Mental Health and Wellness for Youth: �How Parents Can Help�

Molly Henricks, LMFT

Coordinator, School Safety and Risk Prevention

What is Mental Health Vs. Mental Wellness

• Mental Illness or Disorder:
• Meeting medical criteria for an illness based on severity and frequency of symptoms
• Mental Health Issues or Challenges:
• Experiencing some symptoms, having a hard time coping
• Doesn’t last longer than 2 weeks
• Struggle to get things done
• Mental Wellness:
• It is a state of well-being, important at every stage in life
• 8 hours of sleep
• Healthy Diet
• Staying Active
• Communicating with Others

Relationship Stress

Fight with Friends or Break-up, Bullying

Academic Stress

Too Many Assignment, Too many After School Classes

Family Stress

Being at Home 24/7, Parents argue, Annoying sibling, lack of privacy

Self-Image

Not Good enough, Ugly, don’t fit in, Not smart enough…..

Mental Illness

Common Mental Health Issues and Disorders In Tweens/Teens

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Trauma Related Symptoms
• ADHD
• Eating Disorders
• Conduct Disorder/Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Trauma isn’t just “them”

• ACES Study
• 70% College Educated
• Mostly Caucasian
• Perceived Trauma
• Compound Trauma
• Little “t” versus Big “T”
• Toxic Stress

Trauma Related Responses

• Easily Triggered- Fight, Flight or Freeze.
• Difficulty self-regulating
• Overly attached
• Dissociated/Inattentiveness
• Regressive Behavior
• Aggressive Behavior – Almost fighting for their life
• Loss of Confidence

Building Resilience & Skills

• Social Emotional Learning
• Self-Awareness- the ability to reflect on one’s own feelings and thoughts and understand how those affect behavior.
• Self-Management- the ability to control one’s own emotions, actions and thoughts
• Social Awareness- Ability to empathize with others
• Relationship Skills- Ability to communicate and navigate differences of opinion
• Decision Making Skills- the ability to make healthy choices about while weighing consequences, safety and ethics
• Community Resiliency Model- explains how stress and trauma impact our brain and our body while teaching methods to self-regulate in the moment during intense situations to remain in a zone where learning and healthy decision making can happen
• Training Staff to help themselves – and the students
• Offering Parent Education
• Teaching Students the techniques to use on their own and with peers

Resiliency Zone

Help Now Skills

• Drink a glass water, juice or tea
• Touch a surface. Is it hard, soft, rough, etc.?
• Name six colors that you can see right now
• Count backwards from 20
• Push your hands or back against the wall.
• Go for a walk
• Notice the temperature of the room
• Touch something in nature
• Throw a ball against a wall
• Recite the ABC’s

​

​

Resourcing Skill

Depression Symptoms

• Feelings of sadness, anxious, or even “empty,” like feeling nothing
• Feeling hopeless or like everything is going wrong
• Feeling worthless or helpless
• Irritable much of the time
• Spending more time alone and withdrawing from friends and family
• Loosing interest in activities, grade dropping, disconnected from everything
• Change in eating/sleeping habits
• Difficulty sitting still/restless
• Trouble concentrating, remembering information, or making decisions
• Physical Manifestation – without any cause

Anxiety Symptoms

• Anxiety disorders vary from youth to youth
• Excessive fears and worries, feelings of inner restlessness, and a tendency to be excessively wary and vigilant.
• In a social setting, may appear dependent, withdrawn, or uneasy.
• Overly restrained or overly emotional.
• Preoccupied with worries about losing control or unrealistic concerns about social competence.
• Excessive Anxiety may produce a range of physical symptoms as well (muscle tension and cramps, stomachaches, headaches, back pain and fatigue)
• They may blotch, flush, sweat, hyperventilate, tremble, and startle easily.

​

Mental Health and Suicide in all Communities

Introduction

• Suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death in 0-34 years old (1^st = Unintentional Injury)
• San Mateo County has the 2^nd highest rate of young people presenting at ER for self-inflicted injuries (Rate of 67.7, State rate of 36.5
• 3^rd Highest Rate of Suicide in the State
• 7^th Graders @ LLESD
• 15% with chronic feelings of sadness/hopelessness
• 8% Seriously Considered Suicide

​

Suicide Risk Assessments Fall 2019: Risk Assessments by Grade

Self Injurious Behavior

• The act of deliberately harming one’s own body
• Often lacks suicidal intent
• More likely to attempt suicide
• Unhealthy way to cope
• Can include, but not limited to
• Scratching (Excoriation)
• Cutting
• Burning
• Hitting or Biting Oneself
• Ingesting or Embedding Toxic Substances or Foreign Objects
• Hair Pulling
• Interfering with the Healing of Wounds

​

Risk Factors

• One or more attempts of suicide
• Family member or friend completed suicide
• Loss of any kind
• Mental Illness/Substance Abuse
• Barriers to access treatment
• Trauma or abuse of any kind
• Being bullied/harassed
• Lacking coping/problem solving skills
• Local clusters of suicide
• Having access to guns and lethal weapons

​

​

Protective Factors

• Effective clinical care for mental, physical, and substance use disorders
• Easy access to a variety of clinical interventions
• Restricted access to guns and lethal weapons/means
• Strong connections to family and community support
• Support through ongoing medical and mental health care relationships
• Skills in problem solving
• Cultural or religious beliefs that discourage suicide

​

​

​

Warning Signs

• Making a statement
• “I wish I were dead”
• “What is the point of living?”
• Talking/writing about death or suicide
• Text messages, on social media/chat rooms
• School assignments, poems or music
• Looking for ways to attempt suicide
• Looking for a gun, pills or other means
• Giving away possessions
• Rapid shift in mood/affect
• Other behaviors
• Signs of depression/anxiety
• Drug/alcohol use increases
• Neglecting appearances
• Drop in grades
• Increased absences

​

​

​

Suicide Prevention

Asking Hard Questions- Directly

• Intent – Are you thinking of killing yourself?
• Plan – Do you have a plan on how you would kill yourself?
• Means/Access –Do you have what you need to carry this out?
• Past Ideation – How long have you had these thoughts?
• Previous Attempts – Have you attempted suicide before?

​

How to Start it

• I attended this meeting last night….
• I heard you learned about Suicide Prevention Today at School…..
• Hey, want to watch this documentary together?
• I want you to know you can tell me anything….
• When I was younger, my friend came to me and said…..

Be Ready

• Talk/Think through the conversation before you have it
• Be prepared for the answers
• Have resources ready
• Breathe and Listen
• It’s not about you….it is about them
• Have your support team ready

ANGST – Screening and Panel

• ANGST, an IndieFlix Original documentary designed to raise awareness around anxiety.
• The film includes expert advice from mental health professionals, along with interviews from elementary and high school students who discuss how anxiety has impacted their lives.

Tue, May 4, 2021

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PDT

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/smcoe-presents-angst-raising-awareness-around-anxiety-tickets-148408861901

Care Solace

QUESTIONS?

www.smcoe.org