This week is Mental Health Week and SATs week – which seems a juxtaposition of events, if ever there was one!
Young people are put under such pressure these days, academically and emotionally. As OFSTED is such a blunt instrument, schools are under pressure to ‘perform’ and it’s hard for this not to be, even subliminally, passed onto the pupils. Then there is the barrage of stuff young people face on social media. Childhood seems very different from the halcyon days I recall!
It is very concerning to read that, “The consequences of failing to address adolescent mental health conditions extend into adulthood, impairing both physical and mental health and limiting opportunities to lead fulfilling lives as adults. “ (World Health Organisation, 2021)
However, we do have an answer!
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
The ‘pattern of this world’ piles pressures on our young people to perform well academically and conform to media trends socially. We must remember that young minds – and older ones, too! – can be transformed by knowing Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. This power even enables us to demolish strongholds of all types:
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
Let’s pray for all in schools and ourselves to increasingly walk in this truth.
Jane Callow, Listening Service Manager
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