Excellent tips on how you can get the conversation started and going at home. Click the video below.

This post is shared from: www.onoursleeves.org/mental-wellness-tools-guides/conversation-starters/starting-conversations
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Even before the pandemic, we saw alarming trends when it came to children’s mental health. Children want and need to be heard, supported and respected.
How do we support our children and their mental health?Start talking!Talking to children about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences is necessary for their healthy growth and development. When you talk to children openly and honestly about their day-to-day routine and their mental health, you can learn about concerns or problems they are dealing with, help them problem solve, and build their confidence for facing difficult moments in life. And the more you have conversations, the easier they are to have when difficult topics come up!

How do you start conversations?  Here are three tips.

1. Set the stage. The work begins before you even start the conversation. If your family creates a daily habit of checking in and talking with each other, it will make conversations about their mental health or concerns easier.
   • Pick times with low distractions where children are more likely to focus on the conversation and share, such as family dinners, bedtime routines, car rides or short daily walks.
   • Model the behavior. Children learn by watching us.
     • If you share about your day, thoughts and feelings, kids will learn to do the same. If you had a hard day, share that too! Sharing, at their appropriate developmental level, helps children learn that emotions are normal and how to cope with them by watching you.
2. Ask open-ended questions. You can talk about all kinds of topics, not just emotions or behaviors. Remember, your goal is to create the habit of feeling comfortable sharing with you. Download the questions below to help.
3. Find the right time for difficult conversations. Pick a time when everyone is calm and emotions are not high. Ask permission to start the conversation and if your child is not ready, ask them when a good time would be. Make sure you’re in a private area with low interruptions.

What if they don’t want to talk?If they don’t want to talk, that’s OK! If you try to push it, they will shut down more.

• Compromise! Let them know you care about them and what’s going on in their lives, so you want time to check in. Ask them when a better time would be instead and try again. Children are more likely to engage if they feel some control or choice over a situation.

CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2022
​The Youth Mental Health Awareness Project Events
Sunday, May 1 – Thursday, May 5
Find Connections. Build Community.Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week -- held every year during the first week of May (National Mental Health Awareness Month) -- is a national campaign that raises awareness and funds to promote better mental health for children.
Click the images below for more information.   Check out their calendar of events coming up. Sign up to get the Youth Mental Health Project's newsletters to find out about more events and resources.

The Long Island Advocacy Center journals a monthly newsletter keeping families informed and up to date on helping our community advocate for our kids. Click here or directly on the image below to read the entire newsletter. 

On behalf of the Meadow PTA School of Excellence committee, we share a new webinar on mental health & wellness.

​Just like physical health, we all have mental health.

Presented by Whitney Closson, Family Education Specialist
School Mental Health Resource and Training
Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.

[ Social Media and Mental Health: What Families need to Know.
It is no secret that over the last 15 years that internet and media use has skyrocketed.

Today, 95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% say they are online almost constantly.

As a result, many caregivers, educators and individuals are left wondering about the impacts of social media and the digital world on their overall wellbeing.

Information covered includes:

• How to start the conversation around internet use
• How to set healthy media boundaries
• Data to help understand psychological risks and emotional impacts
• Understanding risks and how to respond to cyberbullying and more

Click here to watch the video on Social Media and Mental Health: What families need to know ]

Sincerely,
Meadow PTA School of Excellence Committee
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“Everyone has mental health, just like everyone has physical health, not everyone will experience mental illness, but everyone will have periods of time when they struggle with their mental well-being, just as we have physical health issues from time to time.”-Stan Preston