An estimated 1.2 million Canadian children and youth are affected by mental illness yet only 20% of those children will receive treatment according to the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
These numbers should alarm us.
These numbers should have us asking what can we do to ensure our children are mentally and emotionally healthy?
Our children’s mental health is a responsibility we all share. Parents, health professionals, teachers, and our communities can all play a role, after all, it takes a village to raise mentally and emotionally healthy children.
Perhaps it’s time to find our village.
One of the main problems is that we don’t talk about mental health until someone is already suffering. Thankfully, it’s becoming easier to talk about mental illness but we’re still not talking about what we’re doing to ensure mental wellness. We need to start being proactive. To look for preventative measures for mental and emotional health like we do for physical health. It’s time to rethink how we look at mental and emotional health and teach children what emotions are and how to process them in a healthy way.
If we start teaching children that everything they are feeling is created by what they are thinking and that just by looking at their thoughts differently, they can change how they feel it shows them that they are in control. It gives them power over their own emotions.
Will emotionally healthy children grow up to be emotionally healthy adults who raise emotionally healthy children?
Young children are really good at being present and tend to see things as they really are. It’s only when they get a little older that their thoughts start getting swayed by assumptions and beliefs. By the time they are teens, they’ve already formed thinking patterns that create their emotions and it becomes more difficult to change and process those thoughts and emotions.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being a guest on a Kevin Olenick’s Agree or Disagree- The Podcast on which we discussed mental health especially when it comes to school-age children. We were joined by a parent who is dealing with a child with extreme anxiety. Kim shared with us the journey she took to find the resources her son needed. We talked about the state of mental and emotional health of children, and like many open discussions, we covered many areas. (We all agreed we could have chatted for hours.)
I want to thank Kevin for using his platform to discuss mental health. It’s conversations like these in a casual non-clinical setting that normalizes discussions on mental and emotional health and wellness. He will be inviting more guests and conversations about mental health in the future. Follow him because he’s one of the good guys in media.
Listen to “Mental Health and Our Kids-Agree or Disagree:The Podcast.” on Spreaker.
I would love to know if you have any comments or suggestions on how we can help build emotionally and mentally resilient children. Do you agree or disagree?
