Children stressed and self-harmed by UK cost of living crisis


The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on children has prompted some to start self-harming, claims a new report from a leading children’s charity.

According to The Childhood Trust, the impact of financial worries on British families has caused 47% of children to feel stressed, while 21% of parents said their children smile less due to financial scarcity.

But more worryingly, 9% of parents who responded to the survey said their children had started self-harming.

The cost of living crisis risks plunging many previously financially stable families into poverty for the first time and the results could be “disastrous”, according to the charity’s chief executive, Laurence Guinness.

“Many children find themselves in this terrible situation for the first time,” he said. “They are deeply, deeply embarrassed and embarrassed and concerned about their situation.

“Two or three kids in a class of 30 self-harm because they’re so anxious about their life situation, about whether their parents can pay the bills or whether they’ll be able to shower that night.

“A little boy told me that now he can only take a shower once a week and his mother stands by the shower to make sure it’s not too long either.”

The cost of living crisis is compounding a mental health crisis among children in Britain triggered by the covid pandemic, Guinness said.

Parents’ incessant worry about being able to heat their homes or put food on the table is having a profoundly negative impact on children, according to the report.

“When I am hungry, I ask my mother if we have food and then she tells me if there is enough money or not,” said seven-year-old Esham. “If there isn’t, I just go to the cupboards and see if there’s anything and if there’s a snack, I eat it and try to go to bed.”

For the trust, there is little doubt about the underlying cause of the mental health crisis among children. McGuinness said: “After a decade of cutbacks and reduced social support, the government’s response to the cost of living crisis amounts to a patch on the open wound of growing inequality.”

He referred to the Conservative government’s decision not to increase the child benefit as a “major failure” that has led to more children dealing with clinical depression.

Susan Rudnik, director and leading art psychotherapist at Latimer Community Arts Therapy in West London, believes a lack of early intervention resources has caused the biggest child mental health crisis it has seen.

“Self-harm is very complex, but very often young people feel that it is a way of coping when there is nothing else that can help them,” he said. “It’s quite concerning when they rely on unhealthy coping mechanisms because there’s nothing and no one available to help them, whether it’s a professional, a parent, a friend, or a teacher.”

“But teachers are overtaxed, mental health professionals are overtaxed, therapists are overtaxed, the third sector is being cut back. We are headed for a disaster.”

She added that girls are more likely to be referred for self-harm and that although it is predominantly primary school children who are likely to be affected, charities are working with secondary school children “increasingly”.

With more than one in five (22%) children also appearing angrier than before, according to their parents, food poverty stood out as one of the biggest problems facing poor families in Britain right now.

A single mother of three said: “Right now, everything is really crazy. Everything is difficult. When she used to go shopping during the week it was £30, maybe £35.

“Now, if you go to pick up some things that you need, it’s £60 or £70. It’s a shock. We are trying to reduce. There is a charity behind where I live, so sometimes I go there to find food.”

The report’s findings were published as part of The Childhood Trust’s Champions for Children fundraising campaignwhich aims to raise £3.5m by June 28.



Reference-www.theguardian.com

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