MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH
RESOURCES FROM NCA
A message from NCA:
| Welcome to National Mental Health Awareness Month |
 Hello and welcome to the month of May. The days are getting longer, the light is getting softer, and everything is bursting into bloom. You can almost taste the anticipation in the air – children winding up another school year, and summertime peeking around the corner. But May is also National Mental Health Awareness Month – and it seems an appropriate pairing to me. All too often, mental health issues are masked, and sometimes we don’t see the struggle until it’s too late. Sadly, mental health is still a taboo topic for too many children and families struggling with these issues. We would rather confront a physical ailment than a mental health one. But over the last decade, research has shown us that mental health is physical health – the two are inextricably linked. And because of this connection, we cannot heal one without the other. In Children’s Advocacy Centers across the country, we understand this connection. We understand that it is not enough to heal a child’s physical wounds without also attending to the wounds to their psyches. And the reverse is true, as well – we know that we must focus on both for real healing to occur. It’s why our National Standards of Accreditation for Children’s Advocacy Centers require that our member centers pay careful attention to – and provide for – both medical and mental health treatment. But we also know that there is an access issue in this country – there are not enough mental health clinicians for all the people who need help, and this is especially true for children and youth. And once again, this is why Children’s Advocacy Centers are so essential. CACs are working every day to ensure that the children and families they serve have access to specialized medical and mental health treatments, and often these services are provided in-house, at the centers themselves, making access easier and less complicated for families. And, CACs are held to rigorous training requirements, ensuring that the providers are trained and skilled in the latest techniques, modalities, and best practices. This May, we ask you to honor National Mental Health Awareness Month by supporting the Children’s Advocacy Center in your community. In doing so, you are uplifting and prioritizing children’s health – both physical and psychological – for those who need it most. Warmly,Teresa |
| How are you impacting mental health this May? |
| Youth mental health is a big issue. The WHO says one-in-seven adolescents globally experiences a mental health disorder. Young people are resilient, but the biggest factor is a caring, involved adult they trust. One thing we’ve learned after helping millions of kids get help and go back to being kids: a caregiver or other trusted adult is the single biggest support a child has. And what that child values most is your presence. That’s why we’re reintroducing #BeThereNow, a campaign that shows the infinite ways you can build your relationship and your child’s sense of trust every day, so that when they really need someone one day, they know where to turn. This year, we’ve taken a different avenue, reminding caregivers to ask questions when something seems wrong. You’ve built trust by spending time with your child, sharing interests, playing, and checking in. Sudden changes in your child’s behavior, like withdrawing socially, feeling down, spikes in anxiety, and avoidance of certain places or people, can all be signs that something is amiss. Don’t just chalk it up to puberty and hormones – get to the bottom of it with your child, even if they don’t quite yet know what’s wrong. Get social graphics to share, information about youth mental health, and what you can do at any point in a child’s life to build trust and strengthen the relationship, just by making memories and asking questions. We’ve created 9 new graphics you can use. |
