Often times when a person is depressed they may feel tired or have a lack of motivation and energy. These changes in mood can often times lead a person, who is feeling depressed, to not carrying out their daily tasks, activities, and responsibilities. All of these responsibilities at home, school, or work can begin to pile up for your adolescent. This can lead them to feeling overwhelmed and creating an increased feeling of guilt, uselessness, and failure. This can become a vicious cycle that increases the depressed mood and further lowers motivation. By encouraging your adolescent to increase their activity levels, it can help them to feel better, be less tired, and think more clearly. Positive experiences can help alleviate some of the depressed feelings and mood. 
Continue reading Using Behavioral Methods to Manage Your Depression
Category: RESOURCES
Learn more about Myths Dealing with Mental Health
Mental Health.gov compiled a list of 9 commonly believed myths about mental health and provides facts to prove them wrong. Many people have learned inaccurate information about people with mental health issues for a variety of reasons. Whether it be because of how media displays mental health, or a lack of experience and exposure with the population. Listed below are 2 of the myths on the site to see more visit MentalHealth.gov.
Continue reading Learn more about Myths Dealing with Mental Health
Crisis Hotline
If you, your child, or someone you care about is in crisis, time is of the essence.
Take some time now to check out a national resource we are lucky to have in the U.S.:
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
It will give you:
- a number to call if you or someone you know is suicidal
- how to tell if someone is suicidal
- resources on finding a therapist or support group
- how to create a safety plan to help get you past suicidal thoughts
- stories and videos about hope and recovery
Let us know what you thought was useful about this website – share below!
Wear Your Label
Wear Your Label is an online store that creates clothing to get the conversation started about mental illness. Their profound motto is: “It’s okay not to be okay.” Wear Your Label makes clothing that reduces stigma (they have a shirt that says “stigma free” on it), promotes positive body image and embraces mental health. Each of the team members behind Wear Your Label has experienced mental illness. All of the clothing items have phrases that support mental health. They also have a bracelet line with various colors signifying different types of mental illnesses. Watch their video to learn more!
Wear Your Label partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in 2016. In this collaboration, they created clothing that aligns with NAMI’s #stigmafree campaign. Additionally, the online clothing store donates 10% of their proceeds to mental health initiatives. These initiatives include Jack.org, the Jed Foundation, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Project UROK, and Project 375, and the Semicolon Project. Wear Your Label also promotes fair, humane, and ethical work standards where their clothing is made.
Check out the website and let us know what you think!
Mental Health Check-up
A Brief Mental Health Check-up
Take five minutes and ask yourself these questions! The American Psychiatric Association is a great resource to use when you are interested in gaining more knowledge about your child’s mental health! Let us know if you learned anything new about yourselves!
10 Games to Help You Get Rid of Some Stress
Sometimes we all just need to take a moment and escape from the real world for a second. For many people, games on the internet can be a fun outlet. Lifehack.org has complied a list of 10 fun and relaxing games to play to help you de-stress and stimulate your mind. Alex Morris from Lifehack.org describes the games as “minor masterpieces of chilled-out enjoyment which can help calm you after a busy day, or hectic morning, by ridding you from the stress of modern life. It’s blissful escapism at its best, and it’s entirely free!”
There are ten games available on the website. Here’s a description of one of the games: Echogenesis
“Put your headphones on and immerse yourself in the wonders of Echogenesis. The visuals come from nature; swamps, forests, coves, and the like, whilst the sounds are created by interacting with the various life forms come across. It’s an immersive experience, from the beautiful graphics to the luscious stereophonic orchestration. You can’t win or lose; you just experience and influence the worlds you see, making it a relaxing tale of exploration.”
Take at look at what they have to offer and lets now what you think of the games.
Transition Year
The transition into college is one of the largest transitions that will happen in your child’s life. Every aspect of it is new, and it can come with many rewards as well as challenges. These challenges can become even greater for those with previous or existing mental health disorders. While college can include some of the best times of your child’s life, it can also come with situations and stresses that can potentially bring forth unpleasant feelings such as anxiety or depression.
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Proud2BMe
Positive body image, especially during adolescence and young adulthood, can be difficult to keep up. Society is chock full of “standards” for beauty and the “perfect body.” But while these standards are very public in nature, body image is a very personal thing.
So what is body image anyway? Body image is the way one visualizes their own body through mental image. It’s really common for teens and young adults to struggle with keeping up a positive body image. We have a wonderful resource to offer for you today: Proud2BMe is an online community focused on “promoting positive body image and encouraging healthy attitudes about food and weight.”
Dear Black Women
This open letter featured on Huffington Post was written by Minaa B. the founder of Respect Your Struggle. “Respect Your Struggle is a digital magazine that focuses on real life issues experienced by the ordinary individual who is set out to turn their struggles into their strengths.” It was created to de-stigmatize mental health within the minority community and empower people. The articles are centered on self-care, mental health and life challenges.
Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program
The Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program is a suicide prevention program created to help by “empowering individuals and communities through leadership, awareness and education; and by collaborating and partnering with support networks to reduce stigma and help save lives.”
Continue reading Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program