Press articles

Telegraph: The troubling rise of tics among teenage girls

Parents and clinicians are reporting an increase in the number of tic disorders and Tourette’s syndrome in teenagers – what’s behind it?

Red Magazine Article: How to Raise Happier Kids

In today’s whirlwind world, it can be tough to strike the right balance as a parent. How can we promote good mental health and self-esteem in our kids? How can we create a calmer, happier household? And in a digital age, how much screen-time is too much?

Daily Mail: Expert tips on how to build your child's self esteem

How To Build Strong Children From A Core Of Self-Esteem by Holan Liang landed on my desk recently, so I asked author Holan for some exclusive tips for the Small Talk blog. Here's her very sensible and important advice about self esteem....

Telegraph: Why this doctor thinks your child should be bored on holiday

Holidays can be a source of stress for parents, and it’s tempting to do almost anything (humiliating public singing; unlimited tablet time; unrestricted eating of sweets) to distract kids and keep them entertained. But you may be making a mistake. Here’s why it’s wise to let your children be bored.

Guardian: The vital but invisible early lessons that last a lifetime

Knowing the extent of our influence as parents can make our task all the more daunting. The endless rise of new parenting methods we hear about in the media can add to our sense of confusion and lack of confidence. From tiger to helicopter parenting, micro-managers and maxi-organisers, parents whose children don’t throw food to ones obsessed with tutoring, could it be that they’ve all got it wrong? Are parents sweating the small stuff and worrying over the less important aspects of what makes a successful child?

Net Doctor: How to boost a kid's self-esteem

Most parents believe that parenting begins at the birth of their first child. Child psychiatrists, however, know that parenting begins at conception. A large proportion of your child's destiny (future health, educational level, occupation) is determined before they are even born and if we combined genetic tests, pregnancies and birth histories with a thorough history of your family's lives, I reckon that we could provide a fair estimate of your child's outcome. It's not 'determinisim'; it's just probability.

Honest Mum: Tips on Parenting, Positively

I’m often asked how to build self-esteem in children at dinner parties by other parents, but often when I enquire, the child in question in need of self-esteem is a teenager, and by and large, although self-esteem can always be improved throughout the life-span, the most critical time (early childhood 0-7 years) has already passed.

Well Doing: The Importance of Secure Attachment

The reciprocal love of child to parent is termed ‘attachment’. In the first six months of life, babies are primed to seek help from anybody. Pass a newborn around the relatives and that baby will be perfectly happy. As long as they have a warm body cuddling them it doesn’t matter to them if it’s mum, dad or the postman. Between six months and a year, babies become more discerning and will seek to attach themselves to someone special. They will usually choose the person or people who have been there for them; the face that appears when they are hungry, cold or in need; the face that smiles at them, feeds them and plays with them. As a parent, you should really hope that this is you, and not the nanny.

We know that paediatric patients being treated for long term physical health conditions have elevated mental health needs. However, mental health services are typically absent in the usual course of care for these patients in a general hospital setting. We developed and evaluated the provision of drop-in ‘low intensity’ psychological interventions for mental health problems in patients with long term conditions and their families.