As millions of kids across America begin the journey back to the classroom over the next month, an often quiet enemy is the Anxiety that many face. In normal circumstances this is common, but with the current state of our social experience, school shootings, political and financial unrest, natural disasters etc. It is important that parents feel quipped to set their kids up for a successful start to a new year. Most teens get a little anxious about starting school. A certain amount of school-related anxiety can be common for teens. But when nervousness crosses over into full-fledged anxiety in school, teens need extra support.

Whether you’re a teacher or a parent, you must remember not to make children passive subjects of your measures. They are likely to be living with their mental or neurological health for the rest of their lives, and it’s important to both their wellbeing and self-esteem that they can gain ownership of their neurology. There needs to be a focus on keeping children involved with your planning and strategies throughout their formative years. 

Mental illness is not a roadblock to a successful or fulfilling life. However, an undiagnosed mental illness can stall or steal the opportunity to live your desired life.

I wish I could tell you this scenario is uncommon. But it's not.

According to statistics, 48.6% of adolescents may experience a mental health crisis. Additionally, 60-70% of children and teens get no help with their mental health problems at a sufficiently early age.

Mental health issues are becoming more common in children and adolescents in the US. Thus children and adolescents should learn about mental health in school. Here are a few reasons mental health awareness should be a priority in every school.

Most parents of teenagers have probably heard the term Social Emotional Learning (SEL) at some point in your journey with your son and daughter through school. Though not a new theory, not originally called SEL, but was the topic of an extensive medical study at Yale University in the 1960’s researching "the contrast between a child's experiences at home and those in school deeply affects the child's psychosocial development and that this in turn shapes academic achievement."

Despite increased focus on the importance of mental health, many myths still exist about what mental illness is and what it looks like.

When a loved one is grieving a death, often its difficult to know what to say or do. A pretty normal response is to just say nothing at all out of fear to say the wrong thing. But saying nothing can often reinforce the isolation that accompanies grieving.

Studies show today’s teens suffer more from anxiety and stress than any American generation before them. Think about that. That’s a lot to say considering American teens survived world wars, the depression and such. Therefore, relaxation skills for teens are essential.

Youth sports can have a significant positive impact on their well-being. Not only do sports reduce stress, they also give teens ways to bond and practice collaboration, while reaping the physical and mental health benefits of exercising. Sports can boost self-esteem, build teamwork skills, and help young people build a close community of peers and supportive adults, of the most important resource for anyone with a mental health condition .

Stigma is everywhere: the bus, radio, TV, or on the internet. With the growing nature of anonymity online and people feeling they’d be “too sensitive” to call others out, it may seem difficult to be able to dissect what can be contributing to the overall general “stigma” of said topics.

Helping someone with depression can be a challenge. If someone in your life has depression, you may feel helpless and wonder what to do. Learn how to offer support and understanding and how to help your loved one get the resources to cope with depression. Here's what you can do.

A Complex PTSD Poem

We all have a different capacity for stress and our own emotional capacity will change over time. However, what is important is how we manage our stress levels to prevent ever reaching full emotional capacity.

At your wits end? Cant take it anymore? Under the pressure? All of us experience stress. What do you do to relieve the stress? Here are 10 things our team came up with to reduce stress so you can enjoy your awesome life! Let us know what you do?

If one of our friends, family members, students, or coworkers has been grieving a suicide, we might be unsure of how we can best support them. Helping a friend through grief is hard, and often we’ll keep coming back to the thought: ‘I don’t know what to say or do’. We want to offer you a few steps you can take to be a friend and a support:

When young people ask hard questions surrounding mental health, we might not know how to answer them all. Here are some examples of difficult questions I’ve been asked with some brief answers. Hopefully, the next time a young person asks us a similar thing, we’ll have a head-start on thinking of an answer.