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5 Ways To Boost Your Kids Mental Health

How to help your child with their mental health

You are probably reading this because you are a concerned parent who wants to help your child with their mental health. You are perhaps a little nervous about how to approach your child because the last thing you want to take place is distance or a misunderstanding.

Talking to your loved one about their mental health can support them to feel empowered, heard, and supported. Your child can receive support during their treatment from someone they know and trust. A great place to start is by being present and open to listening without judgment.  

How Parents Can Help Their Kids With Their Mental Health

How to know if your child would benefit from working with a counselor?

As your child’s parent, it’s important to keep an eye on their behaviors and emotional changes. In addition to this, you can hold awareness of how your child is doing in spaces of their life. Such as in school, at work, or with their friends. At Santos Counseling, we proudly serve Greensboro, NC, and the surrounding Triad area, offering counseling services for kids, adults, couples, and families. We’re here to support you every step of the way.

Common symptoms of mental health include:

  • Displaying irritability
  • Problems focusing and concentrating
  • A decline in performance such as at school or work.
  • Unhealthy practices around eating.
  • Problems with getting healthy sleep.
  • Unwanted thoughts and habits.
  • Shutting down
  • Holding immense anger

5 Ways to help your child with their mental health

Supporting your child’s mental health can directly help them with addressing – school pressures, social media challenges, and emotional stability. As parents, knowing how to provide healthy support can make a difference in your child’s mental health and overall emotional well-being.

Here are some strategies from mental health counselors at Santos Counseling that can help you create a nurturing environment for your children’s mental health.

 

1. Mental health-friendly language.

I encourage you to reflect on the current language that you are using surrounding all things related to mental health. The goal is to ensure that you are using language that is empowering, respectful, and considerate.

You can start by creating a healthy dialogue with your child. Here are some examples:

  • When speaking with your child ensure to focus on them as a person and not the mental health issue.
  • Try to use language that is easy to understand given their age. You’ll have to consider differences here if your child is 8 years old compared to 17 years old.
  • Always focus on your child’s strengths instead of starting with the issue or problem that is taking place.
  • Avoid making assumptions. This means that when you are communicating with your child, you are checking to see if understanding has taken place.
  • Learn from your child. It’s important to allow your child to have a leadership role and allowing them to teach you. Here is a helpful read on the topic.

 

2. Learn to maintain structure and routine

According to the Institute of Family Studies, nearly 7 million children receive counseling. The counseling received included mental health support for depression, behavioral difficulties, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Creating a stable environment for your child can help them have a consistent and predictable space. This supports your child to reduce symptoms connected to anxiety and depression.

Ways that you can do this include having a consistent and structured schedule for your child. With activities like self-care, cleaning, or getting schoolwork completed.

 

3. Encourage your child to engage in healthy habits

Healthy habits aim to help your child focus on creating and sustaining an overall positive and healthy well-being. As a parent, you can truly take on a leadership role.

Having healthy habits helps your child to reduce unwanted symptoms such as anxiety or depression while improving their mood, sleep, and overall wellness.

A Harvard study found five habits connected to a positive outcome. The healthy habits include monitoring the consumption of alcohol, not smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, engaging in daily exercise, and keeping a healthy diet.

 

4. Work with a counselor.

An effective and wonderful way to help your child with their mental health is through counseling. Santos Counseling provides counseling to kids, adults, families, and couples.

According to Mental Health America, counseling provides numerous benefits. Common benefits of working with a counselor include:

  • Improve concentration.
  • Improve functionality.
  • Reduce unwanted symptoms and relapses.
  • Increase self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth.
  • Improve the quality of sleep.
  • Learn how to build healthy relationships.
  • Recover from difficult experiences.
  • Develop healthy boundaries and habits.

 

5. Model positive coping skills for your child

How does your child manage their stress?

As your child’s parent, you can model positive coping skills to help them have a pathway of leadership. You can do this by going to bed and waking up at a consistent time, engaging in daily exercise, partaking in community and peer relationships, modeling empathy and healthy boundaries, and practicing vulnerability where you talk about your thoughts and feelings.

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People Also Ask

What are 3 symptoms that a child may have a mental health disorder?

  • Problems with their sleep, nutrition, or concentration.
  • Unwanted feelings of worry and sadness.
  • Unhealthy behavioral symptoms.

What is the main cause of mental health in children?

Instead of one main cause, there are varying items that can impact a child’s mental health. They range from environmental to biological. The Center of Developing Child of Harvard University notes how early experiences in life shape mental health. 

At what age does mental illness typically start?

According to a journal on NIH, the onset of mental illness typically starts in the early teen years. It’s important to keep in mind that this is only one source and that there are ample cases that are not reported. 

What are common reasons that kids and teens experience mental health difficulties?

  • The divorce of parents.
  • Bullying at school.
  • A decline in grades.
  • A decline in performance during sports or extracurricular activities.
  • The passing of a loved one.

Your child will typically look to you as their parent for leadership and support in many areas of life. They will look to their parents for help with managing stress and practicing coping skills.

What are common positive coping skills and practices that parents can model?

  • Deep breathing.
  • Journal writing.
  • Working with a counselor

Kids typically Children often look to their parents to understand how to manage stress. By modeling positive coping skills, such as deep breathing, mindfulness, or journaling, parents can teach their children healthy ways to manage anxiety and stress​.

It’s essential to recognize when your child would benefit from support. If you notice that your child is showing signs of anxiety, stress, depression, or a behavioral change, I encourage you to reach out to Santos Counseling. We are here to support parents, kids, and families.