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LAST REVIEWED 19 November 2024
Parents and carers
Mental health problems affect many families. Whether you have a mental health concern yourself or if you want to help your child deal with anxiety, stress, sleeping problems, low mood or something else, there is lots of support available on Good Thinking, including free NHS-approved wellbeing apps, self-assessments and workbooks.
Read Good Thinking's practical guide to help you check in with your child on a regular basis and see how they are.
The guide suggests three simple steps to help you spot the signs of mental ill health, check in and let them know you care, and to help them to get the support that they need.
- Looking out for children and young people: Good Thinking’s quick guide to help parents and carers support their child
Good Thinking recommends a range of NHS-approved apps for both adults and young people to help reduce anxiety, get better sleep, lower your stress and boost your mood:
The Combined Minds app helps families and friends to support young people with their mental wellbeing:
Self-assessments
You can use our free clinically-validated self-assessment tool to assess your own mental health anonymously, or you can complete the self-assessment on behalf of someone else – it only takes 20 minutes to complete and will provide you with a guiding diagnosis, helpful resources and, if necessary, relevant treatment options. There are five self-assessments to choose from:
The Good Thinking team has developed guidance to help you support your child's wellbeing.
- Advice for parents and carers about the stress of exam results
- Advice for parents and carers about eating disorders
- Advice for parents and carers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Keep an eye on our Latest Advice page for more articles and blogs.
We would also encourage you to share our Young People section with your child. It includes advice on bullying, bereavement and other important topics.
If you think you might benefit from a more in-depth approach to improving your mental health, our workbooks contain expert advice, exercises you can do at home and checklists you can use. You can view, download and share this content and go through it in your own time.
We have developed two Good Thinking workbooks:
- Sleep Workbook - this six-module programme by sleep expert Majella Cogan will help you to improve your sleep quality.
- Trauma Workbook - if you've experienced something traumatic in your life, trauma expert Caroline Harrison provides a series of helpful techniques.
We have also gathered a range of evidence-based information sheets and workbooks on mental wellbeing by the renowned Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI).
- Sleep - these four information sheets contain facts about sleep and insomnia as well as advice about sleep hygiene.
- Anxiety - this workbook has 10 modules and covers everything from negative beliefs through to problem solving, helpful thinking and self-management.
- Health anxiety - with nine modules, this workbook helps those who worry excessively about their health and provides advice on healthy living and self-management.
- Depression - as well as an introduction to depression, this workbook features nine modules by Back from the Bluez, which include behavioural strategies and core beliefs.
- Self-compassion - with seven modules, this workbook explains how to introduce self-compassionate thinking and behaviours into your life.
- Mindfulness - these three information sheets cover the benefits of mindfulness and provide guidance on how to become mindful.
- Panic - featuring 12 modules, this workbook covers everything from unhelpful thinking styles through to breathing and self-management.
Find out more in our Workbooks section.
If you feel your child is extremely distressed and worried that they might not be able to keep themselves safe, please reach out for help. In this article, you’ll find details of NHS 24/7 helplines and other support organisations.
