A short guide to understand Coronavirus
The Children’s Commissioner has created a great guide to help answer children’s questions, tell them how to stay safe and protect other people, and how to help them make the best of their time at home.
They have also created a page full of advice, information, suggestions and resources for parents, educators and other professionals who work with children, to help during the pandemic.
Childline advice to children about Coronavirus
Childline is seeing a large increase in the number of calls from children with worries about coronavirus and worries about themselves. Here are some great tips and information on how to cope during the lockdown and with schools closing.
Advice on coping with anxiety
Young Minds have good advice for young people that are feeling particularly anxious or low in the mood about what is happening.
The NSPCC have created a resource centre for parents and carers with lots of useful tips and advice, including talking to your child about coronavirus (COVID-19) taking care of your family’s mental health, coping with tension and arguments, and staying safe online.
Mind UK has published information to support those anxious about the coronavirus.
Free Online Counselling
Kooth is an online counselling and emotional wellbeing platform for children and young people, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop and free at the point of use. Students can chat online to professionally accredited counsellors. It provides services for the NHS and is part-funded by the National Lottery.
Relate provides support, guidance and counselling services for families and young people, through private online chat rooms and phone calls. When families are going through a tough time, Relate offers support to help everyone settle.
Childline is a free, private and confidential service where you can talk about anything. Whatever your worry, whenever you need help, they are there for you online, on the phone, anytime.
Free Mental Health Support
Mental Health Foundation has been the UK’s leading charity for everyone’s mental health. With prevention at the heart of what they do, they aim to find and address the sources of mental health problems so that people and communities can thrive.
The Anna Freud National Centre provides mental health care for Children and Families. This includes direct work and offering resources on their website.
The Anna Freud National Centre
Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) provide services that work with children and young people who have difficulties with their emotional or behavioural wellbeing. Getting help from a CAMHS service is different depending on where you live but usually requires a visit to your GP.
Young Minds – this website is a guide to the NHS’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for young people and parents.
Wellbeing
This parent-child resource by Sara Watkins helps parents reconnect with their child through movement, visualisation-essentially the body.
Partnership for Children resources to help your child find healthy ways to deal with their feelings and reactions to the Covid-19 situation.
Headspace and Calm are mindfulness apps, you can try both for free. Or search mindfulness breathing exercises on YouTube
Education
To help kids who are learning from home, educational software company Rosetta Stone is offering schoolchildren free access to its popular language courses for three months.
Scholastic has created a free learn-from-home site with 20+ days of learning and activities.
Learn from Oxford University Press expert advice and free activities.
Khan Academy is a non-profit organisation with the mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone.
Seneca provides free revision and homework for A level, GCSE, KS3 and KS2 students.
Mystery Science resources for primary and secondary aged students.
BBC learning is no longer updated but still has some great educational resources for all ages.
Virgin Media have put together a list of some of the most educational TV shows to help parents find educational resources for all ages.