Speaking with Your Children About Mental Health

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Although conversations surrounding mental health may be tough and uncomfortable, we also know how important they are. Opening the conversation surrounding mental health can help a child feel supported, heard, and comfortable if they have questions, concerns, or just genuine curiosity. Even if mental illness has not affected your child or family personally, having the discussion about the importance of mental health and what to do if things become overwhelming can be a contributing factor in raising a mentally healthy and empathetic child. 

The best way to start these types of conversations is to start simply. This may look like introducing books, movies, or shows that discuss mental health, how to take care of oneself, or how to be a good friend. Some helpful resources in assisting in talking with your child about mental health can include: the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Child Welfare Information Gateway websites, the books “I’m Sick” by Taylor Nicole, “Wishing Wellness” by Lisa Anne Clarke, or “Mama’s Waves” or “Daddy’s Waves” by Chandra Ghose Ippen. Websites and books are a great way to introduce mental awareness to children in a safe and monitored environment. 

Furthermore, remembering that one conversation does not usually cover the topic of mental health to its fullest extent. Making sure to maintain an open and continuing conversation with your children is key in fostering a supportive and healthy environment surrounding mental health. 

Resources:

https://psychcentral.com/health/parent-central-how-to-talk-with-your-kid-about-mental-illness#takeaway

Best Ways to Deal with Anxiety

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Anxiety is one of the most common mental health conditions. Despite anxiety being our body’s natural response to stress, it can also cause individuals to feel consumed by fear, worry, and uncertainty if they are not addressed and supported through helpful methods. 

One of the most helpful methods of managing anxiety is recognizing your triggers. A few common triggers for anxiety may include: large crowds, talking in front of others, meeting new people, starting a new job, taking a test, etc. 

Here are 5 ways to help deal with anxiety:

  1. Question your thought patterns. Negative thoughts are common in anxiety, however, challenging these thoughts and replacing them with more positive and supportive thinking may help take the edge off anxious feelings. 
  2. Practice deep breathing. One of the most common breathing patterns is called ‘square breathing.’ This is where you breathe in for 4 counts and out for 4 counts for a total of 3-5 minutes. This helps slow your heart rate and trigger your brain to calm down. 
  3. Getting active. Using our bodies to distract our minds is a very helpful tool. Exercise releases chemicals in our brain that help us release stress and feel calmer. 
  4. Write down your thoughts. Sometimes writing down what is causing anxiety can make the thoughts less daunting and severe. This may also assist in you finding patterns to anxious thoughts to be better able to combat them in the future. 
  5. Seek out support through therapy. CBT therapy is a great way to help combat different ways of thinking regarding anxiety- causing situations. A therapist can help you develop ways to change negative thought patterns and behaviors. 

Resource:

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/how-to-cope-with-anxiety#anxiety-red-flags

How Establishing a Healthy Relationship with Yourself Improves Mental Health

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I believe it is safe to say that we have all seen or read articles about the benefits of building healthy relationships with others, however, what are the benefits of building a healthy relationship with ourselves? A relationship with oneself is arguably the most important relationship one can have, so how can we foster this and how can it improve our mental health?

Having a good relationship with yourself not only improves your own insight, understanding, and acceptance of yourself, but it can also improve your relationships with others. Of course, this is easier said than done, and many may wonder what a healthy relationship with oneself may look like. According to Julie Hanks (LCSW), “a healthy self-relationship is the ability to value yourself as a person and embrace your strengths and weaknesses.”

Here are six ways in which you can build a healthier relationship with yourself:

  1. Care for your needs. This may look as simple as caring for your basic physical needs (eating healthily, sleeping well, exercising, etc). 
  2. Recognize that joy is important. Prioritizing things that you enjoy and allowing yourself to indulge in them. 
  3. Focus on your inner world. This may include being aware of your own processes and how you “tick.” Examples are considering the WHY behind your behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and actions. 
  4. Make time for yourself. This may be difficult for some, but even taking 10 minutes every day to yourself can do so much!
  5. Meditate. Meditation can allow ourselves to feel peace and get through stressors. 
  6. Be the best friend you’ve always wanted. In times where we may think badly of ourselves, think about what you might say to your best friend or family member. 

Resource:

https://psychcentral.com/blog/6-ways-you-can-have-a-healthy-relationship-with-yourself#6

Decreasing Stigma of Suicide

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What is the stigma behind suicide? Here are a few marked differences in stigmas:

-Stigma: “A Mark that denotes a shameful quality in the individual so marked, or a quality that is considered to be shameful in a certain individual”

-Social Stigma: “Prejudicial attitudes and discriminating behavior directed towards individuals with mental health problems as a result of the psychiatric label they have been given”

-Self Stigma: “Internalizing by the mental health sufferer of their perceptions of discrimination”

(seattleu.edu)

Examples of suicide stigmas – remember that each of these are harmful:

-Asking someone about suicide may plant the idea in their minds (false)

-Suicidal people are fully intent on dying (false)

-Everyone who dies by suicide is depressed (false)

(seattleu.edu)

Stigma can come from many areas of life including family, media, teachers, peers, and more. The reasoning behind why stigma can be so damaging is that it does not promote healthy recovery, it can negatively affect treatment outcomes, and it can negatively affect the perception of self and others. Stigma can be rooted internally and externally, and if not broken or addressed, may cause harm.

How to combat suicide stigma:

-Accept differences in others

-Don’t rely on stereotypes

-Offer a safe space to talk  

Resources:

https://www.seattleu.edu/wellness/mental/stigma/

How to Calm 1st Day of School Nerves

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Feeling anxious about the first day of school is natural for both children and parents. Supporting your child through this transition from summer time to school time can be tough; however, here are tips and tricks to help overcome those first day nerves and create an easier transition. 

Have a Consistent Sleep Routine in Place

-Having a consistent sleep routine can help regulate your child and help them transition into the new routine they will be in during school time. Starting this a few weeks before school starts can also help them prepare and be more comfortable when the first day of school comes. 

Comfy and Confident Clothing

-The night before that first day, help your child choose clothing that will be comfortable for them, but also helps them feel confident. Comfortable shoes, favorite t-shirts, fun accessories can all be confidence boosters to help your child feel ready for the new school year. 

Engage Your Child in Planning 

– Ask children what they might need from you in emotional support or in practical planning. They may come up with some wonderful ideas and their ideas will come back to them during the day when they are most anxious.

Talk Openly About What is Scary 

-At this age, it can seem like kids think about themselves all the time, but that doesn’t mean they’re self-aware. They might not know yet what’s making them nervous. And they might have trouble expressing their feelings. Some examples may look like:

“I see you’re a little stressed about starting school. Are you worried about moving between classes on your own?”

Or, “You had a hard time finding a group of kids you liked last year. Is that something you’re worried about this year?

Talk About School Supports

– Remind your child of the awesome support system that’s already in place and of all the people to go to for help. Your child could talk to a counselor, a case manager, the school nurse, or another staff member. If your child has a “go-to” person — maybe someone who helped a lot last year — try to meet with that person before school starts.

Resources:

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/6-tips-for-calming-first-day-jitters-in-grade-school

https://www.netnanny.com/blog/how-to-ease-the-first/

Signs of Child Abuse and How to Help

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By: Megan Eckles (Therapist/Training Specialsit)

What are the facts?

  • 1 in 7 children experienced abuse of neglect within the last year (CDC, 2022). 
  • In 2020 Georgia ranked 38th in the nation for child well-being (Georgia Division of Family and Children Services).

Types of Abuse

  • Physical Abuse: injury or death inflicted upon a child by a parent or caretaker other than by accidental means​
  • Neglect: parent or caretaker allows a child to experience avoidable suffering or fails to provide basic essentials for physical, social, and emotional development​
  • Emotional Abuse: parent or caretaker creates a negative emotional atmosphere for the child ​
  • Sexual Abuse: any adult or older or more powerful child employs, uses, persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any minor to engage in any form of sexual intercourse​
  • Endangering a Child: a person intentionally allows a child under the age of 18 to witness the commission of a forcible felony, battery, or family violence, and/or a person knows that a child under the age of 18 is present and sees or hears the act, commits a forcible felony, battery, or family violence (Georgia Division of Family and Children Services).

Warning Signs of Abuse

Mayo Clinic notes multiple signs and symptoms of abuse.

  • Withdrawal from friends or usual activities
  • Changes in behavior — such as aggression, anger, hostility or hyperactivity — or changes in school performance
  • Depression, anxiety or unusual fears, or a sudden loss of self-confidence
  • An apparent lack of supervision
  • Frequent absences from school
  • Reluctance to leave school activities, as if he or she doesn’t want to go home
  • Attempts at running away
  • Rebellious or defiant behavior
  • Self-harm or attempts at suicide

What can I do?

As a mandated reporter, you are required to make a DFCS report. According to GA law, failure to report abuse can be found guilty of a misdemeanor.

How to Report:

Child abuse and/or neglect reports are taken 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A report can be submitted on online via the portal or by paper and faxed in.

1.855.GACHILD (+1 855-422-4453)

Resources:

Georgia Division of Family and Children Services: https://dfcs.georgia.gov

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/index.html

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/child-abuse/symptoms-causes/syc-20370864

http://www.pcageorgiahelpline.org

Overcoming Self-Harm

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Self-harm: this is when one hurts themselves as a way of dealing with very difficult feelings.

Some individuals self-harm as a way to:

-express their feelings when it is hard to put into words

-change emotional pain into physical pain

-reduce overwhelming feelings

-punish themselves for their feelings and experiences

-express suicidal feelings and thoughts without taking their own life

Ways individuals self-harm: 

-cutting yourself

-over-eating or under-eating

-biting yourself

-hitting yourself or walls

-pulling your hair

-picking or scratching at your skin

How to overcome self-harm:

  • Learn to recognize triggers: triggers are people, places, situations, sensations, or events that cause specific thoughts or feelings. 
  • Become aware of the urge to self-harm: being able to recognize urges helps an individual take steps towards reducing or stopping self-harm. 

Urges can include:

-strong emotions like sadness or anger

-racing heart or feelings of heaviness

-disconnection from yourself or a loss of sensation

-unhealthy decisions, like working too hard to avoid feelings 

-repetitive thoughts about harming yourself

  • Identify distractions: identify distractions that can help distract the urge to self-harm. 
  • Keep a diary: a diary can help keep track and understand self-harming behaviors. This is useful to keep track of what occurred before, during, and after self-harming. After a period of time, the diary can help spot patterns of self-harming behaviors (Melinda, 2022). 
  • Use coping techniques: to help overcome self-harm, an alternate coping skill needs to take its place. 
  • If self-harm is to express pain and intense emotion: paint, draw, journal, write a poem, listen to music
  • If self-harm is to calm or soothe: take a hot bath, pet an animal, use a warm blanket, massage your neck, hands, and feet, listen to calming music
  • If self-harm is to disconnect or numb pain: call a friend, take a cold shower, hold ice in hand, chew something with a strong taste
  • If self-harm is to release tension or vent anger: exercise, punch a cushion, squeeze a stress ball, rip something up, make noises with instrument, bang pots and pans
  • Seek professional help: trained professionals can help direct towards overcoming cutting or other self-harming habits. 

Client Support Specialist: a CSS can help identify triggers and develop coping skills.

Therapy: a therapist can help explore past or current trauma that may be triggering self-harming behaviors and can assist in helping develop coping skills (Self-harm, 2020). 

Resources

Melinda. (2022, February 7). Cutting and self-harm. HelpGuide.org. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/cutting-and-self-harm.htm

Self-harm 2020 – mind. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.mind.org.uk/media-a/5783/self-harm-2020.pdf

Understanding Bipolar Diagnosis

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What is Bipolar Disorder?

According to National Institute of Mental Health, Bipolar Disorder (formerly known as manic-depressive illness or manic depression), is a mental disorder that causes and unusual shift in mood, with extreme highs and lows.

Types of Bipolar:

  • Bipolar I 

Having at least one manic episode followed by hypomanic or major depressive episode. Manic episodes lasting at least 7 days or needing immediate hospital care 

  • Bipolar II

Having at least one major depressive episode and at least one hypomanic, but no manic episodes

  • Cyclothymic

Having periods of hypomanic symptoms as well as periods of depressive symptoms lasting for at least 2 years (1 year in children and adolescents). However, the symptoms do not meet the diagnostic requirements for a hypomanic episode and a depressive episode.

Types of Episodes:

  • Manic

A manic episode is characterized as at least one week of being extremely high-spirited or irritable most of the days, possessing more energy than usual, and at least 3 of the following: 

  • Decreased need for sleep
  • Fast speech
  • Uncontrollable racing thoughts/quickly changing topics while speaking
  • Distractibility
  • Increased activity 
  • Increased risky behaviors 

Some people in manic episodes report psychotic features, such as false beliefs and/or hallucinations.

  • Hypomanic

Hypomanic is characterized with less severe manic symptoms only 4 days in a row versus a week.

  • Major Depressive

Major depressive is characterized by at least 2 weeks where at least 5 of the following symptoms present:

  • Intense sadness or despair
  • Loss of interest in activities the person once enjoyed
  • Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
  • Fatigue
  • Increased or decreased sleep
  • Increased or decreased appetite
  • Restlessness or slowed speech or movement
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Frequent thoughts of death or suicide

Treatment:

Bipolar Disorder comes with lifelong treatment. Medication is used to balance and stabilize mood. Along with medication, therapy/counseling has proven to be helpful with managing the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder.

Resources:

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bipolar-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355955

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/bipolar-disorders/what-are-bipolar-disorders

How to Boost Self-Esteem

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Self-esteem is defined as the overall opinion of yourself. This is determined by the feelings you have towards your abilities and your limitations. Everyone has a self-esteem, but each person differentiates between low or just right self-esteem. 

Low self-esteem is characterized as ones focus on perceived weaknesses and faults and they give no or little lack of credit to their skills or assets. 

Healthy self-esteem is characterized as a good balance and accurate view of self and has a good opinion of abilities but also recognizes their faults. 

Most individuals fall between the range of low and healthy self-esteem, but there are a significant number of individuals who battle with low self-esteem. 

So, how can we boost self-esteem so that healthy self-esteem is attainable? 

Here are four steps to take to achieve healthy self-esteem:

  1. Identify troubling conditions: think about the conditions or situation that tend to deflate your self-esteem. 

Some common influences of self-esteem can be:

-Your thoughts and perceptions

-How others react to you

-Experiences at home, school, work, and in the community

-Illnesses, disability, or injury

-Age

-Role and status in society

-Media messages 

  1. Become aware of thoughts: Once you have identified the troubling condition(s), pay attention to your thoughts about them. 

Ask yourself, is what I am thinking true? Would you say these thoughts to a friend? If the thoughts you are having is something that you would not say to a friend then you should not say them to yourself. 

  1. Challenge negative thinking: Initial thoughts may not be the only way to view a situation. 

You want to ask yourself if your thoughts line up with the facts of the situation? Is there other explanation to the situation other than my initial thought? 

  1. Adjust your thoughts and beliefs: Replace negative or inaccurate thoughts with accurate and constructive thoughts.

-Adjust your negative thoughts to positive ones

-Use encouraging words to yourself 

-Forgive yourself if applicable 

Once healthy self-esteem has been attained then we can enjoy the benefits. 

Benefits of healthy self-esteem include: 

  • Able to form secure and honest relationships
  • Assertive in expressing your needs and opinions
  • Confident in your ability to make decisions
  • Realistic in your expectations and less likely to be overcritical with yourself
  • Resilient and better able to weather stress and setbacks 

And most importantly to feel good, secure, and increased self-worth (Mayo, 2020). 

Resources

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2020, July 14). Does your self-esteem need a boost? Mayo Clinic. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/self-esteem/art-20047976

Human Trafficking Awareness Statistics in the Mental Health Field

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Over 21 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking, with more than 800,000 enslaved each year (Human Trafficking, 2021). In the United States, there have been 11,193 reported cases in 2021. Since 2007, there have been a total of 5,557 reported cases in the state of Georgia. That is around 396 human trafficking victims per year in Georgia alone (Georgia, 2021).  

Human Trafficking: is defined as the recruitment and movement of people using deception and coercion for exploitation.  

Over half of human trafficked survivors receive mental health services. The most common mental health problems associated with trafficking can be: 

-Depression 

-Anxiety 

-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 

-Self-harm 

-Suicide attempt 

These mental disorders are influenced by pre-trafficking abuse, the duration of exploitation, violence, restriction from movement, a significant number of unmet needs, and no social support.  

As a mental health provider, these are the things to look for in potential trafficking victims: 

  • The client discloses trafficking to a mental health provider 
  • The client has signs of physical and psychological trauma  
  • The client is unable to speak the local language 
  • The client is unable to provide essential identity documents (license, passport, birth certificate) 

Mental health care workers who work with trafficked victims should: 

  • These clients should be routinely asked about current or past experiences of abuse.  
  • Risk Assessment  
  • Safety Plan that includes the risk of re-trafficking 
  • Should explore past emotions such as fearfulness, guilt, shame, hopelessness, anger, easily startled, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.  
  • The treatment for clients who have survived human trafficking should be in line with those clients who have experienced trauma. Evidence-based interventions for PTSD or trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy can help treat survivors of human trafficking. Along with assistance in social, financial, and legal support, help with regulating emotions and coping with dissociation (Altun et al., 2017).

References 

Altun, S., Abas, M., Zimmerman, C., Howard, L. M., & Oram, S. (2017, February 1). Mental health and human trafficking: Responding to survivors’ needs. BJPsych international. Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618827/

Georgia. National Human Trafficking Hotline. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://humantraffickinghotline.org/state/georgia

Human trafficking. Human Rights First. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2021, from https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/topics/human-trafficking