The Wellbeing 5 Project
Dr. Dominique Thompson
Growing a Grown Up
The Mental Wellbeing 5
5 Simple Questions to help with mental wellbeing with answers from Experts, Thought Leaders, Campaigners & Advocates
Dr. Dominique Thompson
Dr. Thompson is an award-winning General Practitioner (GP), young people’s mental health expert, Health & Wellbeing Consultant, TEDx speaker, Author & the creator of, “Growing a Grown Up.” She has over two decades of clinical National Health Service (NHS) experience.
Dr. Thompson has written books for students & young people including “The Student Wellbeing Series”. She co-authored “How to grow a grown up”, a book for parents and carers bringing up teens and tweens. She has also contributed to a book for university staff “Student Mental Health & Wellbeing in Higher Education: A practical guide”
Dr. Thompson’s two TEDx talks touched on the pressures felt by young people; ‘What I learnt from 78000 GP consultations with university students’ and ‘Understanding Why’. She is also a clinical advisor for the National Institute for Health & Care Excellent (NICE), the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) & Student Minds
Dr. Thompson’s website growingagrownup.com contains free resources and a free newsletter for parents and carers of teens.
Find out more about Dr. Thompson here
The Mental Wellbeing 5 with Dr. Dominique Thompson
1. What is your favourite quote, anecdote, proverb or experience that helps with mental wellbeing?
Dr. Thompson: ‘Life is wiggly’
This is a phrase I use to remind myself (and others!) that life is unpredictable, and that we have to constantly build our skills to manage the ups and downs, but also that although things can go badly, they will eventually go well again. It isn’t easy, but there are things we can all do to keep going when times are tough, and one day the sun will shine again!
2. What is your top piece of advice for mental wellbeing?
Dr. Thompson: Build your social connections
Humans are social animals, and the number one thing that helps us all to stay well is support from other people (and supporting other people). Connecting with others is absolutely vital for our mental wellbeing. Even when we can’t be together in person, or hug and hold each other, we can still talk, listen and give each other strength in challenging times.
So I always encourage people to keep building their social networks (like building a spider’s web) throughout life; meeting new people, finding new friends, and sharing life’s ups and downs together. And for anyone who struggles to meet new people, I always recommend volunteering as a wonderful way to discover like-minded people, with a shared compassionate purpose.
3. What is the one change in the world that you would like to see? (in your area of wellbeing or in the world in general or both)
Dr. Thompson: Less competition
I really worry about how competitive the world has come. Anyone who knows me is aware of my concerns in this area, and my TEDx talk ‘What I learnt from 78000 GP consultations with university students’ sums up my thoughts and experiences up in 10 minutes!
We live in a world where all the fun things have been made competitive, and young people are immersed in a culture where they can’t just bake a cake, paint a picture, or even go on a date without feeling like they have to be the best or ‘win’.
It’s a really unhealthy approach to life, and drives perfectionism and low self-esteem, as well as anxiety and other mental health issues. We need to reclaim fun and say ‘no’ to competing if we don’t want to. We also need to be aware how much social media can magnify the comparisons, and competitive elements of life, and step back from those too.
4. Which resources (books / websites / videos etc) for wellbeing would you recommend?
Dr. Thompson: I’m biased but I really like the apps I have helped to develop, specifically to support young people’s mental health, with the amazing Dr Knut Schroeder of ExpertSelfCare.
The distrACT app is to support those who self-harm and have suicidal thinking, and the Student Health app is to answer all mental health and physical health questions that students may have. They are both free and recommended on the NHS app library which is fantastic.
I also rate the Student Minds website, and Young Minds. My own website for parents of teens and tweens has free resources and a free newsletter too, www.growingagrownup.com
For some fun videos on YouTube; I have made lots of free #DomIn60Seconds clips about a variety of mental health and wellbeing/ parenting topics too
5. What’s the one thing that always makes you smile?
Dr. Thompson: Dogs (& my son!)
I am a total dog addict! I just love watching little twitter clips of them, and even wrote a blog called ‘Was 2020 the year of the puppy?’!
The other constant source of laughter and fun (and mud!) in my life is my 11 year old son- who is boisterous, noisy, messy and football mad, and I wouldn’t have him any other way (though more baths would be good!).
Further Exploration - Dr. Dominique Thompson
Website: Growing a Grown Up
Dr. Thompson's website for parents and carers of teens and tweens containing free resources, a free newsletter, information about her and how to get in contact
Book: How to Grow a Grown Up
How to Grow a Grown Up, the book Dr. Thompson co-authored with Fabienne Vailes, helps parents and carers of teens to build their child's confidence and resilience - "so they can become a strong, happy and independent adult."
Videos: #Domin60seconds
Dr. Thompson's Youtube channel containing videos, "Distraction Technique" & "Building the Jigsaw of Self-Identity"
Website: Buzz Consulting
Dr. Thompson's student health and wellbeing consultancy business website. Contains information about her consultancy, writing, speaking, testimonials, resources, events and how to get in contact
Social Media - Follow Dr. Thompson Below
More Mental Wellbeing 5 Interviews Below
More Mental Wellbeing 5 Interviews
With answers from experts, thought leaders, advocates and campaigners to help with mental wellbeing