Setting Small, Manageable Goals in the New Year

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As the year ends, we start to think about the resolutions we want to set for the upcoming year. These resolutions or goals may be for physical health, new habits, finances, or focus on your mental health. Whatever the goal may be, making significant long-lasting change is difficult. When we fail to achieve these goals the first month of the year, we can increase our anxiety and become frustrated with ourselves.  

This New Year’s, we should set realistic, small, manageable goals for the New Year. The goals that we set should be thought-out and prepared with a plan to achieve this goal. A great way to achievable goals for this upcoming year is to use SMART goals.  

S –Specific  

M –Measurable  

A –Achievable 

R –Realistic  

T –Time-Bound 

Specific: Be specific in what you want to accomplish. Use who, what, when, why, and where when thinking about achieving your goal. This is the mission statement for your goal. 

Measurable: Make your goal measurable to track your progress. Ask yourself what metric system can be used to measure your goal? If your goal is a task that may take a few months to accomplish, then set milestones along the way to encourage the completion of the goal.  

Achievable: Set your goal to be achievable and focus on the importance of the goal. Ask yourself what is required to achieve this goal? How will you accomplish this goal? Remember that the goal is to motivate yourself and not discourage you.  

Realistic: Choose a realistic and attainable goal. If your goal is unrealistic such as learning a new language in one week, you are most likely setting yourself up for disappointment. You want to set a realistic goal that you can meet and increase your motivation to accomplish this goal.  

Time-Bound: Provide yourself with a realistic time frame to achieve your goal. If you allow yourself plenty of time to achieve your goal with small target dates along the way, this will increase motivation to meet your target goal (Borenstein, 2020).  

We want to set realistic, small, manageable goals to set ourselves up for success. After deciding on your SMART goal, we want to take the following steps: 

  • Start small: Setting a goal that you can keep.  
  • Change one behavior at a time: Do not get overwhelmed by trying to achieve your goal all at once. If your goal is to stop drinking soda, then start by cutting out one soda a day for a week rather than completely stopping drinking soda.  
  • Talk about your goal: Talk about your goals with family or friends. To help achieve your goal seek out an accountability partner.  
  • Do not beat yourself up: If you happen to take a minor setback, do not beat yourself up over it. Do not give up completely, and remember that perfection is not achievable. Resolve and recover from your mistakes and get back to attaining your goal.  
  • Ask for support: If you become overwhelmed or unable to achieve your goal, consider seeking professional help if needed. Therapy and Client Support Specialists can help you set realistic goals and help you build skills to attain those goals, along with helping you address emotions and unhealthy behaviors that may occur from not being able to achieve a specific goal (American Psychological Association, 2019).  

Resources 

American Psychological Association. (2019). Making your New Year’s resolution stick. American Psychological Association. Retrieved December 21, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/topics/behavioral-health/new-year-resolutions

Borenstein, J. (2020, March 19). Setting Mental Health Goals for the New Year. Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Retrieved December 21, 2021, from https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/setting-mental-health-goals-new-year

Adoption Stats/Building Attachment

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Did you know that there were approximately 14,000 children in foster care in the state of Georgia last year? Two thousand seven hundred forty of these children have a foster home with the intent to adopt. Out of those children, there are 350 children in need of a safe and loving home. 

Do you find yourself considering adoption? Think about how you would be impacting a child’s life by welcoming them into your home. While some children were given to the state voluntarily by their parents, there are many cases where children were removed from their homes. This could be due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. By adopting a child, you are giving HOPE to younger generations. You are making a difference, one child at a time. For more information, visit https://dfcs.georgia.gov/services/adoption.

Building a bond with an adopted child can be challenging but not impossible. So how do you build attachment with a new child or adolescent? First, be mindful that it will take time to happen naturally, so do not set unrealistic expectations for yourself. Some helpful ways to encourage bonding include creating routines, playing, taking a family photo, or establishing permanency. With a bit of creativity and perseverance, you can create the connection you both desire.

References: https://www.adoptuskids.org/adoption-and-foster-care/how-to-adopt-and-foster/state-information/georgia
https://mljadoptions.com/blog/eight-attachment-techniques-to-use-with-your-adopted-child-20140820

Written by: Taylor Luczynski

Parent Services & the Importance of Quality Time

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At Georgia HOPE, we believe in the strengthening of the family unit. We do so by providing affordable services to individuals and their families. More specifically, we offer parent skills training, individual/family counseling, and group counseling. With these services, we can assist you in meeting identified goals for yourself and your family. Whatever your need may be, we are here for your benefit. Georgia HOPE can also connect you to resources within your community based on need. For more information regarding our services, visit https://gahope.org/our-services/. 

Spending quality time with family is an inaugural part of child and adolescent development. Did you know that spending 15 short minutes a day with your child can lead to happier and healthier well-being? It can be as simple as watching a movie, playing a game, or baking cookies. Studies have shown that children are less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as drug and alcohol use when they have more quality time with family. Children who engage in quality time regularly are less likely to experience behavioral issues at home and school. Children who have spent time with their families are more confident in themselves to succeed mentally and emotionally. 


Reference: https://extension.sdstate.edu/why-spending-quality-time-your-children-important

Written by: Taylor Luczynski

Random Acts of Kindness And The Importance Of Community Mental Health

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Kindness builds connection and connection builds community, and with community comes togetherness, which turns to community perseverance. Togetherness is such a great protector of a community’s overall mental health. How do we get there in a society that is so individualized and separate from one another in real time? We start with being bold, intentional, and kind. One popular way that has swept America is to participate in a random act of kindness. This is where a person does something intentionally nice for somebody else, even a stranger, without expecting anything in return. Doing so makes the giver and the recipient feel good and forms a type of connection between the two that didn’t exist prior. This connection can then encourage the recipient to become the giver, and voila!  a pattern of kindness is established in the community. 

Why does kindness matter? Because it builds connection with others by increasing oxytocin, which can lead to increased energy, happiness, even an increased lifespan (Make Kindness the Norm). The kindness cycle keeps going, because when we are kind, it sparks chemicals in our brain, such as pleasure and feel-good chemicals that encourages us to keep going and encourages others to keep going, too. These moments of positive interactions and increase in feel-good brain chemicals serve as protective factors against mental illness, such as depression, anxiety, and even physical ailments such as pain and high blood pressure (Make Kindness the Norm). Kindness matters, because many people have been hurt in relationship with others, and we heal in relationship with others through positive interactions. 

What can you do today to support kindness and togetherness in your community? 

Reference

Make Kindness The Norm. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/the-science-

of-kindness

Grief (Pregnancy and Infant Loss)

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Grief (Pregnancy and Infant Loss)

Everyone grieves differently and in their own way. Grief is a difficult emotion and the healing process can take time, especially when it comes to grieving our loved ones such as losing an infant before or after birth.

Grief can be overwhelming and you can experience a multitude of other emotions such as anger, sadness, depression, or guilt. You can also experience somatic symptoms such as stomach aches, susceptibility to getting colds, and trouble concentrating on tasks. Healing from one’s death, especially a baby’s, can look like a different process for women, men, and children but supporting one another’s grieving process is essential as well as reaching out for help. There are several resources available that can help provide support to women, men, and children struggling with grief including grief after the loss of an infant.

A medical provider can help individuals find treatment, a social worker can help provide support with bills and expenses, and a grief counselor can help an individual work through their grief. While these services can provide support, it is also important for you to engage in self-care especially when recovering from pregnancy. Self-care can include eating regularly with plenty of vegetables and protein, exercising daily, and sleeping for eight hours at night. Grief can largely affect mental health which is why it is so important to reach out for help!

HOPE IS HERE

If you’re struggling with mental health issues or would like to refer someone you know, we’d love to speak to you further. HOPE is here. Contact us today.

References: https://www.marchofdimes.org/complications/dealing-with-grief-after-the-death-of-your-baby.aspx

August is Family Fun Month!

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August is Family Fun Month! Georgia HOPE offers an array of services to meet the individualized needs of our clients, families and communities.  Today we would like to highlight the services we provide for the family. Georgia HOPE offers family training and family counseling. The goal of family services includes: strengthening family relationships, providing psychoeducation and providing linkage to community resources. Our primary goal is to meet our clients, and their families, where they are in life and walk with them through the varying changes and challenges life can bring.  Family services offers, not just support for the client experiencing the mental health or substance use need, but offers support, education, and counseling to the family as well!  We wholeheartedly believe recovery is possible for everyone!  

Our Social Services team also offers parent training and behavior aide services. Developing healthy, functional and strong families is the main objectives of parent training. Behavioral aide services assist by providing transportation and additional support for families. Through our family training and counseling services, families can learn how to navigate life’s challenges. These challenges may include: barriers in communication, navigating social media, how parents can support their LGBQT+ teens, bullying, and establishing rules and boundaries. 

Georgia HOPE’s motto is “Hope lives here“!  We aim to provide hope to our families and individuals within the community. 

Additional Resources:

5 Ways Parents Can Support LGBTQ Teens | Newport Academy

Adolescent Mental Health During COVID-19 | Newport Academy

Why Is My Teen So Angry and How Can I Help? | Newport Academy

HOPE is Here

If you or anyone you know could benefit from family services, we’d love to speak to you further. HOPE is here. Contact us today.

6 Tips for Virtual Learning

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virtual learning

There’s a new urgency to explore online educational tools and best practices because of the coronavirus pandemic for virtual learning. This is a “new normal” for everyone and really there’s nothing about all of this virtual schooling during a pandemic crisis that is “normal.” We’ve put together 6 helpful tips to help engage your kids with virtual, online learning.

6 tips to help engage kids with virtual learning:

1. Setting Up a Good Routine is Key

Without the same need to get ready for a normal school day, and with everyone being home all the time (for the most part), it’s all too easy to let go what used to be normal routines. But having a routine is helpful for kids. Come up with a routine and stick to it, including a time for going to bed and getting up in the morning, breakfast, snack time and other meals, free play, outdoor activities, etc. The daily routine doesn’t have to be the same as it was during the pre-COVID school year, but it needs to be regular and you have to stick to it. This is really important for kids of all ages.

2. Setting up Devices & Space for Virtual Learning

Your child needs a computer or type of laptop / good tablet for virtual leaning. A phone isn’t the right tool for online learning. If providing a computer / good tablet is an issue for your family, contact your school because the school district is responsible for ensuring students who need equipment get it. But there is also the matter of internet access. Not every household has a reliable internet connection available. Again, if this is an issue for your household, contact your school to see what’s possible. There have been a lot of creative workarounds to these issues, so it’s likely a solution can be found.

As for the “space” where learning will take place. Put a little design effort into creating the right virtual education site in your home. Lying in bed or on the couch with a laptop or tablet is not sustainable or productive. Your child needs to sit comfortably and upright in a supportive chair with their device in front of them. We’ve seen some pretty creative ideas like the ones below of creating virtual learning “pods” in the home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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source

3. Creating Online Safety 

Kids at home with virtual learning are spending a lot of time on the internet. This puts them at even greater risk or all kinds of online problems, including cyber bullying and harassment, sexual predation and exposure to pornography,  fraud and identity theft, or getting hacked. As parents, you should have access to all their different online accounts, meaning you have their login credentials and can go in and actively monitor who they’re connected with and what kinds of interactions they are having online. Talk to them about why this is important and how they should always immediately come to you for anything.

4. Maintaining Focus & Motivation 

Kids may be feeling “down” during this “new normal” of virtual learning. Kids miss being with other kids and their friends, school, sports, etc. It may be hard to feel motivated for online learning and to focus with all of these feelings and changes. Plus there’s even more distractions at home and online learning. 

You can help your kids maintain focus and motivation during online learning hours by once again creating a routine, monitoring cellphone and technology usage outside of online learning, and promoting positive attitudes around the house as much as possible.

5. Creating Interaction 

For creating interaction, you can set up virtual playdates or online group homework or study-buddy sessions. Set up playdates outside at the park with small groups. Peer interaction is a valuable benefit some finding ways to incorporate that weekly is important. 

6. Monitoring  Online Learning

Nothing about all of this virtual schooling during a pandemic crisis is normal for anyone. The most important thing you can do is monitor how your kids are doing with this new form of education. Observe them. See how engaged they are. Are they taking notes? Are they asking questions? Are they sad? Are they angry? Are they just zoning out? Identify the hang-ups and challenges and then think about what you can do to help them through those. It’s not normal and everyone has a little more stress right now. It’s important to be flexible and forgiving, and as always HOPE is here.

Georgia HOPE specializes in providing quality mental health services for children, adults, individuals and families in the state of Georgia. To learn more, enroll, or refer someone to us, contact us below:

 

 

6 Ways to Help A Child Who Is Suffering from Anxiety

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Anxiety can take place in many forms for children whether it is social anxiety, separation anxiety, or general anxieties. When childhood anxiety is heightened, it’s natural for parents and caregivers to go into protection mode. The best thing for parents and caregivers to do is to help their children learn to manage anxiety.

Here’s 6 Ways to Help Your Child Learn to Manage Their Anxiety:

1. Set Clear Expectations.

It’s important to have similar expectations for anxious children that you have for non-anxious children but it can be helpful to go at a little slower pace and make some accommodations. While you’re one child may want to attend every birthday party, your anxious child may want to avoid big birthday parties.  Setting clear expectations and helping your child create appropriate benchmarks like going to smaller birthday parties or birthday parties without big triggers like a bounce house or swimming pool. This will help create expectations and teach your child that she/he can work through anxious feelings and manage their anxiety with baby steps without completely missing out. 

2. Let Your Child Worry.

Don’t just say to your child “Don’t Worry!” or “Relax!” This doesn’t help them stop to worry. Instead, provide a listening here and allow your child to vent to you and brainstorm solutions together. 

3. Don’t Avoid the Anxiety.

Just like telling your child not to worry won’t make those anxious thoughts disappear, avoiding triggers of anxiety won’t help your child learn to cope. If your child becomes anxious around water for example, keeping your child completely away from pools, lakes, the ocean, the bath, etc will only validate the anxious thought. It sends the message that water in fact is danger. It’s better to help desensitize the triggers by taking small steps. Try looking at pictures of the ocean and talking about what triggers the feeling of anxiety. Next, go to a park with a pond and take a way around it. Finally, visit a pool or sit in the bath together with some toys to know that it’s okay. By taking small steps, kids can learn to work through their anxiety and find ways to cope.  

4. Help Them Build a Way to Cope.

One thing that helps anxious kids is having a list of ways to cope to use in a moment of anxiety. Here’s some examples you can practice together: 

  • Deep breathing
  • Stress ball
  • Write it out
  • Talking it out 
  • Counting to 10 

5. Get Back to Basics.

Your anxious child doesn’t need to play every sport and attend every birthday party, but they do need the basic health and social needs like:

  • Good sleep
  • Healthy meals & plenty of water
  • Downtime to decompress
  • Outdoor free play
  • Daily exercise (taking a walk, riding bikes, playing at the park, etc.)

6. Empathize Often.

Anxiety is tough for anyone, especially young kids. When kids feel overwhelmed by anxious thoughts, they can struggle to do everyday things like go to school or band practice. Anxiety in children can even cause them to avoid fun things like playdates with friends. It’s important to empathize and provide emotional support to your child. This normalizes what they are experiencing and helps them understand that they aren’t alone, and you will be there with them through it.

Reminder: Take Care of Yourself Too.

Parenting an anxious child can be emotionally draining and all-consuming. Between interrupted sleep and constant worries, child anxiety can take a toll on the parents and caregivers. Make sure to prioritize your own health needs so that you have the energy you need to help your child through this difficult time.

HOPE is Here.

As a reminder, you never have to suffer alone. There are resources available for you.

Georgia HOPE specializes in providing quality mental health services for children, adults, individuals and families in the state of Georgia. To learn more, enroll, or refer someone to us, contact us below:

Other Resources Available: 

  • National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
  • Georgia Crisis & Access Line: 1-800-715-4225
  • GMHCN Warm Line: 888-945-1414
  • CARES: 844-326-5400, Call or Text 8:30AM-11:00PM for Substance Use Crisis Text Line: 741-741

#HOPEisHere

 

Returning to School During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Trauma Informed Approach

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covid blog

COVID-19 as a Trauma/Stress Event

This event has been experienced on a spectrum of “it doesn’t seem like it will impact us” to feeling overwhelmed, frozen or irritated, and not knowing what may happen next.

  • Previous Trauma (i.e. abuse, neglect, violence) can be exacerbated
  • Typical Stressors (i.e. falling behind in school, financial stress/food, regular schoolwork/tests, home stress) can all get worse during the pandemic
  • New Stressors (i.e. wearing a mask, washing hands, worrying about getting sick) surface

How We Might be Feeling Now

We may find ourselves feeling more agitated, easily annoyed or frustrated. Being in lockdown and having a worldwide presence of Covid-19 has left us feeling threatened. We can’t flee the danger so we may be revving up to fight or flat and begin to shut down.

Now things are changing again as we go back to school. Possible feelings for children, teachers and parents about returning to school:

  • Anxious or nervous
  • Afraid of the unknown
  • Reluctant to return
  • Poor sleep
  • Physically not feeing well (tummy or headaches)
  • Poor concentration and distractibility
  • Regression
  • Mood swings

How Can Schools in 2020 Be Trauma Sensitive?

  • There are many things educator, staff, parents and counselors can do to support children who have experienced trauma and help them to cope better at school.
  • Social connectedness – the biggest buffer in times of stress and distress. We can stay physically distant but emotionally close
  • Self-care – helping children learn to do this through modeling and education
  • A safe, predictable, supportive and consistent environment – create this in your environment. You can be the most important contribution for the child’s ability to learn to trust the world again, and enhance their capacity for resiliency
  • Checking in with students when they arrive in your classroom
  • Not expecting “calm” as this would be unrealistic of the children and ourselves. Be realistic about what will be achieved as many of us are in survival mode.
  • Be the thermostat, not the thermometer, for your classroom. Set the tone for your class and not let the class set your tone.

We Need to Put Our Own Oxygen Masks On First

Think of what the flight attendants say on a plane. They remind adult to put their own oxygen masks on before helping children or others around them.

Self-care needs to be a priority. We are no use to those around us if we are “unconscious”

What might self-care look like?

  • Doing an activity you like
  • Taking care of your physical and mental health

Other Ideas

  • Try and find ways to incorporate the whole brain throughout the day (rational thinking, emotions, and decision making)
  • Help regulate yourself and your students by encouraging reading, playing boardgames or learning opportunities
  • Help regulate yourself and your students by creating something or connecting with someone special in your life
  • Help regulate yourself and your students by moving your body around and doing exercise, body breaks or stretching

Ways to Minimize Covid-19’s Imprint in Our Lives

  • Predictability – try to have a routine and things to look forward to
  • Get Moving – feeling trapped increases our fight response
  • Connection – isolation is unnatural for humans. Reach out to friends, family or counselors
  • Numbing Out – often we try to numb out to keep safe, but we need to feel safe for our bodies to heal. Try becoming aware of yourself with loving kindness and compassion
  • Sense of Future – it can feel like this is will last forever. Try breathing or mindfulness to help get a sense of time
  • Sense of Safety – find ways to feel safe again. Listen to music, have private time and reach out if you are unsafe at home

Use of Zones of Regulation

The Zones of Regulation is a framework designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control (Kuypers). It is an effective way of identifying how we are feeling and functioning. It can also be used as a way to check-in with children and ourselves. We need to be in our green zone to in order to learn effectively. It is helpful to identify what we can do to support ourselves depending which zones we find ourselves in.

What are the Zones of Regulation?

Blue Zone (rest area)

  • Sad, sick, tired, board, moving slowly
  • To support myself: talk to your friends and maybe they can cheer you up

Green Zone (go)

  • Happy, calm, feeling okay, focused, ready to learn
  • To support myself: keep having a positive mindset

Yellow Zone (slow)

  • Frustrated, worried, silly/wiggly, excited, loss of some control
  • To support myself: try not to worry and go talk to someone to get it off your chest

Red Zone (stop)

  • Mad/angry, mean, terrified, hitting/yelling, out of control
  • To support myself: walk around or get a drink

For more resources on recognizing and preventing child abuse, neglect and mental health symptoms in a virtual classroom, click here.

If you have questions or would like to enroll in our services or make a referral:

#HOPEisHere

Content Developed by:

  • Christine Clark, MAMFT, LPC, NCC
  • Anna Fortune, LPC, CPCS

Suicide in Elementary Aged Children: Warning Signs, How to Help, How to Cope & Resources Available

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elementary school

Suicide in Elementary Aged Children (5-11)

Did you know that suicide occurs with all ages, even elementary age children?

Suicide is Preventable: Ask, Listen & Tell. Together, there is HOPE.

Statistics

In 2014, The CDC ranked suicide as the 10th cause of death for US elementary school–aged children. Suicide occurs at a rate of 0.17 per 100,000 persons in youth between the ages of 5 and 11 years, in contrast to a rate of 5.18 per 100,000 among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years (Sheftall et al., 2016).

-In a study gathering data from Emergency Room Department visits found in the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) ED database from 2007 to 2015, it was found there were 59, 921 unweighted ED visits for children younger than 18 years in the NHAMCS, among which 1,613 met the inclusion criteria for visits due to suicide attempts or suicide ideation. Also of note, 43.1% of suicide attempt or suicidal ideation visits were for children aged 5 to younger than 11 years and only 2.1% were hospitalized (Burstein et al., 2019).

How? Where? Why?

2016 study by the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics found:

  • Suicide by ages 5-11 often occurred by hanging, strangulation, or suffocation in their home
  • Commonly experienced relationship problems with friends and family
  • 1/3 of the sample experienced a type of mental health struggle, with the most common being ADHD (Sheftall et al., 2016).

Risk Factors

  • Emotional distress
  • Exposure to violence
  • Family conflict
  • Relationship problems
  • Lck of connectedness to school/sense of supportive school environment
  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Physical disabilities/learning differences
  • Lack of access to resources/support

(Violence Prevention, 2018).

How to Help

help

How to Help Educators

  • Talk with the student and let them know you care
  • Incorporate lessons on social skills and problem solving in the classroom
  • Help the student partner or play with supportive peers
  • Collaborate with parents/guardians and the school counselor to provide extra support for the student
  • Create a supportive and welcoming classroom (Violence Prevention, 2018)

How to Help Parents/Guardians

  • Talk with your child and let them know you care
  • Be observant of behavior/mood changes
  • Talk with your pediatrician yearly for early screenings of suicide
  • Identify your child’s strengths
  • Take your child for a walk or to play with other neighborhood children
  • Play, read, watch a movie, listen to music, or do crafts with your child
  • Ensure that your child is eating nutritious meals, getting adequate exercise, and sleeping well
  • Monitor your child’s intake of news, social media, TV, newspapers, and other media or conversations that can increase stress by communicating about disasters or traumatic current events
  • Obtain extra support from local mental health professionals and the school counselor for your child (Violence Prevention, 2018)

family

Resources Available:

As a reminder, you never have to suffer alone. There are resources available for you.

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Georgia Crisis & Access Line: 1-800-715-4225

GMHCN Warm Line: 888-945-1414

CARES: 844-326-5400, Call or Text 8:30AM-11:00PM for Substance Use Crisis Text Line: 741-741

Georgia HOPE

  • Call: 706-279-0405 Ext. 149
  • Text: 706-847-4871
  • Email: info@gahope.org
  • Visit: GaHOPE.org
  • Contact Us Online

American Foundation for Suicide Preventions: https://afsp.org/

Suicide Prevention Resource Center: https://www.sprc.org/populations

#HOPEisHere

 

References:

  • Preventing Suicide. (2019, September 5). Retrieved April 1, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/fastfact.html
  • State Fact Sheets. (2019, October 11). Retrieved April 3, 2020, from https://afsp.org/about-suicide/state-fact-sheets/#Georgia
  • Suicide Prevention. (2019, July). Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention/index.shtml
  • Suicide Statistics. (2019, April 16). Retrieved April 3, 2020, from https://afsp.org/about-suicide/ suicide-statistics/