To be able to care for the people you love, you must first take care of yourself. It’s like the advice we’re given on airplanes: put on your own oxygen mask before trying to help someone else with theirs. Taking care of yourself is a valid goal on its own, and it helps you support the people you love.
Caregivers who pay attention to their own physical and emotional health are better able to handle the challenges of supporting someone with mental illness. They adapt to changes, build strong relationships and recover from setbacks. The ups and downs in your family member’s illness can have a huge impact on you. Improving your relationship with yourself by maintaining your physical and mental health makes you more resilient, helping you weather hard times and enjoy good ones. Here are some suggestions for personalizing your self-care strategy.

Understand How Stress Affects You
Stress affects your entire body, physically as well as mentally. Some common physical signs of stress include:

• Headaches
• Low energy
• Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation and nausea
• Aches, pains, and tense muscles
• Insomnia

Begin by identifying how stress feels to you. Then identify what events or situations cause you to feel that way. You may feel stressed by grocery shopping with your spouse when they’re symptomatic, or going to school events with other parents who don’t know your child’s medical history. Once you know which situations cause you stress, you’ll be prepared to avoid it and to cope with it when it happens.

Protect Your Physical Health
Improving your physical wellbeing is one of the most comprehensive ways you can support your mental health. You’ll have an easier time maintaining good mental habits when your body is a strong, resilient foundation.

• Exercise daily. Exercise can take many forms, such as taking the stairs whenever possible, walking up escalators, and running and biking rather than driving. Joining a class may help you commit to a schedule, if that works best for you. Daily exercise naturally produces stress-relieving hormones in your body and improves your overall health.
• Eat well. Eating mainly unprocessed foods like whole grains, vegetables and fresh fruit is key to a healthy body. Eating this way can help lower your risk for chronic diseases, and help stabilize your energy levels and mood.
• Get enough sleep. Adults generally need between seven and nine hours of sleep. A brief nap—up to 30 minutes—can help you feel alert again during the day. Even 15 minutes of daytime sleep is helpful. To make your nighttime sleep count more, practice good “sleep hygiene,” like avoiding using computers, TV and smartphones before bed.
• Avoid alcohol and drugs. They don’t actually reduce stress and often worsen it. If you’re struggling with substance use, click here for helpful resources.
• Practice relaxation exercises. Deep breathing, meditation and progressive muscle relaxation are easy, quick ways to reduce stress. When conflicts come up between you and your family member, these tools can help you feel less controlled by turbulent feelings and give you the space you need to think clearly about what to do next.

Recharge Yourself
When you’re a caregiver of someone with a condition like mental illness, it can be incredibly hard to find time for yourself, and even when you do, you may feel distracted by thinking about what you “should” be doing instead. But learning to make time for yourself without feeling you’re neglecting others—the person with the illness as well as the rest of your family—is critical.
Any amount of time you take for yourself is important. Being out of “caregiver mode” for as little as five minutes in the middle of a day packed with obligations can be a meaningful reminder of who you are in a larger sense. It can help keep you from becoming consumed by your responsibilities. Start small: think about activities you enjoyed before becoming a caregiver and try to work them back into your life. If you used to enjoy days out with friends, try to schedule a standing monthly lunch with them. It becomes part of your routine and no one has to work extra to make it happen each month.
The point is not what you do or how often you do it, but that you do take the time to care for yourself. It’s impossible to take good care of anyone else if you’re not taking care of yourself first.

Practice Good Mental Habits
Avoid Guilt
Try not to feel bad about experiencing negative emotions. You may resent having to remind your spouse to take his medication, then feel guilty. It’s natural to think things like “a better person wouldn’t be annoyed with their spouse,” but that kind of guilt is both untrue and unproductive. When you allow yourself to notice your feelings without judging them as good or bad, you dial down the stress and feel more in control. When you feel less stressed, you’re better able to thoughtfully choose how to act.
Notice The Positive
When you take the time to notice positive moments in your day, your experience of that day becomes better. Try writing down one thing each day or week that was good. Even if the positive thing is tiny (“It was a sunny day”), it’s real, it counts and it can start to change your experience of life.
Gather Strength From Others
NAMI support groups exist to reassure you that countless other people have faced similar challenges and understand your concerns. Talking about your experiences can help. The idea that you can, or should be able to, “solve” things by yourself is false. Often the people who seem like they know how to do everything are actually frequently asking for help; being willing to accept help is a great life skill. If you’re having trouble keeping track of your sister’s Medicaid documents and you’ve noticed your coworker is well-organized, ask them for tips about managing paperwork.
You may feel you don’t have the time to stay in touch with friends or start new friendships. Focus on the long-term. If you can meet up with a friend once a month, or go to a community event at your local library once every two months, it still helps keep you connected. It also gives you the chance to connect with people on multiple levels. Being a caregiver is an important part of your life, but it’s not the whole story.

If you are in need of mental health support stop by the Community Center, we are located at 38 Park Way in Happy Camp. We are open Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-4pm, closed for lunch from 12pm-1pm, and Friday 9am-1pm. The Community Center contracts with Siskiyou County Behavioral Health and we can refer you to their services.
 
For the 24 Hour Mental Health Crisis Line/ Access Line, Toll Free: 1-800-842-8979
 
For this Article and more information visit: www.nami.org/Find-Support/Family-Members-and-Caregivers/Taking-Care-of-Yourself
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It is estimated that 20% of adolescents worldwide have a behavioral or mental health problem, in total around 3 million people.  Half of the mental disorders emerge before the age of 14 old and the 70% before the age of 24.
Mental health problems in adolescents lead to high social and economic costs.  The risk factors of mental health problems include: abuse in childhood; domestic violence and in the school and the neighborhood; poverty; social exclusion and inequalities in education. Also, social turmoil and the anxiety related to war, natural disasters and other humanitarian crisis are risk factors to have into account.
In addition, the stigma associate with teen suffering from a mental health disease, and the human right violations to which they are subjected increase de negative consequences.
According the WHO, children and adolescents with a mental health problems have to receive early evidence-based psychosocial interventions and non-pharmacological in their communities, and avoiding the medicalization. This interventions have to follow the children rights endorsed at the United Nations Convention on children rights and other international and regional regulations on human rights.
Below we have listed some key facts on child and adolescent mental health.

Mental disorders and suicide risk
Depression is the illness that contributes most to the global morbidity burden in teens of 15 to19 years old, and suicide is the second cause of death in people aged between 15 and 24 years. UNICEF estimated that 71.000 adolescents commit suicide annually, and a number 40 times higher attempt to suicide.
According to UNICEF, developmental delays, autism and other general disorders of child development arose in the first months of life. Behavioral problems are present since the age of 2, anxiety symptoms from the 4-5 years old or even before, drug and alcohol consumption from 11-12 years old, the schizophrenia similar to the one of adults are present in the age of 14-15 years and depression from the 5-6 years.

The lack of knowledge of parents
In the United Kingdom, 70% of children and adolescents who have a mental health problem has not received and early care intervention at an earlier age.  Within the different barriers in the access to mental health care – personal, geographical, economic, social, and from the health system itself-, it is important to highlight the role of parents in the access to healthcare of their sons. Data from a  MindEd survey of 2015 established that in the Untied Kingdom, 38% of parents do not know the signs and the symptoms to have in mind to assess the mental health of their children.

Child abuse
Around the 70% and the 80% of children that suffer abuse develop a mental health problem.  It is a reason of concern as, for instance in Spain, two out of ten students of primary and higher schools are victims of bullying.
 Lack of child psychiatrists
Although half of mental health diseases appear before the age of 14 and that 20% of children and adolescents have a mental health problem, most of the middle and low-income countries have only one child psychiatrist per 1 to 4 million people.

The impact of poverty
Children living in poverty in cities have higher rates of depression and anxiety tan the urban population average. Several studies have mentioned that mental health problems in childhood and adolescence could affect seriously in the growth, the development, the school performance, in the family and Friends relationship and also could rise the risk of suicide. Another associated factor is the stigma of children to be seen as a son or daughter of the poorest and most marginalized people.

Malnutrition
According to UNICEF, worldwide there are 165 million of children under 5 suffer delay growth or have chronic malnutrition. Among them, more tan 100 million children is weighing less than the average. A poor feeding or an unbalanced diet where there is a lack of some vitamins and minerals may make children more vulnerable to specific disorders or infections that may lead in physical or mental health problems.

Sources:
La Vanguardia, Mental Health Foundation, MindEd, NHS, The Lancet, OMS, UNICEF.
Icons: Freepik from www.flaticon.com
By Redacción|November 16th, 2016 

If you are in need of mental health support stop by the Community Center, we are located at 38 Park Way in Happy Camp. We are open Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-4pm, closed for lunch from 12pm-1pm, and Friday 9am-1pm. The Community Center contracts with Siskiyou County Behavioral Health and we can refer you to their services.
 
For the 24 Hour Mental Health Crisis Line/ Access Line, Toll Free: 1-800-842-8979
 
For this Article and more information visit: ​somapsy.org/en/child-adolescent-mental-health-ten-facts/#prettyPhoto

​Psychiatric disorders are not a result of bad parenting — or poor willpower
Harold S. Koplewicz, MD

It is easy to empathize with suffering we can see: a child who has lost her hair as a result of chemotherapy, for instance. The suffering of a child with psychiatric issues is far less obvious. Many children and teens with emotional problems keep their pain secret. Others express their feelings in risky or offensive ways. Due largely to stigma — fear, shame, and misunderstanding about psychiatric disorders — the majority never receive clinical care.
Debunking myths about child mental health is critical to getting more children the help and understanding they deserve.

MYTH 1: A child with a psychiatric disorder is damaged for life.
A psychiatric disorder is by no means an indication of a child’s potential for future happiness and fulfillment. If a child’s struggles are recognized and treated—the earlier the better—she has a good chance of managing or overcoming symptoms and developing into a healthy adult.
MYTH 2: Psychiatric problems result from personal weakness.
It can be difficult to separate the symptoms of a child’s psychiatric disorder — impulsive behavior, aggressiveness, or extreme anxiety, for example — from a child’s character. But a psychiatric disorder is an illness, just like diabetes or leukemia, and not a personality type. We can’t expect children and teens to have the tools to overcome these challenges on their own, but they can recover with the help of their parents, and an effective diagnosis and treatment plan.
MYTH 3: Psychiatric disorders result from bad parenting.
While a child’s home environment and relationships with his parents can exacerbate a psychiatric disorder, these things don’t cause the disorder. Things like anxiety, depression, autism and learning disorders are thought to have biological causes. Parenting isn’t to blame. But parents play a central role by providing support and care that is crucial to their child’s recovery.
MYTH 4: A child can manage a psychiatric disorder through willpower.
A disorder is not mild anxiety or a dip in mood. It is severe distress and dysfunction that can affect all areas of a child’s life. Kids don’t have the skills and life experience to manage conditions as overwhelming as depression, anxiety, or ADHD. They can benefit profoundly from the right treatment plan, which usually includes a type of behavioral therapy, and have their health and happiness restored.
MYTH 5: Therapy for kids is a waste of time.
Treatment for childhood psychiatric disorders isn’t old-fashioned talk therapy. Today’s best evidence-based treatment programs for children and teens use cognitive-behavioral therapy, which focuses on changing the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are causing them serious problems. And research has shown that there’s a window of opportunity — the first few years during which symptoms appear — when treatment interventions are most successful.
MYTH 6: Children are overmedicated.
Since so many public voices (many without first-hand or clinical experience) have questioned the use of medications in the treatment of childhood psychiatric disorders, many people believe that psychiatrists prescribe medication to every child they see. The truth, however, is that good psychiatrists use enormous care when deciding whether and how to start a child on a treatment plan that includes medication — usually along with behavioral therapy. We never doubt whether a child with diabetes or a seizure disorder should get medication; we should take psychiatric illness just as seriously.
MYTH 7: Children grow out of mental health problems.
Children are less likely to “grow out” of psychiatric disorders than they are to “grow into” more debilitating conditions. Most mental health problems left untreated in childhood become more difficult to treat in adulthood. Since we know that most psychiatric disorders emerge before a child’s 14th birthday, we should have huge incentive to screen young people for emotional and behavioral problems. We can then coordinate interventions while a child’s brain is most responsive to change and treatment is more likely to be successful.

If you are in need of mental health support stop by the Community Center, we are located at 38 Park Way in Happy Camp. We are open Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-4pm, closed for lunch from 12pm-1pm, and Friday 9am-1pm. The Community Center contracts with Siskiyou County Behavioral Health and we can refer you to their services.
 
For the 24 Hour Mental Health Crisis Line/ Access Line, Toll Free: 1-800-842-8979
 
For this Article and more information visit: childmind.org/article/7-myths-about-child-mental-health/
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If you are in need of mental health support stop by the Community Center, we are located at 38 Park Way in Happy Camp. We are open Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-4pm, closed for lunch from 12pm-1pm, and Friday 9am-1pm. The Community Center contracts with Siskiyou County Behavioral Health and we can refer you to their services.
 
For the 24 Hour Mental Health Crisis Line/ Access Line, Toll Free: 1-800-842-8979
 
For this Article and more information visit: www.nami.org/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Guides/Navigating-a-Mental-Health-Crisis
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