Description

Mental illness is becoming the most important
cause of disability in both childhood and adulthood
and mental health promotion is a government
priority. The foundations for good mental health are
laid in childhood and depend to a great extent on the
quality of the emotional and social environment
provided by parents and teachers. A range of
childhood mental health promotion interventions
have been developed and shown to be effective. Some
enable parents to develop relationships with their
children that are more supportive of emotional and
social development and others help teachers to develop
childrens emotional and social competence. Strong
arguments can be made for such programmes to be
provided to all parents and all teachers. Child mental
health promoting initiatives need to be supported by
social policies which reduce childhood poverty and
deprivation, but poverty reduction initiatives provided
in isolation from mental health promotion
programmes do not seem to have an impact on
childrens mental health. On the other hand because
of their impact on educational achievement and social
competence, child mental health promotion
programmes have a role to play in combating social
inequalities.