The Table
The amount of face-to-face time young people have with the rest of the family group has huge impact on their mental health.
Family eating habits have changed due to lifestyle changes in our society and the ever increasing growth and influence of technology. This change in the way families fuel themselves affects many things, not just our physical health and nutrition, but mood, energy, behaviour and growth. Even our ability to concentrate is affected and these areas are negatively impacted by increased intake of junk food and additives that make convenience meals so quick to get them from freezer to stomach.
How we eat as a family is equally important too. The amount of face-to-face time young people have with the rest of the family group has huge impact on their mental health. This is because meal times eaten together on a daily basis become a key place for children to connect together with parents and each other. It’s a place where they learn to listen to each other and also give voice to things that either concern or engage them.
We have seen children with limited diet, picky eating or some more serious issues around food hugely helped and parents inspired to engage in more family meals and less TV dinners thoroughly enjoying the preparation with their children.
The talk around the table is also supported therapeutically and our therapists have found a great deal of life skills support can be introduced and advanced in an informal, supportive, relaxed meal time chat.
Let’s Eat Programme is a series of free courses to teach life skills such as:
Budgeting and buying ingredients for family meals 
Preparing a range of easy and fun homemade meals 
Getting kids on board with practical stuff like cooking and laying a table 
Using daily meal time as a key place to connect with the family 
Learning how to negotiate food refusers, picky eaters and kids who would rather be doing something else 
Making simple changes to the way families talk to improve kids’ mental health
All of our courses are run by experienced health care professionals who also happen to be fully qualified mum and dads in their own right and know first-hand that meal times aren’t always easy. Courses are designed and implemented by a trained Health Psychologist (BPS registered).