Earlier this week new figures showed that one in ten children in Jersey were suffering from some sort of mental illness.
Following that revelation, a self-help practitioner has said that she is treating some children before they enter mainstream school because of anxiety-related conditions, such as stress, phobias, pain and trouble sleeping.
Yolanda Sáez Castelló believes the increase in children developing mental health problems is due to lives becoming ‘more complicated’ and believes exam pressure adds to the stress for older children.
But she believes there is a ‘simple tool’ that could help tackle Jersey’s growing mental health crisis.
A self-help technique called ‘tapping’ involves tapping acupressure points on the head and hands and is showing promise as an effective form of therapy for mental-health illnesses, according to Mrs Castelló, who practises this method locally.
It is a technique which has been used, and endorsed, by Deputy Peter McLinton, Jersey’s Assistant Health Minister, who has said that he also believes that this technique could help some children with mental-health problems and that he would support a trial of this technique in Jersey.
Read more in Friday’s JEP.
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