Welcome to our website
Thank you so much for checking out our website. I guess this means that you are a parent with a child who suffers from a mental health condition? Or maybe a teacher who is looking for more information on how best you can help a child in your school? Perhaps you're a principal who is looking for someone to come and talk to your staff members about how anxiety is really affecting children at home and what you can do to help them at school - without the clinical jargon?
Whoever you are, and where ever you are I am thrilled you have stopped by. This is the first step in our campaign to create a true insight in to the daily lives of so many children worldwide suffering with a mental health condition.
Olivia Wilson - Founder
I am a freelance writer based in Melbourne. I have been writing about Parenting Childhood Anxiety for a few years, alongside an Expat Blog. Writing is my thing, especially when I can use it to help and advise.
I have a daughter who suffers with separation anxiety. It is absolutely my mission to create awareness, raise the profile of childhood anxiety and to teach as many professionals working with children what the condition is like AT HOME!
In our house it's separation anxiety, and it can rear it's ugly head at any time. Sometimes it's at the supermarket, sometimes it's at a birthday party, but mostly for us, it's at school. My daughter has a true fear, a very real fear, which displays itself in all kinds of ways. I have struggled for years for people to understand this and be sympathetic. I have fought for her anxiety to be recognised, fought for her to get help, and I am still fighting for her condition to be accepted and correctly managed. I am not alone!
Parents are desperate for people to see the real side of 'parenting childhood anxiety', what we go through at home before the school gates open, before term even starts. We are longing for a time when someone will take our child's hand and make that special connection which could be the start of a whole new life for them. I am dedicated to teaching you about the truth behind closed doors for so many families across the world.
I don't want anyone to feel like they have to:
a) struggle to find the right help
b) ask for help time and again
c) feel like it's all too much for people to deal with
d) put up with the wrong advice
e) feel VERY alone
Thank you so much for dropping by, please keep an eye on the campaign, and share our site with anyone you know who may benefit from some great "real life" advice!
Contribute
We would love contributors for our site! If you have a story to share, or would like to be featured please get in touch! Maybe you're a health professional, a mother, a teacher or even a young person who has been fighting with anxiety! We want to hear from you, we need your help in raising awareness!!
Book a voice
We want to work with you to make our children's lives the best they can be! If your publication, business or school needs a voice to speak up about anxiety in children, Olivia is available for interviews, advice, and speaking engagements. Please contact for further information.
The Statistics (Taken from Youth Beyond Blue)
Around one in 35 young Australians aged 4-17 experience a depressive disorder. Breakdown: 2.8% of Australians aged 4-17 have experienced an affective disorder. This is equivalent to 112,000 young people.
One in 20 (5%) of young people aged 12-17 years had experienced a major depressive disorder between 2013-14.
One in fourteen young Australians (6.9%) aged 4-17 experienced an anxiety disorder in 2015. This is equivalent to approximately 278,000 young people. Breakdown: 6.9% of Australians aged 4-17 experienced an anxiety disorder in 2015. This is equivalent to 278,000 young people.
One in four young Australians currently has a mental health condition. Breakdown: 26.4% of Australians aged 16 to 24 currently have experienced a mental health disorder in the last 12 months.5This figure includes young people with a substance use disorder. This is equivalent to 750,000 young people today.
Suicide is the biggest killer of young Australians and accounts for the deaths of more young people than car accidents. Breakdown: 324 Australians (10.5 per 100,000) aged 15-24 dying by suicide in 2012. This compares to 198 (6.4 per 100,000) who died in car accidents (the second highest killer).
Evidence suggests three in four adult mental health conditions emerge by age 24 and half by age 14 Breakdown: Half of all lifetime cases of mental health disorders start by age 14 years and three fourths by age 24 years.
Hanging Out With Mermaids was named whilst my daughter and I sat on the beach wondering how calm it was under the crashing waves. It seemed to relate to our struggle, her worries crashing about around us, when all we wanted was some help to allow us to be on the seabed, hanging out with the mermaids.