On Tuesday evening, The Abbey welcomed journalist, broadcaster and campaigner Natasha Devon MBE (natashadevon.com) to launch the first in our new series of Parent Talks. 

Natasha is a writer, presenter and activist with a weekly show on LBC and regular appearances across podcasts, radio and a range of publications, and she spoke about how to communicate with young people about their mental health. The topics included why it’s important to have open channels of communication; how parents and teachers can’t ‘fix’ a young person’s mental health, but what strategies we might use to support them. 

The Parent Talk series is part of The Abbey Ideas + Passion Programme (Abbey IP): celebrating innovative thinking, ideas and curiosity across our community. Parent Talks will range from useful information for one age range through to talks to which all parents are invited to come and explore interesting and valuable ideas. Abbey staff and external speakers will share thinking, prompt debate and celebrate lifelong learning.