Supporting Your Child’s Mental Health
For Mental Health Awareness Month and Foster Care Awareness Month, Nexus Family Healing is providing tools, activities, and guidance to support mental health in families of all kinds.
Mental health can mean a lot of different things. This month, we are focusing on three important areas that families can work on and practice at home – building resilience, communication skills, and creating supportive behaviors and networks. Our experts at Nexus Family Healing have shared many resources to help families support each other in their mental health journeys.
Building Resilience
Resiliency is the ability to cope successfully with the stresses of life. Take a look at these blog posts to learn more about how you can help build resiliency within your family.
Fixed or Growth Mindset – Which Type of Family Are You?
As foster parents, the worries arise as they are preparing a room for the new child they received a brief description of. They ask themselves: how do we ensure they feel supported; what resources will they need on days like this; how do we create a welcoming environment and create a positive transition?
Raising a More Resilient Child
As a parent, one of the most important things you can do is help your child learn to deal with the inevitable challenges in life. Children who can successfully manage stressors in their life have lower rates of mental health issues, greater levels of happiness, and often have more success later in life.
Cultivating Conversations
One of the best ways we can reduce the stigma about mental health is by talking more about it. We know having mental health conversations can be difficult at any age, so our experts at Nexus Family Healing have provided the following resources to help you and your family have genuine and healthy conversations about your emotions based on truth, mutual respect, and understanding.
Conversation Starters
Conversation startersto get past the generic “I’m fine” response and learn more about how your family is feeling.
Family Joy Journal
A four-week journal to share positive notes with your family each day.
Feelings Tic-Tac-Toe
For younger children, learning and understanding their different emotions can take some practice. Use this Tic-Tac-Toe game sheet to help your child identify the many feelings they may experience, how those emotions feel in their own brain and body, and recall a time when they felt that emotion.
Feelings Dice
For older children and teens, this dice game is intended to discuss past emotions in a healthy way while also recognizing how certain interactions or situations made them feel in the moment.
Creating a Support System
Healing isn’t linear. Every person’s journey is different, especially when it comes to mental health and well-being. Creating supportive behaviors and networks can help your family when healing doesn’t happen how we had planned or hoped. The following resources provide guidance on how you can support your family’s mental health journey.
Supporting Your Child Before Therapy Starts
As a parent, one of the first steps on your child’s mental health journey can be scheduling a diagnostic assessment or initial therapy appointment when you notice they are struggling. Sometimes, you may be waiting weeks or even months before your child can get in to see the professional. This is a list of five areas you can use to support your child and yourself during that gap or in between …
What to Expect When Bringing Your Child to a Therapist
Your child is struggling with their emotions and behaviors and you would like them to see a therapist. What should you expect? Shawna Croaker, the Director of Community Based Services and licensed therapist, gives pointers on what to expect when starting the process.
Why Is Caregiver Involvement Important in Child Therapy?
It is very important for the caregiver to be involved in their child’s therapy. As the caregiver you provide the most treatment, your therapist needs your input, and the therapists are here to support you.