A child or adolescent may have a mental health concern when these signs are present:
- persistently play the victim and/or bully in peer interactions.
- frequently miss school with truancy, sickness or other excuses.
- appear rarely to smile, or appear sad, cry easily or seem depressed.
- appear to lose weight, especially those on diets who believe they are overweight but have developmentally normal body form.
- openly or persistently talk about suicide, or whose thinking is persistently morbid.
- appear to have delusions, paranoia, or hallucinations, or their thinking is bizarre.
- display behaviour that is generally unusual for them and/or their peers.
- have a pattern of learning/achievement that is one year (or more) behind their peers.
- display a sudden deterioration in their standard (or volume) of school work.
- display a significant deterioration in routines, social/family relations, or learning.
- suddenly lose friends, becomes a ‘loner’, or becomes isolated/withdrawn.
- appear to be unusually quiet and solitary in school and/or the community.
- constantly sleepy or always tired.
- quickly loses concentration or is distracted.
- is displaying persistently disruptive behaviour and/or has frequent periods in school detention.
(From Healthy Minds/ Healthy Children Desk Reference: Edition 2, 2011)