National Children’s Mental Health Day

May 7 is designated as a day of awareness for Children's Mental Health Awareness. The purpose is to spotlight the needs of children with serious mental illness and severe emotional disturbance and to raise awareness of the various practices, support networks and treatments available. A secondary purpose for the national day of awareness is to encourage those who need support to seek help.

As parents, recognizing a mental health issue in our children is often akin to thinking about our children being victims of some accident or violent act. We simply don't want to spend time thinking that it could impact our children. This too often leads to recognition at a point of crisis where intervention is even more challenging.

As someone who has helped others managing mental health issues for the last decade, I can tell you the signs and symptoms are often not obvious if we aren't looking for them. The good news is we have so many options for support. Company EAP programs and community health organizations are a rich source of support for parents and children and there are many resources identified by SAMHSA.

Given the challenges in the world we are all facing, our children may be even more in need of support, without the added risk of a serious mental illness or emotional disturbance. Good Morning America did a segment on this issue, Here's what parents need to know about children's mental health that can be helpful for all parents trying to support their children through the isolation of stay at home orders, distance learning and the absence of typical activities that provide a healthy emotional environment.

Finally, if you are a parent or caregiver of any kind who has had multiple new roles and responsibilities put upon you before you thought you were ready, know that while you are likely imperfect, you are doing great! If you are someone struggling with the challenges of isolation, reach out to anyone and know this will end in time. If you are getting up and facing the day every morning, in whatever way you can, you are doing great! We are all experiencing some form of challenge and we will be good at some of it and just ok at the rest. That means we are doing great, too.

P.S. – we are all children of someone so while we may not be so young, it's a good day to recognize the need for our own awareness of mental health boosting activities. Look for more on Mental Health Awareness month throughout May.