As we draw to the close of Children’s Mental Health Week 2024 I have been reflecting on how spirituality impacts children’s mental health and wellbeing.
The theme of this year’s Children’s mental Health Week is ‘My Voice Matters’.
My Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express themselves and to have a positive self-image.
When children feel empowered, there’s a positive impact on their wellbeing; this is the same for adults too. Children who feel that their voices are heard and understand that they can make a difference have a greater sense of community and higher self-esteem. This year, place2be’s focus for Mental Health Week is encouraging children of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to be empowered to work together to create a positive change for their mental health and wellbeing and that of others around them.
During Children’s Mental Health Week, the aim is for all children and young people to be able to say – and believe - “My Voice Matters.”
So…. How does this link to Spirituality you might ask? This is a question we have asked people over the last week. Take a moment and think about what Spirituality means to you and then have a read of what others reflected it meant to them. There is no right or wrong answer – Spirituality is bigger than each individual person.
Research by Hay and Nye (2000 – The Spirit of the Child) focuses on spirituality being innate; that it is something that we are all born with. For children, spirituality is often explained as an awe and wonder moment. We see wonder in children’s faces when they experience something for the first time – a candle being lit, seeing snow for the first time, the first time inside a stadium or theatre. It’s a moment of total absorption in that instant in time. It is a moment that, as a parent or a teacher, we are aware of; yet there are not always the right words to put a definition to the moment.
For a second, think of a time when you have seen a child deep in wonder…. At this point we should remember that spirituality can strengthen children’s relationship to nature and the earth. How many of those wow moments that a child experiences are outside in nature; most people say this is the case!
For everyone, a significant aspect of spirituality is linked around emotional well-being and health; it is the sense of inner connectedness to something greater than human life. (Westerlund, 2016)
As London (2012) reflected; all children can gain unique experiences from nature. These experiences will vary from child to child, based on the locality they live in and the experiences the people around them provide. This could be walking in a stream, climbing a tree, dancing in the rain, rolling down a hill or simply playing outside and seeing a butterfly or a bee fly past. The ways children can connect with nature are endless and by providing children with these connections to the natural world we are providing children with the associated emotional, psychological, and physical benefits.
Children are drawn to the mysteries of the natural world and share an inherent curiosity, which can be supported through spiritual development and expression (Harris, 2015).
Although the moment may be over quickly the spirituality that was gained in the moment is essential to a child’s growth and being. That moment of awe and wonder can become a core memory, a moment that they may never forget. When children have these experience’s they grow within themselves. And we want them to share those moments and we want them to know that people are listening.
This week I have been reflecting on the number of people who simply answer ‘I’m fine’ when asked ‘How are you?’ We really never know how other people are feeling – what we see on the surface can hide the inner struggles someone is having.
In life we all have times of challenges and struggles but when we come through these periods, we are stronger. Some of this strength could come from our own reflections and our own Spirituality.
When you need time alone, time to be still where do you go? What helps you find that calm? I asked some of my family this; my daughter said she reads a book – it takes her to another place, somewhere that can amaze her because she never knows what is going to happen. For me, it’s a beach – the sound of the water lapping on the shore, the sand, the smell. For my husband it’s a walk in the woods with our dog. Everyone finds spirituality in a different place and in a different way; spirituality is an understanding of things bigger than ourselves – immanent, things within ourselves, and transcendent, things outside of our own selves.
I have been exploring the Japanese art of Kintsugi. It is a practice of repairing broken pottery, using lacquer to seal the cracks, and then dusting those sealed places with gold, silver, or platinum. Candice Kumai, chef and author of ‘Kintsugi Wellness: The Japanese Art of Nourishing Mind, Body, and Spirit’, explores how we can use this theory when thinking about how we treat ourselves.
When we think of a broken pot as a representation of ourselves, we can begin to imagine the journey the pot has taken, with each crack representing a challenge we have overcome. I remember a friend having a pot in her living room, it was all broken and super glued together – she told me it was filled with memories because it was her grandmothers and when it broke they mended it as it reminded them of her house and all the fun that they had.
Just like that pot we can imagine how we can grow and re-develop ourselves based on our own experiences. Some people believe that the pot has the analogy to God being the potter – God is helping us on our journey through life, he is with us through the highs and the lows, mending our pot as our journey progresses. Candice Kumai reminds us, “your kintsugi cracks become gold by doing the work.” When we think of the crack in the pot, they represent the challenges we have faced, the gold is the strength that we have shown and had to move forward. For children this is often a very useful image for the challenges that we all face in life and a good starting point to encourage discussion, a chance for children to have their voices heard.
This week, and every week, it’s important that we build our children up – that we empower them to believe in themselves, in those around them and to help them understand that they are important and so is their voice.
So, in conclusion, Spirituality is bigger than us all and in the words of a ten-year-old “Spirituality is believing in yourself and in others, it’s bigger than yourself and wraps you in love.”
As mental health week draws to a close, we must remember that; as teachers and simply as adults, it’s our responsibility to ensure that all children know that their voice will be heard. Through developing their own innate understanding of Spirituality and the experiences they have in life, children will grow to have secure relationships with themselves, with others, with the world that surrounds them and to whatever is beyond what we can explore or experience on this earth; knowing that surrounding all this, like a blanket, is love.
Resources and links:
Harris, K. I. (2015). Children’s Spirituality and Inclusion: Strengthening a child’s spirit with community, resilience and joy.
London, B. (2012). Strengthening Students Connection to Nature: A spiritual perspective.
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