People Skills
Emotional and psychological health is vital to academic and social success
All children can be coached to develop interpersonal or “people skills”
Some children need more help than others in developing these “skills”
Developing interpersonal skills is a process which occurs through all stages of life
and there’s no end to what can be learned

Home & Family
Learning ways to respond to difficulties in relationships, helps children gain an understanding of their own emotional life, and is a protective factor in building emotional resiliency
Coaching children in these skills is best when reinforced at home
If children are showing signs of emotional distress, they can be helped in partnership with parents and family

Group Activity
The format of a group is more successful in coaching children in interpersonal skill development than individual therapy
When group activities are fun, learning is maximized
Children need to try out skills with their peers to learn them

Medication & Behaviour
Regardless of whether a child is taking medication, the behavioural side of
skill development is essential

Girls
The emotional and mental health needs of girls can be overlooked in primary school due to less behavioural difficulties, and generally, a greater degree of compliance with authority. This has the potential for interpersonal and emotional difficulties to be overlooked, particularly those involving anxiety and depression - the so-called “internalising disorders”
The generally held belief that girl’s relationships involve more conflict, is not supported by my experience.

Boys
Boys come to the attention of psychological services much earlier, and in greater numbers than girls, due to a complex interplay of biological, environmental and socio-cultural factors
Boy’s relationships from kindy through primary school involve learning how to respond to an increasing variety of interpersonal situations including frequent and overt criticism, put downs, playful teasing, abusive teasing and bullying, physical competition and rough play. For many boys, these situations occur in the early stages of their emotional and psychological development when they have fairly primitive ways of responding. There is the tendency for these responses to be mis-read and the boy to develop a reputation that stays with him.