To listen to the Podcast: please click here. Are you prepared for a mental health emergency? If not, get ready! In this podcast, Brother Be Well Host and Content Director, Michael P Coleman, gives us tools for handling mental health emergencies efficiently. Joining in this discussion is Vice President, Capitol City Black Nurses Association, Sheree Criner, RN. This podcast is sponsored by Blue Shield of California’s BlueSky initiative.
This year, Mental Health America recognizes with their 2022 Back to School Toolkit that our youth are having "All the Feels" as they enter the new school year. These resources look at the issues young people face that impact their mental health and offer tips on how to deal with these issues and the resulting emotions. The MHA toolkit can also help parents and school personnel better understand the issues, such as the effects of social media on youth mental health and how to be supportive.
One of the first steps to parenting and caring for a child with loss/trauma is understanding your own Core Issues. The Seven Core Issues Workbook by Allison Davis Maxon and Sharon Kaplan Roszia, co-authors of Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency , provides parents and caregivers with the opportunity to explore, identify and address their own issues as well as their child's through various experiential exercises and activities . The Seven Core Issues outlined in the workbook include:...
By Keyna Franklin and Shakira Paige, Rise Magazine, August 5, 2022 Parents need resources to support LGBTQ children and youth in being affirmed, safe and celebrated in their homes, schools and communities. In our report, An Unavoidable System , Rise recommends expanding access to community-based programs that center the needs of families with LGBTQ children — without family policing system involvement. Here, Rise talks with Caitlin Ryan , Director of the Family Acceptance Project at the...
Children begin very early in life taking in spoken and unspoken messages about race; it permeates nearly every aspect of life—in the books read to them and those they read, the movies they watch, the music they listen to, the conversations around them, and the relationships and interactions they observe. A resource developed by EmbraceRace seeks to equip parents and caregivers with useful tips they can use to help guide and shape their child's education and perception of race. 16 Ways to...
Parents and families have a powerful role in supporting children’s learning, health, and well-being at home and at school. When parents are engaged in their children’s school activities and initiatives, children get better grades, choose healthier behaviors, and have better social skills. Students who have parents involved in their school lives also are more likely to avoid unhealthy behaviors and they are less likely to be emotionally distressed. Positive relationships and coping skills...
Executive function and self-regulation (EF/SR) skills provide critical supports for learning and development, and while we aren’t born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through interactions and practice. Our activities guide offers a variety of age-appropriate activities and games to support and strengthen various components of EF/SR in children. Each chapter contains activities suitable for a different age group, ranging from 6-18 months to adolescents. The...
The California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids Project offers a series of free, evidence-based video and print resources that caregivers and educators can use to teach their kids critical mental health and coping skills. The project was born of an innovative partnership between the state of California and the Child Mind Institute. Please click here to learn more and access the resources! Also available in Spanish!
Original post in Children's Bureau Express Whether a caregiver is a birth, foster, adoptive, or grandparent, the role can be as challenging as it is rewarding. The stress associated with caregiving can lead to burnout, which can adversely affect relationships and one's capacity to provide care. Alia released Caregivers Guide to Wellbeing to highlight the importance of self-care and support and inspire caregivers—including those caring for children or adults—by providing them with the...
There are protections in federal law, collectively known as “parity,” which are designed to ensure that certain types of health plans cover mental and substance use disorders no less generously than they cover other health issues. This resource from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) can guide you to helpful materials and places. Please click here to access the resource.
Futures Without Violence has worked at the intersection of fatherhood and domestic violence for more than two decades. How do you want your kids to remember you? is a workbook for fathers who have harmed their partners and families and want to change. It is based on years of practice experience, research, and the voices of parent and child survivors and fathers who have hurt their families, renounced their abuse, and repaired their relationships with their children. It introduces practical...
Parenting kids is tough, but it is even more difficult when your child is struggling with mental illness. Here in Ontario, as many as 1 in 5 children and youth will experience some form of mental health problem. The toll that takes, not only on the children, but on parents, too, is enormous. You may find that you are struggling to manage your households or perhaps you are missing a lot of work because you need to spend that time with your child. We also know that many of you are finding it...
Discussing what to expect when an emergency occurs with your child beforehand can positively impact their ability to react appropriately during an event. Doing so supports their overall resilience, which can improve their ability to recover after a stressful situation. Explore the American Red Cross library of fun and engaging animated videos that help children learn how to help stay safe during a variety of emergencies and cope with any thoughts or feelings that might come up along the way.
This resource from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network defines key terms, including consent and coercion, and offers guidance to parents related to dating violence and sexual assault. This fact sheet describes how common teen sexual assault is, how it relates to dating relationships, the roles drugs and the Internet can play in increasing risk, as well as provides tips for staying safe and what to do if your teen has experienced sexual assault. Please click here to access the resource.
If you are a parent or caregiver, check out Caregiver Handouts: Games and Activities from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child Pediatrics . Here you’ll find handouts with suggestions for games and activities to do with children of different ages. These activities can promote child-caregiver bonding and build children’s brains through play! Another resource from the same source for caregivers is The Value of Routines , which provides some simple things you can do to make everyone's day...