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Good news! Young people in general are drinking less than older generations did and still do: around one-quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds don’t drink at all, compared with just over one-fifth of the broader adult population.

Let’s begin with good news. Young people in general are taking fewer drugs:  around 17% of 16–24-year-olds took drugs in 2022–23, compared to 21% in 2019–20. However, such activities may be catastrophic for some teenagers, whose developing adolescent brains may never recover from taking toxic substances.

Of all the topics that concern parents, teachers, and caretakers of teenagers right now, I have found that the most worrying is how to reduce their phone use.

We live in a time of huge worry about our teenagers and their mental health – from fears of a phone-obsessed adolescence to concerns...

The Christmas holidays are approaching, with talk of turkey, brussels sprouts, and all the trimmings.   But for thousands of teenagers,...

Now, at the age of 58, I’m arguably in the autumn of my life. As the days draw in and the leaves begin to fall, it feels like the right...

We live in uncertain times. The UK has just witnessed an election, wars are being fought, and many of us feel anxious about the state of...

How can someone who is depressed, and at the bottom of their bed, become more active?

Nearly a decade ago now, I went to see my doctor about how I was dealing with my long-running battle with anxiety. When I was in my...

Has the arrival of autumn made you feel anxious? For many of us, it’s a return to a more stressful life after the summer holidays when...

A hot June day that finds me visiting the Japanese garden in our local park. Enclosed within the grounds, the garden abounds with...

With Spring comes hope. After the gloom of Winter, the days lengthen; the daffodils bloom; the sun reappears. Yet for some,...

Phew. I’m not alone, it seems, in my enthusiasm for poetry’s healing power. No less an organisation than UNESCO (the United Nations...

Odd as it might sound, often the most comforting poetry is the darkest. I know this from personal experience, as a mental health advocate...

Can poetry help our mental health? In my last piece, I spoke about my personal experiences with poetry, and the life-changing impact it...

Can poetry help our mental health? While I’m convinced of this, so much so that I’ve written a new book on the links between verse and...

How do we make meaningful lifestyle changes that stick and are more than a blink in January’s eye? We know it’s not easy. Studies show...

As we adjust to a second lockdown, one musical voice keeps playing in my head: that of Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet and...

1. Make your bed first thing Every morning, make your bed to your own satisfaction, the duvet nice and straight and the pillows plumped....

A New year, and a time when publishers traditionally promote January diet books urging self-restraint after the season of merrymaking....

I have spent much of the morning trying to find the right sentence with which to start an article. I am playing with the phrase ‘it is a...

A coldish evening and I am back from a class on how to give a presentation, cradling a mug of celebratory hot chocolate. Even the thought...

A tense body means a tense mind. Equally, if you are physically relaxed, it is impossible to be anything other than mentally relaxed....