30 Days of Mental Health - Part 1

This month, I took the pledge to start our school year with 30 days of mental health awareness. 

The top is cut off, but it says "I pledge to engage my child in. Here are some of the talking points, so you can talk with your kiddos about mental health. It should be normalized and treated just the same as physical health. 

• Mental health includes the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral skills that enable us to live a full and productive life, as well as the flexibility to deal with life’s ups and downs. Mental health doesn't just happen; there are many things in our environment and active steps that we can take to increase the likelihood that we will have positive mental health.
• Mental illnesses are diagnosable health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion, and/or behavior. Psychological challenges become mental illnesses when they begin to interfere with our ability to engage in social interactions, work or schoolwork, and/or caring for ourselves.
• Everyone has mental health! And anyone can experience mental illness. It is important to normalize discussing mental health and mental illness as just another aspect of being human.
• Helping children and youth understand that negative mental health effects of the pandemic are to be expected, and that they are not alone in experiencing sadness, anxiety, anger, depression, and an increased desire to cope using substances can help normalize the need to ask for help.
• It’s been many months of ongoing loss and change. Children and youth may be grappling with feelings they don’t understand and are unable to name. One of the best ways to help them is by exploring emotional vocabulary and learning to name feelings.

If you want to learn more, or take the pledge yourself, check out 30 Days of Mental Health (click the link!) Let me know if you are pledging!

Every voice matters. Use yours to end the stigma and normalize talking about mental health.