Understanding Mental Health

Mental health encompasses a person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being which significantly impacts how people think, feel, and behave. Mental health influences how people cope with stress, manage relationships, and make choices.

What is Mindfulness?

There are many definitions of mindfulness but essentially mindfulness is being aware of or bringing awareness to the moment in time, deliberately and without judging the experience. It is all about being in the moment or being in the now.

Benefits:

There are many physical and psychological benefits of practicing mindfulness. Most common are:

Increased experience of calm and relaxation
Higher levels of energy
Increased self confidence and self acceptance
Reduces stress, anxiety and depression
Improved focus and attention
Enhances emotional regulation

Illustration of head as flower pot symbolizing mental growth

Strategies:

Person practicing deep breathing illustration

Breathing is an essential component of mindfulness and there are many ways to practice mindful breathing. One simple way is by using the Just Breathe 4/7/8 technique.

Exhale completely.

Inhale through your nose on a count of FOUR.

Hold your breath for a count of SEVEN.

Exhale audibly through your mouth on a count of EIGHT.

Repeat the steps above four times!

Just Breathe

Bunny Breathing

Candle and Flower Breathing

Mindful Breathing Meditation Relieve Stress

Parents & SEL Skills

Parents can help foster SEL learning by creating a supportive environment for open communication and by actively engaging in promoting empathy, self-awareness ad responsible decision making. Below are a few simple yet impactful techniques:

Practice active listening

Pay close attention to your teen's words and bidy language and respond thoughtfully.

Encourage emotional awareness

Help your teen to identify and name their emotions, validate their feelings even if you do agree with their reactions.

Gratitude exercises

Encourage your teen to practice gratitude by writing down things they are thankful for.

Journaling

You and your teen can keep individual journals to express thoughts and emotions.

Have open conversations about consequences

Discuss the positive and the negative of certain behaviors by using personal scenarios

Helpful Resources:

Books:

Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett
The Miracle Morning for Parents & Families by Hal Erod & Mike & Lindsay McCarthy
Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement, and more by Mallika Chopra
The Mindfulness Journal for Teens by Jennie Marie Battistin