Children’s Mental Health Week 2025

When it comes to maintaining good mental health in both children and adults, research suggests that having a growth mindset could improve psychological resilience and overall mental wellbeing. 

Described by Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck and colleagues, as the belief that someone’s capabilities improve over time, a growth mindset has been attributed to helping us become better equipped to cope with life’s challenges.

With this week being Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week (February 3-9), there’s no better time to look at how encouraging a growth mindset in children and young people can benefit them – both now and in the future. The theme for this year’s Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week is ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself,’ chosen to “encourage children, young people and adults to embrace self-awareness and explore what it means to them. This will help them grow and develop resilience to cope with what life throws at them.” (Place2Be, 2025).

By becoming more self-aware and developing emotional intelligence, children gain a better understanding of their thoughts and emotions and, as a result, their strengths, weaknesses, values and goals. Having a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset (where the belief is that you have a fixed level of intelligence which can’t be changed) means children and young people know they can build on all of these attributes. They can improve their knowledge and skills, develop further emotional intelligence and ultimately, become more resilient and well-functioning adults.

According to Burnett et al (2020) “there is a negative relation between growth mindsets and psychological distress … a positive relation between growth mindsets and treatment value … and a positive relation between growth mindsets and active coping.” Essentially, those with a growth mindset are less likely to experience anxiety, depression, psychological stress and an absence of wellbeing, while also having better coping mechanisms and an ability to reframe problems.

How to help children develop a growth mindset

The best way to foster a growth mindset in children and young people is through encouragement and allowing them to tackle challenges, even if they fail at them. Whether it’s practicing something like a sport or learning to play a musical instrument – something which requires time, effort and repetition to improve upon – or just trying something new, all of this will help build resilience.

Learning to fail is just as important as succeeding, as children and young people will discover that they can experience difficult times but still come out the other side. They can develop problem-solving and analytical skills as well as an ability to take on feedback and try again, rather than feeling defeated.

Some top tips for encouraging a growth mindset in children include:

• Encouraging children and young people to try new things and step out of their comfort zone.
• Setting an example by discussing challenges you’ve overcome and explaining the significance of experiencing setbacks in everyday life.
• Praising their efforts, regardless of the outcome.
• Make a point of celebrating their resilience and growth, no matter how small. Let them see the value of having a growth mindset.
• Provide constructive criticism and encourage acceptance of opportunities to learn.
• Reframe challenges and obstacles as opportunities.
• Encourage persistence and a positive attitude – the power of YET.

Having a growth mindset also relates to one of the Public Health Agency’s  ‘5 Ways to wellbeing’ (Keep learning)- which you can find out more about here.

References

Burnette, J. l. et al. (2020) Growth mindsets and psychological distress: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, Vol 77, 101816. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101816

Check out Carol Dweck’s TEDTalk below: