government health budgets are allocated to mental health spending globally.

In an unostentatious white building just off Duke Street in Glasgow an innovative children’s organisation has been addressing this problem for more than three decades. With Kids works with children experiencing a suite of profound mental health problems stemming from acute multi-deprivation and health inequality. Its main centres of activity are found in two of Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities: Glasgow’s east end and Wester Hailes in the south-west of Edinburgh.

The charity specialises in Play Therapy to break down the effects of trauma in damaged children and has produced startling breakthroughs in improving their mental health. Gwen Galbraith, the chief executive of With Kids, is telling me about the immediate consequences of the pandemic on the families and schools with whom they work. “We’ve seen a 100% increase in the number of schools who have approached us for help,” she said.

“During Covid, it was what we couldn’t see that was troubling us. The pandemic further marginalised children and families who were already struggling with the effects of poverty. We could only guess at what was happening behind many closed doors who were cut off from support networks and places of refuge. Now though, we’re beginning to see these impacts. This has led to the upsurge in requests for help and has seen us grow our team of therapists from 20 to 45.

“The usual stress points stemmed from a lack of clothing and food with families having to choose between heating and eating. I know some people think that such choices are over-dramatising the extent of this but, believe me, this is routine in the communities we work with.

“Those of us who were fortunate enough to have health and economic stability to fall back upon during the pandemic can’t really ever imagine what it must have been like for families in crisis during an extended period when they are having to meet the needs of children 24/7 without any access to decent outside spaces and cut off from relief services. And we can also only guess at what patterns of behaviour vulnerable children were witnessing in parents driven to the edge emotional breakdown.”

Play Therapy works by providing children with the space and materials to work through adverse experiences ranging from deep emotional trauma, abuse and loss. Galbraith describes this as “creating a non-judgmental situation where children know they are in an environment of trust”.

She says that emotional and psychological trauma is often internalised and that the act of expressing this in conversation can be extremely difficult. “We try to provide a safe harbour for them to weather these experiences and the challenges that stem from them. There is nothing transactional about this. We proceed at a pace determined by the child’s needs.”

Underpinning all of it is the recognition that each child is unique and that their family circumstances are all different too. All of them deserve to be heard. Several years ago, With Kids founder Tricia Hughes had told me about a local child who, at the age of nine, was experiencing incontinence at school owing to deep anxiety.

This stemmed from not knowing each day which male “friend” would be waiting at home with his mum. Would it be the ‘nice’ one, or the one who flew into violent, drunken rages? “Only after several months did he trust me enough to express himself,” said Hughes. “I was perhaps the first adult in this child’s life who would be there when they said they’d be there.”

Galbraith relates another case history to illustrate how play therapy works. “Jason (not his real name) has witnessed domestic violence towards his mum from various partners. Her most recent partner is currently in prison. He has experienced multiple house-moves due to conflict in the community. Jason struggles to cope with his chaotic home environment. He appears very worried, anxious, is easily distracted at school and has low self-esteem.

“Jason engaged well with therapy and looked forward to his weekly sessions, because these gave him the chance to explore his personality and interests without any targets or expectations.

“As his sessions progressed, he was able to relinquish the external pressures he felt and relax and focus fully on what he wanted to work on. Eventually, he started to take pride in his work and his confidence improved significantly.

“His mum meanwhile gained support from family workers at With Kids. Her son’s self-esteem increased; his anxiety levels reduced and he became more engaged in school. He developed resilience and coping skills and his relationship with his mum also improved.”

Galbraith also acknowledges the increasing challenges faced by school teachers as the psychological effects of the lockdown become apparent in the classroom. “We're seeing this beginning to emerge in primary schools and secondary schools. There's been a massive increase in spikes in anxiety among children and particularly those who weren’t on anybody's radar before Covid. These are often being communicated in patterns of extreme behaviour.

“Schools and teaching staff are on their knees right now. They were on the front line the whole way through the pandemic and were having to spend their summer breaks preparing their schools for children to come back. We’re seeing a real increase in anxiety about attending school too and this includes children for whom school attendance had never previously been a problem. This can be manifest in obsessive compulsive behaviours where they're frightened even to leave the house.

“They’re often unable to communicate this and, understandably, some parents don’t have the tools to alleviate this in the midst of all the other challenges they’re facing. It means that children from a non-academic background aren’t socialising properly and this impacts on their mental health and emotional wellbeing.”

In the long-term, these patterns of acute emotional distress which disproportionately affect children and families from disadvantaged communities, will result in the academic attainment gap becoming wider.

With Kids are also seeing disturbing patterns of developmental interruptions among children transitioning from nursery to primary school. “The pandemic knocked many of these children off course,” she said. “They lost out on the benefits of social development which a nursery provides. And so we’re beginning to see more pupils starting school who haven’t been toilet-trained or who can’t yet tie their shoelaces. That's not to say that they can’t catch, but these are significant delays in a child’s natural development which adds to the pressures being experienced by teachers.”

“I think we're heading into a period of turbulence. People are resourceful, but this only gets them through over a limited period. The body always keeps the score and these problems will leak out over various periods of times. That’s why we as a society need to raise our awareness of these issues which are happening right now in our own communities.

UNICEF’s executive director Henrietta Fore echoed these concerns last year and warned of the consequences to wider society if governments fail to intervene. “Children have spent indelible years of their lives away from family, friends, classrooms, play: the key elements of childhood itself.

“Even before the pandemic, far too many children were burdened under the weight of unaddressed mental health issues. Too little investment is being made by governments to address these critical needs. Not enough importance is being placed on the relationship between mental health and future life outcomes.”

"This year we’re acknowledging that many people will be feeling the pinch and so we’re asking them just to donate small change if that’s all they can manage. Small amounts add up. Or simply to share our campaign with others.

"We’re looking to provide vouchers to families experiencing poverty so that 135 children we support can have Santa gifts and food on the table."

With Kids at Christmas - see their JustGiving page