The Spark Blog

Category: young people

  • Songs For Sound Minds #20 – Kelly Clarkson

    Songs For Sound Minds #20 – Kelly Clarkson

    Songs for Sound Minds are our picks of the best music that uplifts, inspires and boosts mental health. Songs written as an anthem to overcoming the storms of life. The songs that give hope in those times when we are struggling. This song focuses on moving on from a difficult relationship can be a liberating…

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  • Social Media & Self Image

    Social Media & Self Image

    One of the common problems presented by school pupils to our counsellors is the tricky issue of social media. Children and young people are the section of our society that first embraced social media platforms. The highs and lows of social media They have been the first to experience the highs and lows of social…

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  • Songs For Sound Minds #18 – Benjamin Clementine

    Songs For Sound Minds #18 – Benjamin Clementine

    Songs for Sound Minds are our picks of the best music that uplifts, inspires and boosts mental health. Songs written as an anthem to overcoming the storms of life. The songs that give hope in those times when we are struggling. This weeks song tackles the subject of bullying. ‘Phantom of Aleppoville’ by Benjamin Clementine…

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  • Pupils Come First with Counselling

    Pupils Come First with Counselling

    The Spark is at the forefront of efforts to improve the mental and emotional wellbeing of school pupils in Scotland. It is widely recognised that a child’s ability and readiness to learn can be compromised by difficult life experiences. Through counselling and education programmes we are helping schools manage the emotional and mental wellbeing of…

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  • Songs For Sound Minds #17 – Bon Jovi

    Songs For Sound Minds #17 – Bon Jovi

    Songs for Sound Minds are our picks of the best music that uplifts, inspires and boosts mental health. Songs written as an anthem to overcoming the storms of life. The songs that give hope in those times when we are struggling. In the Songs for Sound Minds series we often pick tracks because of they…

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  • The Need for Emotional First Aid

    The Need for Emotional First Aid

    When we experience aches, pains or a chesty cough where do we head? Straight to our local doctor of course. When it comes to emotional pain – guilt, loss, loneliness – what do we do? Most of the time we try to sort it ourselves. We (try to) keep calm and carry on. Instead of…

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  • Parents’ Guide to Exam Results Day

    Parents’ Guide to Exam Results Day

    Being a parent of a teenager is tricky at the best of times. High school exams are barely over when attention turns to the next stress-triggering milestone: exam results day. Parents can end up just as distressed as the kids who sat the exams. The near constant squeeze on prospects for an increasingly disadvantaged millennial…

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  • Bad News, Anxiety and the Media

    Bad News, Anxiety and the Media

    Escaping bad news and tragedy feels like an impossible task. For years war, terrorism, racism, persecution and fear have dominated the news. Thanks to digital technology we are stuck on a 24-hour a day loop of breaking news and broadcasts from the scene of the latest tragedy. Which for almost all of us, now feels…

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  • Infant Mental Health Before Birth

    Infant Mental Health Before Birth

    There is no denying that the mental health of children and young people is in decline. Last week further data was released confirming more children and young people are requiring support for mental health issues. Worse still NHS therapeutic services are struggling to meet government targets of 18 weeks from referral to accessing support. In…

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