The vast majority of parents would like to see their children starting to build mental health skills in primary school and most parents feel that they themselves would benefit from mental health or wellbeing training, a new survey has found.

This week is National Parents' Week and as part of this, St Patrick's Mental Health Services, in conjunction with the National Parents' Council (NPC), surveyed over 1,200 parents on the issue of mental health.

The survey found that 99% of parents want their children to start building their mental health skills at primary school level and 50% feel that this should begin from junior infants.

A further 88% of parents believe that they could benefit from mental health or wellbeing training.

According to Paul Gilligan, CEO of St Patrick's Mental Health Services, ‘all children have the capacity to live emotionally healthy lives' and parents and teachers play a key role in this.

"For children, being emotionally healthy requires feeling loved, believing in themselves, being able to be happy and feeling safe. In order for parents and teachers to look after their child's emotional health, they need to be able to look after their own. Having good emotional health and strong psychological resilience helps you enjoy the good and difficult aspects of parenting," he explained.

He said that there are skills that parents can practise at home in order to improve their own wellbeing and, in turn, their child's emotional health. He suggested:

-Connecting with your ‘inner parent' - focus on the innate love you have for your child. This connection can be delayed or blocked when challenges arise, but focusing on this innate love should help put everything else into perspective
-Knowing how to be a happy parent - this involves many skills, including accepting that you are unique. If you do this, you avoid being compared to others and the stress of trying to be the ‘perfect parent'. There is no such thing as a perfect parent and you need to find the parenting type that fits best with you and your child's needs
-Believe that you are a good person and a good parent - look for the best in yourself and acknowledge it. This helps when we make mistakes and is important when we face criticism or negativity
-Ensure that your live in an emotionally healthy environment - your environment should feel physically safe and you should feel valued and respected. You should have a good support strategy around you, which can be called upon should emotional difficulties arise.

"This survey has given us an insight in to parents' preferred approach to supporting their children's mental health, and also how they feel about their own knowledge and awareness of this area. Schools can use this information to ensure that parents have a say in how this topic is addressed. The high level of participation in the survey demonstrates the interest that parents have in this area," commented NPC chief executive, Aine Lynch.

She added that one of the most important messages to get through to parents is that they ‘should not neglect their own mental health while looking after everyone else's'.

St Patrick's runs a confidential helpline offering support and information on mental health. This can be contacted from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, on (01) 249 3333 or email info@stpatsmail.com

For more information on the NPC, click here