Smiling Mind Generation
I’m a health professional or someone who supports children and family health and wellbeing. How can I get involved?
As a person working with children and families to support their health and wellbeing you are uniquely positioned to introduce people to readily available tools and resources to support them to learn new skills that can benefit their mental health.
Smiling Mind has developed a range of tools and resources to support families to build their mental fitness together. Our aim is to provide parents and carers with effective strategies, tools and ways to communicate, to help develop crucial social emotional skills in their children.
We’ll regularly add resources to this page to support your clients, so bookmark it and check back each month.
These resources support you to learn about mental fitness and health and explore the evidence and expertise underpinning our tools and programs. You’ll find information about how you can support yourself and the children in your life to build the skills to thrive.
These resources will guide you to try out the key skills that support your own and the children in your lives’ mental fitness and mental health. You’ll find practical activities, guided meditations, programs, and tools to use yourself and to share with the children in your life.
These resources allow you to share information with other people who you think will benefit from accessing the resources and tools aligned to the Smiling Mind Generation. You’ll find resources to share with others who are also supporting children.
Start exploring resources
Help families build resilience at home
Accessible tools like the Resilient Families Program can support all families to build their mental fitness. Developed by psychologists and led by evidence, it is accessible, engaging and full of practical activities for kids. Find out how it can support the mental health and wellbeing of families you are working with.
Mindfulness waiting room activities
Waiting rooms can be difficult environments for children. Print out some mindful activity sheets for children to do on their own or with their parents while they wait. All you need is the print out and some coloured pencils or crayons.These activities can also support children to regulate their emotions while they wait.
Supporting families with sleep routines
Sleep is essential for wellbeing yet many Australians struggle to get the amount and quality of sleep they need. Our evidence-based sleep program for families has a variety of engaging activities, strategies and resources to help establish good sleep routines and support a better night's sleep for the families you support.
What families are struggling with post-pandemic
Smiling Mind conducted community-based research to understand resilience as it applies to families and what parents and children need to support their children’s mental fitness. The research revealed families are struggling with sharing emotions, relationship building and emotional regulation post pandemic.
De-stress and reset your mind and body
As health and support professionals the work you do is often high stakes, which can mean it is also high stress. Find out how you can use your breath to regulate and reduce your stress response. Try out some practical ways to reduce stress and reset throughout your day. You only need a few minutes to make a big difference.
A toolkit to share with families you support
Many parents are actively seeking information to support their family. This toolkit can be shared with the families to be used on its own or together with Smiling Mind’s Families Programs in the app. The toolkit introduces simple, practical and fun ways for families to be more mindful, present and engaged with each other.
Mindful moments that don't require extra time
There are small, informal ways to practise mindfulness that can be just as beneficial to your mental wellbeing as formal practices like meditation. Plus, you don’t need to carve out a chunk of time in your day to do these exercises, which means you can reap the benefits of mindfulness even when you’re busy.
Help families find a mental fitness focus area
We all have different baselines for the mental resources that underpin our ability to thrive. These can inform which areas of practice might be more imperative for families to invest time in. Explore the focus areas of Smiling Mind's Mental Fitness approach to help you advise families on where to start.
Talking to parents about mental fitness
For GP and mum of two, Dr Preeya Alexander, conversations on children's mental fitness are common in her consulting room. In fact, these conversations are just as important as talking about physical health. Learn about the importance of mental fitness and how to support families.
Short SEL lessons to keep kids occupied
Introduce the families you meet to the characters of Smiling Mind Creek! This series of 2-minute animated SEL episodes don't just make for great waiting room viewing. They're also ideal for parents and carers to use during transitions through the day or to fill time while supporting children's wellbeing.
Wind down after work and find some calm
Have you noticed that at the end of the working day, your mind is still racing with thoughts about the tasks you’ve been working on? It can make it difficult to transition into the next phase of your day. This practice is about checking in with yourself at the end of the day, letting go and winding down.
Talking to parents about kids' wellbeing
The clinic is the perfect place to offer parents and carers tips on how they can support children's wellbeing. Dr Preeya Alexander has a set of practical strategies she prescribes to build and maintain mental wellbeing for the whole family. Check them out in her latest article for Smiling Mind.
Befriending your inner critic: meditation
When that little voice in our mind—our inner critic—starts judging, criticising and analysing, it can take our focus away from the things that matter. Use this meditation to bring awareness to these thoughts so you can hold them more lightly in your mind and release them.
Low parent confidence in mental health
A Smiling Mind Pulse Survey revealed only one in two parents feel confident meeting the mental health and wellbeing needs of their child. Here, we explore factors diminishing confidence and take a look at areas of mental wellbeing that parents would like more support in helping their child build.
Enhancing wellbeing through purpose
Working in healthcare can be stressful, and professionals can be particularly prone to compassion fatigue and burnout. Reflecting on purpose can help us manage and recover from these symptoms by helping us connect our work to a bigger meaning. Read how to get back in touch with your purpose.
Kids' friendships: A Guide for Parents
Loneliness is becoming a prominent mental health issue among children and youth, but it can be difficult for parents to recognise the signs. This valuable video resource is great for parents and carers to have, and it can be a useful conversation starter in the clinic for promoting kids' friendships.
Managing worry: Family care packs
Designed by psychologists to support children to understand, manage and regulate emotions, these family care packs are a great resource for parents. They're full of meditations and activities to help families manage change and uncertainty together while building and improving foundational mental fitness.
