Social, emotional and mental health

Any child or young person can experience challenges to their mental health, but some children and young people are at greater risk of developing mental health needs than others. This will depend on a range of factors including a child’s temperament, the range and severity of challenging life events that they face and have faced previously, and the extent to which they learn coping skills and get support to build their resilience (support provided by emotionally available adults).

Children and young people who have SEMH needs may find it harder to:

• make and maintain appropriate and healthy relationships
• regulate their emotions
• focus and engage with rules, routines and the curriculum

Sometimes they may seem: 

• withdrawn behaviour
• challenging, overactive or disruptive behaviour
• poor attendance or punctuality.

These challenges might be linked to several different conditions and factors, including trauma, ADHD, ADD or sensory needs.