Our children’s mental health and our own mental health can feel like topics difficult to tackle. Being equipped with the right knowledge, however, can make all the difference.
Mental health events can do exactly this. They often have speakers, online forums, and other resources to help make difficult topics easier to understand and talk about. A theme often ties the event together to focus on one area of mental health.
Both events that are happening in May very fittingly chose to focus on connection and friendship.
US Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
This week-long event will be celebrated in the United States from May 1st to the 5th. The Youth Mental Health Project heads this event and offers up online events to educate on children’s mental health. These events can be attended by teachers, parents, and friends alike from anywhere in the world.
To learn more about the events during Children’s Mental Health Week visit: https://ymhproject.org/cmhaweek/
Find Connections. Build Community
This theme is a very understandable one after the world has felt the isolation of being in a pandemic for over two years. Many of us found ourselves staying home 24/7, only having contact with the people we lived with (if you didn’t happen to live alone).
Most of us had never experienced that before. We had never known a time when friendships, school and work relationships, and community events were cut off so completely and with so little notice. Our world changed almost overnight.
And many people’s mental health suffered because of it. The rate of anxiety and depressive disorders in adults quadruped.(2) Many parents reported that their children’s mental health worsened or was at the lowest it had ever been as a result of the pandemic.(3)
We need a shift, a path back to wholeness and health. The best way to get through is with one another.
A Sense of Belonging
Friendship and community are two things that every person is looking for. Some people look for belonging at their favorite sports or events, some look at church, and others look at their job. Everyone wants a place where they are wanted and needed. They want a place where they can be 100% who they are and are accepted in that form.
You may think I’m speaking of adults when talking about this, but children seek this sense of belonging as well. Children want to fit in with their peers; they want to be accepted and appreciated. They want meaningful relationships with their parents or other adults in their life.
While these wants may simply seem to be what we desire, they are also a necessity for mental health. Leaning on each other when times are tough, helping one another get professional help, and providing safe spaces for one another are essential to our well-being.
Understanding One’s Struggles and Perspectives
Connections and relationships with people who emphasize with one’s struggles are invaluable. Feeling that someone truly understands what you’re going through and has maybe even experienced it themselves brings a certain comfort.
Support like this can help youth who would not otherwise reach out for help feel confident enough to do so. Since we know that up to 47% of children and teens with certain mental illnesses do not receive treatment, the importance of this cannot be overstated.(1)
Adults need to be well-educated on the signs and symptoms of mental illness to be able to spot it in children. They also need to be in a close enough relationship with that child to empathize with their struggles and offer support and help.
UK Mental Health Awareness Week
UK’s Mental Health Awareness Week is celebrated from May 9th to the 15th. The Mental Health Foundation provides a variety of resources for parents and teachers to use to be better equipped to talk to their children about mental health.
To learn more about UK Mental Health Awareness Week and the events it’s hosting visit: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/why-loneliness-theme-mental-health-awareness-week-2022
Loneliness
UK’s Mental Health Awareness Week picked its topic with the very same experiences in mind. Everyone around the world has been in this pandemic together. Though various countries have experienced spikes and lockdowns are different points in time, everyone has experienced them at some point.
The mental health implications of the pandemic have also been felt worldwide. One study found that people were reporting intense loneliness at three times the rate experienced before the pandemic.(4)
Loneliness can be detrimental to mental health, gnawing away at a person’s sense of self-worth and satisfaction with life. It has also been shown to lead to higher rates of mortality and poorer physical health outcomes.(5)
Many children have struggled with the loss of time at daycare or school, time that was spent playing with other children and building friendships. Suddenly one day, it was gone, and their young minds couldn’t fully understand why.
We should not be surprised that children’s mental health outcomes were also at a very low point. The pandemic has thrust loneliness upon them too.
Share Your Stories, Break The Stigma
The statistics tell us that no person is alone in their feelings of loneliness. So many are experiencing the pain and heartache of not having the social connections that they really want.
Together we can tackle loneliness. It is possible. We just need each other.
We can share our stories with one another, relating to each other’s struggles and finding a connection in that. Sharing publicly, during an event like Children’s Mental Health Week, helps break the stigma that admitting to mental health struggles makes one weak. More and more children and adults alike will feel the strength to come out from the shadows, share their own stories, and receive the support and help they desperately need.
Over the next few weeks, as these events take place, have the courage to engage in those hard conversations. Talk with your children about how they’re really doing, how they’re feeling on the inside. Check on your neighbors and friends. Ask your coworkers how they are.
We’re all in this together.
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