Salud Mental

Reducing Suicide Risk With Safety Plans

September is Suicide Awareness Month. When children in distress express suicidal thoughts or feelings, therapists often work with them —and their parents— to create what is called a safety plan. A safety plan is a document that spells out a series of things the child agrees to do, if they feel overwhelmed, to keep from harming themselves. Parents agree to things they will do to make their child’s environment safer.

This collection of articles from the Child Mind Institute explains how safety planning can help deter teen suicides, which are often impulsive, by steering kids away from harming themselves until the urge passes. With teenage depression and anxiety on the rise, it’s important for all of us to be proactive when children are in distress.

To see the individual articles in the collection and connect with them in English or Spanish, come here.

How to Talk to Kids About Sex and Consent

(Available in English and Spanish) | Useful to Parent Centers, other community groups, and families of adolescent children with and without disabilities   When it comes to sex and our children (and ourselves), it’s important to have boundaries and hold to them. This article from the Child Mind Institute will help parents and other involved […]

Videos to Teach Students 5 Foundational Mental Health Skills

The California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids project has produced an evidence-based video series with accompanying study guides. There are introductory videos for caregivers and educators, and videos to teach young people five clinically proven mental health skills. Our youth has never needed these foundational mental health skills more than they do right now.

Five topics are treated, each with multiple videos and supporting materials. Those topics are: Understanding Feelings, Understanding Thoughts, Relaxation Skills, Managing Intense Emotions, and Mindfulness. All videos and supporting materials are available in English and Spanish.

Want to know more, and how to access each of the video sets in either language? Come here and read all about it!

How Right Now Partner Toolkit

How Right Now is an initiative to address people’s feelings of grief, loss, and worry during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to increase people’s ability to adapt and be resilient during this time.

The initiative’s Partner Toolkit provides materials tailored for use with specific audiences and communities (people ages 65 and over; caregivers; people with pre-existing mental health or physical conditions; those experiencing violence; and those experiencing economic distress). Among the materials you’ll find in the toolkit are sharable graphics to promote the How Right Now initiative and website; graphics that illustrate simple ways to support emotional well-being; and a launch video featuring how people are coping during the pandemic. A Spanish version of the toolkit is available, too! Find out more here.

Angry Kids: Dealing With Explosive Behavior

(Available in English and Spanish) | Useful to Parent Center for sharing with parents, childhood care providers, and others. When a child—even a small child—melts down and becomes aggressive, he can pose a serious risk to himself and others, including parents and siblings. It’s not uncommon for kids who have trouble handling their emotions to […]

Basic Information about Trauma

A resource collection compiled by and for Parent Centers. Coordinated by the Region 2 Parent Technical Assistance Center @ ECAC September 2018 The contents of this page will help Parent Centers, families, and others build their knowledge base and understanding of what trauma is, what kinds of trauma there are, and how it affects children in […]

Responding to Disasters

Helping Children Cope and Children with Special Healthcare Needs in Emergencies | Spanish

(2018, June) | Spanish | Useful to Parent Centers and other service organizations working with Spanish-speaking families to prepare for or recover from a natural disaster or other emergency. These two resources comes from the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) and the Children’s Preparedness Unit and focus on helping parents, caregivers, and […]

Roadmap to Behavioral Health: A Guide to Using Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and SAMHSA just released a publication entitled Roadmap to Behavioral Health: A Guide to Using Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services. The Roadmap is designed to serve as a behavioral health resource for consumers and offers important information about mental health and substance use disorder services. It includes definitions of behavioral health terms and guidance on how to find a behavioral health services provider, receive treatment, and obtain follow-up care.

There’s also a companion guide, Roadmap to Better Care and a Healthier You, which explains what health coverage is and how to use it to get primary care and preventive services. The companion roadmap is available in English, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Haitian-Creole, Vietnamese, and Korean. There is also a Tribal version.

Connect with all of these resources here.

Guide to Helping Children Cope After a Traumatic Event

(2015) | Useful to Parent Centers serving families coping with trauma. Available in multiple languages. Communities around the world have been shocked by increasingly frequent reports of violence – in Paris, Nigeria, San Bernadino, and elsewhere. These events are hard even for adults to comprehend and, sadly, we can’t shield our children from pain and fear […]