Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month!
Mental Health Month began in 1949 by Mental Health America. It is a tradition that was started to better educate our nation on the critical need for mental health care reform. The following are dates set for specific areas of mental health and websites that offer resources and useful information:
May 5th—May 11th, is National Children’s Mental Health Week. http://awarenessweek.ffcmh.org/
May 19th—May 25th, is Older American’s Mental Health Week. http://www.mentalhealthweek.org/Welcome.html
May 20th—May 27th, is Schizophrenia Awareness Week. http://www.sardaa.org/
Take a moment to visit these sites to help better educate yourself in order to better educate our communities.
Tips for Talking to Children and Youth After Traumatic Events
Children respond to trauma in many different ways. Some may have reactions very soon after the event; others may do fine for weeks or months, and begin to show troubling behavior.
Reassurance is the key to helping children through traumatic time. Encourage children of all ages to express emotions through conversation, writing, or artwork.
Try to maintain a normal household or classroom routine, and encourage children to participate in recreational activity. Temporarily reduce your expectations about performance in school or at home.
The following are tips for talking with children after a traumatic event:
When talking isn’t enough,
Families may choose to permit temporary regressive behavior. Such as spending extra time with parents before bed, leaving the door slightly ajar, and using a night light.
Also, family counseling is a good option. Traumatic events often reawaken a child’s fear of loss of parents at a time when parents may be preoccupied with their own emotional difficulties.
This article can be found at http://www.samhsa.gov/mentalhealth/understanding_mentalillness.aspx
Mental Health Month began in 1949 by Mental Health America. It is a tradition that was started to better educate our nation on the critical need for mental health care reform. The following are dates set for specific areas of mental health and websites that offer resources and useful information:
May 5th—May 11th, is National Children’s Mental Health Week. http://awarenessweek.ffcmh.org/
May 19th—May 25th, is Older American’s Mental Health Week. http://www.mentalhealthweek.org/Welcome.html
May 20th—May 27th, is Schizophrenia Awareness Week. http://www.sardaa.org/
Take a moment to visit these sites to help better educate yourself in order to better educate our communities.
Tips for Talking to Children and Youth After Traumatic Events
Children respond to trauma in many different ways. Some may have reactions very soon after the event; others may do fine for weeks or months, and begin to show troubling behavior.
Reassurance is the key to helping children through traumatic time. Encourage children of all ages to express emotions through conversation, writing, or artwork.
Try to maintain a normal household or classroom routine, and encourage children to participate in recreational activity. Temporarily reduce your expectations about performance in school or at home.
The following are tips for talking with children after a traumatic event:
- Do not be afraid to admit that you cannot answer all of their questions.
- Answer questions at a level the child can understand.
- Provide ongoing opportunity for children to talk. They probably will have more questions as time goes on.
- Allow children to discuss other fears and concerns about unrelated issues.
- Use this as an opportunity to establish a family emergency plan. Feeling that there is something you can do may be comforting to both children and adults.
- Help children understand that there are no bad emotions and that a wide range of reactions is normal.
- Help children identify good things, such as heroic actions, families who unit and share support, and the assistance offered by people throughout the community.
When talking isn’t enough,
Families may choose to permit temporary regressive behavior. Such as spending extra time with parents before bed, leaving the door slightly ajar, and using a night light.
Also, family counseling is a good option. Traumatic events often reawaken a child’s fear of loss of parents at a time when parents may be preoccupied with their own emotional difficulties.
This article can be found at http://www.samhsa.gov/mentalhealth/understanding_mentalillness.aspx
