At Bubble FLO®, we help children breathe better. It's that simple, and we're really good at it.
But here's what we can't do: give children the confidence to use their inhaler in front of classmates (although our friends over at The Inhaler Tailor are doing their bit for this!). Remove the anxiety about sleepovers when they're worried about doing their physio. Fix the frustration and sadness they feel when their body won't cooperate with their plans.
It's Children's Mental Health Week, and we've been thinking a lot about this gap.
Children with chronic health conditions are three times more likely to experience anxiety and depression than their peers. Three times. Yet when we talk about managing childhood respiratory conditions, we focus almost entirely on lung function, medication and physio adherence, and symptom control.
We rarely ask: "How are you feeling about having this condition? What worries you most? What do you wish you could do that you don’t do now?"
Over the past nine years working with families, we’ve heard so many stories that stay with us. Some children want to hide in toilets to use medical equipment because it’s the only private space they can access (We would never advise using a private or public toilet as an appropriate space to undertake respiratory physio!). While others would rather miss out on joyful experiences due to anxieties over bacteria risk. Each story has a child at the heart of it.
Healthcare has become incredibly sophisticated at treating respiratory symptoms. We can measure lung function precisely, adjust medications quickly, even predict flare-ups. The clinical side is genuinely so impressive.
But somewhere along the way, we've separated the physical condition from the child experiencing it. We include the medtech industry in this. At Bubble FLO®, we can provide families with an effective device to make medical management easier, but listening goes beyond.
If you're a parent reading this and your child is struggling emotionally with their condition, that's completely normal. There are lots of organisations who can help:
- YoungMinds.app Parents Helpline: 0808 802 5544 (support for parents worried about their child)
- Childline (www.childline.org.uk/): 0800 1111 (for children and young people)
- Your GP can refer to NHS mental health services (though waiting lists are currently long)
- Kooth Digital Health offers free online counselling with no referral needed
- Place2Be provides school-based mental health support
- CAMHS (https://shorturl.at/9UBkr) (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) - free NHS mental health support
We would also always advise partnering with your child's School. Open up dialogue between you so that together you can put strategies in place to support your child and prevent them from masking their anxieties and worries through the day.
Some questions we have this Children's Mental Health Awareness Week:
If you're a healthcare provider: What would it look like to routinely ask children "How are you feeling about having this condition?" as part of standard consultations? Not just when there's a crisis, but as a normal part of care.
If you're a fellow founder in healthtech: How do we design products that consider the emotional experience, not just clinical effectiveness? How do we build tools that feel empowering rather than stigmatising?
If you're an educator: What support exists in your school for the emotional challenges of managing chronic illness? And how can we make those supports feel normal rather than "special"?
The conversation itself matters. "How are you feeling about having this condition?" is just as important as "Have you taken your medication?"
This Children's Mental Health Week, we would genuinely like to hear: What conversations aren't we having? What would actually help? What's working in your experience?
Because the children managing these conditions are remarkable. They deserve healthcare systems, educational environments, and products that recognise they're managing more than just symptoms.
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Founder, Bubble FLO®