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Behavioural Activation BA Information for children and young people and their parents and carers Where to get support Speak to your teacher or parent about requesting support from the Mental Health Support Team Visit howareyoufeeling org uk for more information How can parents and carers support their child The important thing is being open to talk Encourage your child to discuss their logs with you if they are willing and speak through what they got from them This may even help them make the important connections Ensure your child is doing the homework A big part of BA is the work outside of sessions It is important that the young person completes this to get the most out of their intervention You can spend time with you child helping them to identify activities important to them and perhaps help them to achieve these activities where support is needed howareyoufeeling org uk

What is BA Feel low BA focuses on encouraging children and young people to get more out of life through activities to lift their mood It is used when we are feeling low When we are feeling low in mood we may find it difficult to carry out everyday activities and so find ourselves withdrawing and avoiding these activities For example we may avoid seeing friends stop doing our homework and put off responsibilities because we lack motivation or find them overwhelming Vicious cycle of depression Get less out of life Initially the pressure could make us feel that avoiding the activity would be a better solution however the longer we avoid it the more difficult it becomes to build the routine up again Breaking the cycle The vicious cycle of depression low mood and positive cycle of activity is used to show how the more we do that we value the more we enjoy life We use BA to highlight these activities to support people in getting the most out of what they enjoy How does it work Stop doing things that matter Feel better Positive cycle of activity Get more out of life Over time this lack of activity can make your mood worse rather than better Then of course you are likely to want to do even less and this makes you feel even worse it is a downward spiral or a black hole as some people describe it BA tries to break this cycle by encouraging you to start doing things again a little at a time This puts the spiral into reverse and things start to improve By taking small steps you will start to feel better and have more energy and more confidence to take the next step Behavioural Activation Do more of what matters When feeling low the tendency to do less in the longer term means that things that have to be done tend to pile up and you may find you are doing less of the things you enjoyed You also have more time to dwell on negative thoughts Best of all you are the one who will set the pace and you are the person who will decide what to do and when