Children and Mental Health Talk

This book brings together a collection of timely contributions exploring how children display social competence in talking about their mental health and wellbeing. The authors present recorded conversations of young people's interactions with professionals in which they disclose particular mental health concerns and their ways of coping. Across a diverse range of institutional and international settings, chapters explore how children and young people employ interactional strategies to demonstrate their competence. The research reveals how young people resist or protect claims that they lack competence, especially in contexts where they might be seen as seeking or asking for support, or when their (dis)abilities and mental health is explicitly up for discussion. The analyses of the recorded conversations draw on insights from ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and discursive psychology.

Each chapter conclude with a reflection on the methodological, professional and practical implications of this research, highlighting areas where future research is necessary and addressing the empirical findings from the authors professional vision, facilitating innovative dialogue between conversation analytic research and professional vision. This collection will be of great value to academics and professionals interested in how children express themselves, particularly in relation to their mental wellbeing.

Joyce Lamerichs is Assistant Professor at VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Susan Danby is Professor of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Amanda Bateman is Senior Lecturer at Swansea University, UK.

Stuart Ekberg is Senior Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.