Youth Mental Health

A Mediaplanet Guide to to Supporting Adolescent Emotional Health

Youth Mental Health

Alyson Stoner The actress and author discusses how queer people can reconnect with themselves and release stress

The Boys & Girls Club of America discusses how to talk to your kids about mental health Inside the innovative steps Rady Children’s Hospital is taking in the field of Youth Mental Health

SEPTEMBER 2021 | MODERNWELLNESSGUIDE.COM

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Navigating Teenage Addiction During the COVID-19 Pandemic

How Parents and Caregivers Can Support Young Adult Mental Health

James J. Crist, Ph.D., is the author of several self-help books, including “What’s the Big Deal About Addictions?

Answers and Help for Teens.”

Crist works with people of all ages, but several of his books tackle issues faced by kids and teenagers, and he offers advice for parents looking to better understand their children. “They have had fewer years to develop bad habits,” Crist says.

Teenagers, like most of the population, have been in crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Socially, they are now cut off from their peers, and they’ve often had to turn to online resources to socialize and destress.

“One of the things we know about addictions is that addictions are often attempts to self-medicate underlying problems”.

When it comes to self-medicating, Crist notes that this can manifest via the use of drugs like alcohol and marijuana, or through an over dependence on online activities like gaming, but he also emphasizes that at the end of the day, children and teenagers resort to addictive behaviors because they help, at least in the short term.

Teenagers aren’t always equipped to respond to depression or anxiety in healthy ways, so it’s important for parents to open a line of communication with their children..

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John MacPhee, Executive Director and CEO, The Jed Foundation

As teens and young adults prepare to go back to school, parents, caregivers, and loved ones can implement these tips to support students during this uncertain time: 1. Encourage social connectedness Family, friends, and peers are well positioned to first notice a distressed teen or young adult and their need to be connected with pro-

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fessional help. Check in with your young adult and encourage them to stay connected to others. Set regular times to talk or, if you have a gut feeling that a teen or young adult may be struggling, ask them if they are OK and let them know you are there to help.

Learn more at www. seizetheawkward.org and www.sounditouttogether.org.

2. Support helpseeking behavior In times of emotional distress, normally, many students report that they would reach out to school professionals such as counselors, professors and academic advisors, as well as to friends and

classmates. Assure young people that they can come to you for support if they are feeling overwhelmed. Try to listen carefully at three levels: the content of what they are saying, the emotions they are feeling, and their behaviors in response to those thoughts and feelings.

3. Provide access to mental health and substance misuse services We know that transitions can be difficult, so a virtual support system, such as Crisis Text Line or TalkSpace, can be helpful. Parents should be aware of local and school resources if accessible and affordable — www.jedfoundation. org also provides infor-

mation about how to find mental health care.

4. Create spaces and opportunities for youth to process and understand their experience Techniques can be used to help teens and young adults understand and integrate both silver linings and to identify hopes for the future — some of which may have changed as a result of the pandemic year experience.

5. Keep the things that worked Teletherapy, remote learning and work, and new strategies for establishing and maintaining workhome balance are important to continue, even as the pandemic fades. n

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Publisher Nina Montross Business Developer Joelle Hernandez Managing Director Luciana Olson Lead Designer Tiffany Pryor Designer Keziah Makoundou Lead Editor Mina Fanous Copy Editor David Spector Director of Product and Content Jordan Hernandez Cover Photo Adam Battaglia All photos are credited to Getty Images unless otherwise specified. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve USA Today.

Expert Advice for Today’s Teens freespirit.com • 1.800.735.7323

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How to Talk to Your Kids About Their Mental and Emotional Health The COVID-19 pandemic and associated quarantining created an epidemic of isolation for all, bringing about a wave of mental health issues — especially for our kids. Now with vaccines available and the world mostly reopened, reintegrating into in-person society is creating new sources of anxiety. even in 10 teens say they’re struggling with their mental health as a result of COVID19, according to a study conducted by the Harris Poll, and 64 percent believe the pandemic will have long-lasting psychological implications. That’s likely a fair assessment, as about half of lifetime mental health conditions begin by age 14, according to the World Health Organization.

So as a parent, what can you do to help your kids manage their mental health and build the social-emotional skills they need? It starts with having regular, open conversations about how they’re really feeling and what they’re going through.

“That will help you and them recognize changes in their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and know when to get help,” said Kate Endries, the director of Youth Development Programs — Health & Wellness for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). “You can also help them learn ways to manage their emotions and build resiliency to better manage life’s challenges.”

Having these conversations can be difficult, Endries says, so it’s important to ensure your kids feel safe opening up to you by broaching these topics in a low-stakes, organic manner. It also helps to talk openly about your own experiences, anxieties, and stressors — showing vulnerability signals to kids that it’s OK to be honest about what they’re experiencing as well.

Endries adds that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has compiled a number of quality family mental health resources on its website, samhsa.gov/find-treatment.

Help is available Also critical for managing mental health — for you and your kids — is accessing the support and resources available when you need them. Your local Boys & Girls Club is a great resource at your disposal, as all Club staff members receive professional development training that equips them with the knowledge and tools they need to best support kids’ mental and emotional health.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America have also made several key partnerships to increase access to youth mental health resources, one of those being the On Our Sleeves organization, powered by Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Boys & Girls Clubs worked in partnership with On Our Sleeves to create mental health discussion guides, which are aimed at guiding parent and teen mental health discussions to increase awareness, decrease stigma, and provide guidance on when and how to get help.

Additionally Kohl’s and Boys & Girls Clubs of America entered a partnership to create and implement programming and training that will focus on strengthening the physical and emotional well-being of children and their families.

“All programming developed by Boys & Girls Clubs of America includes opportunities for youth to develop their self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship, responsibility, and decision-making skills,” Endries said. “Thanks to our partners like Kohl’s, Boys & Girls Clubs of America is also able to offer programs that

explicitly focus on developing youth’s coping and stress-management skills — skills that are critically important for navigating challenging experiences and maintaining strong mental and emotional health.”

Boys & Girls Clubs of America is working to guide its local clubs in becoming trauma-informed, meaning staff members take into consideration adversities young people are facing — like the COVID-19 pandemic — and in response design policies, programming, and practices that best support mental and emotional well-being. n Dustin Brennan

Find a Boys & Girls Club near you by visiting bgca.org/get-involved/ find-a-club. To learn more about Kohl’s commitment to family health and wellness, visit Kohls.com/cares.

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Alyson Stoner on Using Movement to Empower and Reconnect the Mind and Body

Connecting to her why Stoner grew up in the spotlight.

Her breakout role was dancing in Missy Elliott’s “Work It” video.

She was a Disney star after that, including roles in “Camp Rock,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,” and “Cheaper by the Dozen,” among others.

These days, she’s still voice acting and is active on social media.

She’s also a host on the “Simplexity” podcast.

“I had a very chaotic upbringing, so the best thing I can offer myself currently is structure and civilization,” she says.

Feeling confident The actress knows how tough it can be growing up and understanding what’s happening in your mind and body.

Stoner researched the science of how her thoughts and feelings operated, so she wasn’t surprised or embarrassed by them. Some

find an artistic outlet to help them release and process emotions in uncomfortable moments. Others tell someone they’re struggling so they don’t have to face things alone.

Movement genius Her company, Movement Genius is a healing virtual space that anyone can access. It’s dedicated to providing movement-based practices for people to improve their mental and emotional health.

The non-athletic classes, which are tailored to natural body language, are designed alongside clinicians and psychotherapists, to ensure that they have therapeutic senses. For example, there are classes for people to do while seated at their desk, as well as a looping meditation, and open guided movements. n

PHOTO: ADAM BATTAGLIA

The 28-year-old has a new book, “MIND BODY PRIDE: The 7-Step Guide for Deeper Inner Connection.”

“I wanted to provide a place for queer folks to reconnect their mind and body,” she says.

Stoner, who identifies as pansexual, wrote the book after she started studying the disproportionate challenges that queer folks face in terms of mental and physical health. She learned about the higher rates of violence and suicide, and that many in the LGBTQIA+ community feel like outsiders in society.

The book explores the mindbody connection, helping readers reconnect with themselves, release stress, and embody their authentic well-being.

Kristen Castillo

Prioritizing Mental Health: What Families Can Do Mental health should be a daily priority, woven into your families’ regular routines. Here are five ways you can help your family prioritize and maintain a healthy mind and build resiliency: 1. Be aware. Knowing what’s going on in your child’s life and monitoring any big changes they are going through socially, academically, emotionally, or physically can help you be more engaged in supporting their mental health and addressing any challenges as they arise.

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2. Talk openly with your child. Be sure to have regular family conversations about how everyone is feeling and what they think about current events, the school day and any family news.

Talk through your children’s feelings or concerns, things happening at school and with friends or how current events are impacting them. Share your own feelings and challenges too.

3. Model good mental health behavior.

Children learn from watching their parents. If they see you prioritizing your mental and physical health;

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maintaining healthy, meaningful relationships; and practicing healthy coping strategies every day, they are more likely to do it, too. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect!

4. Prioritize a healthy lifestyle.

Maintain your family’s mental health and well-being by eating meals together, exercising regularly, limiting screen time, getting the recommended amount of sleep each night, managing your stress, and finding which relaxation techniques work for your family and practicing them together.

5. Speak up for your child. You can make sure that your child is safe and supported at home. But it’s also important that your child’s environment outside of your home supports their good mental health.

You can speak up for your child by going to your school- or communitybased organizations to make sure your child’s school is welcoming, safe, and connected. You also want to ensure that your child’s healthcare team routinely screens for mental health and wellness. n Anna King, President of National PTA

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Children’s Hospitals Across the Nation Addressing Mental Health With an escalating mental health crisis affecting children, children’s hospitals are strengthening community partnerships to support kids’ health as they return to school The effects of the pandemic have negatively impacted children and their mental health in unprecedented ways, and children’s hospitals across the country are working urgently every day to help children in crises. CHA data shows that currently over 80 percent of children’s hospitals in the United States offer child and adolescent

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mental and behavioral health services.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between April and October of 2020, there was a 24 percent increase in mental health emergency department visits for kids ages 5-11 compared with the same period in 2019.

According to CHA data, in the latter half of 2020, children’s hospitals saw a 17 percent increase in suicide and self-injury cases (inpatient and emergency) among kids aged 5-18 compared to the year before. To provide the care children and youth need, children’s hospi-

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tals are working with parents, communities, and partner organizations to strengthen prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services for mental and behavioral health conditions. Here are a few examples: • In April 2020, Children’s Hospital New Orleans celebrated the opening of its new Behavioral Health Center, which offers acute inpatient, outpatient, psychology, and psychiatric serves for behavioral health for kids who are 7-17 years old. This is the largest and most comprehensive center that serves patients and families from across the Gulf South.

• In Milwaukee, Children’s Wisconsin provides schoolbased mental health services in 47 urban and rural schools throughout the state, and that number grows each year.

Currently Children’s Wisconsin provides therapists in 53 schools and is adding eight more this school year.

• Children’s Hospital Colorado created Partners for Children’s Mental Health (PCMH), a community-led center, offering trainings and workshops to help Colorado schools and staff meet the mental health needs of students. The workshops help

school communities develop policies and procedures to intervene with students experiencing thoughts of suicide and respond after a suicide loss. PCMH also provides custom training based on the needs of school communities throughout the state.

This is the tip of the iceberg and there’s more that needs to be done — we must rebuild our pediatric mental healthcare system to ensure our children are healthy and resilient. n Amy Knight, President, The Children’s Hospital Association

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The Mental Health Initiative Transforming Children’s Health When Lys Severtson’s 10-year-old son started experiencing depression, the family considered therapy. But wait times to schedule an appointment were nine months.

“I kind of got discouraged,” says Severtson, who like many parents wanted to help her child, but felt stuck by a system that wasn’t easy to navigate.

Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego — a nationally ranked children’s hospital — has launched a Primary Care Mental Health Integration program, training pediatricians to screen youth for mental health problems and referring those patients for treatment with an embedded therapist in the primary care practice.

In the past decade, Rady Children’s has seen a 1,700 percent increase in mental health emergency department

visits. Hospital inpatient stays can become a vicious cycle and kids don’t get the long-term mental health help needed.

Then when discharged home, there may be long wait times for therapy. To address this growing youth mental health crisis, Rady Children’s is taking a multi-pronged approach, including recently opening its Copley Psychiatric Emergency Department in 2020.

“The vast majority of children that are coming to our emergency department are kids with suicidal thoughts or kids that have attempted suicide,” says Ben Maxwell, M.D., medical director of inpatient psychiatry and interim director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rady Children’s.

Rady Children’s is taking a new approach to identify needs and provide intervention early.

“Our goal is to really treat

the whole child — that idea of there is no health without mental health,” says Dr. Maxwell. “That psychological well-being impacts physical well-being.”

Emotional well-being This innovative program integrates mental health therapists to work alongside pediatricians in primary care offices to vastly increase access to mental health care. The program, offered at select Children’s Primary Care Medical Group (CPCMG) and Children’s Physicians Medical Group (CPMG) locations, is a new model of care that’s designed to improve youth emotional well-being.

While pediatricians treat patients from birth to age 21, they typically didn’t have mental health training, until now.

Rady Children’s is providing pediatric primary care pro-

viders access to an intensive three-day training on behavioral health management and is already halfway to a goal of training 150 providers this year.

The hallmark is having an integrated health therapist (IHT) embedded in the primary care office. The IHT works closely with pediatricians so kids can have access to medical and behavioral health services in one, familiar location. That streamlines and destigmatizes finding care, too.

“It’s a team-based approach,” says Hilary Bowers, M.D., lead pediatrician, who oversees behavioral health services at all 29 of the CPCMG locations.

When patients need help, she connects them to the in-office therapist: “You’re now transferring the trust that the family has in you as a pediatrician to that therapist, that therapeutic relationship starts off at a higher level.”

One family Dr. Maxwell says pre-pandemic, young people already faced social isolation from spending so much time on devices. During the pandemic, distance learning left them even more isolated.

At Severtson’s son’s annual checkup, the pediatrician’s office conducted a depression screening. Through the program, he immediately started short-term in-office mental health counseling. The therapist gave him actionable tools to start feeling better right away. He also met with a psychiatrist and is taking medication for his depression.

This new way of addressing kids’ mental health was a game changer. After just three weeks, Severtson noticed a significant improvement.

“It’s a feeling of relief. It’s a feeling of appreciation that this exists,” she says, noting the coordinated care plan is helping the fifth grader return to his smiling self.

Early intervention Rady Children’s primary care mental health integration program relies on funding from private philanthropists. The program, which can be a model for children’s mental health, can be replicated at other facilities across the country.

“The earlier you intervene, the earlier you provide therapeutic services, the better the outcomes,” says Dr. Bowers. n Kristen Castillo

To learn more about this initiative at Rady Children’s, visit www.rchsd.org/tmh.

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