What kids can do to prepare for school and improve their mental health
August 26, 2024
Amairani Hernandez | CALÓ News
To improve the mental health of Latino youth, AltaMed is working with the Latino community to educate them about their mental health and how to help decrease stigma.
Depression is the most debilitating health issue in the Latino community, according to a NoStigmas report. The CDC also reported that about 4,330 Latino people of all ages died by suicide in 2019. Among those, 2.32%, or 481 people, were younger than 19.
Returning to school after a summer break or after an extended period of remote learning can be stressful for students. Many children get nervous about unknown situations. Mayra Chavez, Clinical Supervisor for AltaMed’s School Based Programs said that there’s a lot of things parents can do to help emotionally prepare their children to go back to school.
“One of the first things that I would recommend is communicating and talking to their kids about what they're feeling, helping them express their feelings and then having them sort of hear, what is it that they're worried about with regards to going back to school and that way they can kind of problem solve together and then the parents understand what are the concerns that their children are having,” Chavez said. “Another thing that parents can do is also validate their kids' emotions, validate their nervousness or their excitement or the mix of emotions so that the kids understand how they're feeling is normal.”
Continue reading HERE.
Amairani Hernandez | CALÓ News
To improve the mental health of Latino youth, AltaMed is working with the Latino community to educate them about their mental health and how to help decrease stigma.
Depression is the most debilitating health issue in the Latino community, according to a NoStigmas report. The CDC also reported that about 4,330 Latino people of all ages died by suicide in 2019. Among those, 2.32%, or 481 people, were younger than 19.
Returning to school after a summer break or after an extended period of remote learning can be stressful for students. Many children get nervous about unknown situations. Mayra Chavez, Clinical Supervisor for AltaMed’s School Based Programs said that there’s a lot of things parents can do to help emotionally prepare their children to go back to school.
“One of the first things that I would recommend is communicating and talking to their kids about what they're feeling, helping them express their feelings and then having them sort of hear, what is it that they're worried about with regards to going back to school and that way they can kind of problem solve together and then the parents understand what are the concerns that their children are having,” Chavez said. “Another thing that parents can do is also validate their kids' emotions, validate their nervousness or their excitement or the mix of emotions so that the kids understand how they're feeling is normal.”
Continue reading HERE.