What is Mental Health?

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected. Many factors contribute to mental health problems, including:

Biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry
Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse
Family history of mental health problems

Mental health problems are common but help is available. People with mental health problems can get better and many recover completely.

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Addressing Trauma With Your Kids

I hope you all had the opportunity to listen to the Podcast and Live Stream held on June 20, 2020. Please make sure that you stay tuned for up coming episodes and be sure to tell a friend. We want to make sure you have valuable and practical information, relevant for this current time. The live recording of the podcast is available via Spotify and AnchorFm. We have also posted the via of the live stream on IGTV. Thank you for your continued support!

Prevention

Prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders focuses on addressing known risk factors such as exposure to trauma that can affect the chances that children, youth, and young adults will develop mental health problems.

Positive mental health allows people to:

Realize their full potential
Cope with the stresses of life
Work productively
Make meaningful contributions to their communities

Ways to maintain positive mental health include:

Getting professional help if you need it
Connecting with others
Staying positive
Getting physically active
Helping others
Getting enough sleep
Developing coping skills

Friends & Family Support

Friends and loved ones can make a big difference. Only 44% of adults with diagnosable mental health problems and less than 20% of children and adolescents receive needed treatment. Friends and family can be important influences to help someone get the treatment and services they need by:

Reaching out and letting them know you are available to help
Helping them access mental health services
Learning and sharing the facts about mental health, especially if you hear something that isn't true
Treating them with respect, just as you would anyone else
Refusing to define them by their diagnosis or using labels such as "crazy"

Mental Health Facts

Mental health problems are actually very common. In 2014, about:

One in five American adults experienced a mental health issue
One in 10 young people experienced a period of major depression
One in 25 Americans lived with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. It accounts for the loss of more than 41,000 American lives each year, more than double the number of lives lost to homicide.

Domestic Violence and Mental Health

People with mental health problems are more likely to be a victim of domestic violence than the general population. Mental health professionals can identify and respond to domestic violence experienced by their patients. Listed below are our trusted Providers to help you navigate through the turbulent times.

Mental Health Resources

Civil unrest causes anxiety for people of all ages. Dealing with a traumatic or events can be very difficult, as these events can often overwhelm us, and reduce our ability to cope with the stress they cause. Added to this is the longevity of the traumatic responses that, in some cases, can be felt for months, years and centuries, after the event.

Depending on the type of trauma suffered, you may begin to feel better quite quickly, with only occasional stressful relapses. With severe trauma, though, it is important to recognize how it is affecting your life, and to seek help as soon as you can. Please see the brief list of Mental Health resources below:

Mental Health Resources

Therapy for Black Girls

National Association of School Psychologists

NAEYC- National Association for the Education for Young Children

Help Guide

Better Help

Good Therapy

SAMHSA Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

https://www.sprc.org/