Providing mental health services in an academic setting can help support students.Providing mental health services in an academic setting can increase accessibility to services and support the occupation of learning. Based on information from the CDC, depression, anxiety, behavior problems, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are the most common mental health issues for school-aged children. Data from a 2019 survey found that of adolescents 12-17 … [Read more...]
Helping Patients in Pursuit of Happiness
What is happiness? Imagine the following scenario. A patient comes to see a practitioner complaining of depression. Using solution-based counseling, the practitioner asks a theoretical question. “If you woke up tomorrow and your depression was magically gone, how would your life be different?” The patient replies, “I would be happy.” “I can help you become less depressed, but I can’t make you happy,” the practitioner says. “Only you can do … [Read more...]
Mental Health and Well-Being for All
In a world divided, World Mental Health Day offers a chance to reconnect and focus on mental health and well-being.The scars left in the wake of the pandemic run more than skin deep. Two years of isolation and uncertainty have exacted a toll, and the world has paid it in increased rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. A second, quieter pandemic In the United States, over 52.9 million adults and 7.7 million adolescents experienced … [Read more...]
Caring for the Caregivers: Mental Health Care for Healthcare Professionals
As COVID-19 moves from pandemic to endemic, mental health care for healthcare professionals is more critical than ever before.Healthcare professionals have long been among the occupational groups most at risk for anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and even suicide. These same healthcare workers have been on the front lines since Day One of the coronavirus pandemic, caring for patients in overwhelming numbers and seeing trauma, despair, … [Read more...]
Students’ Mental Health and the Long Shadows of the Pandemic
The pandemic left virtually no part of society untouched.Beyond the death toll, COVID-19 interrupted everyday routines across the globe, with devastating emotional, economic, and psychological consequences. In the U.S., school-age children were among those hardest hit by these changes. Though the full extent of the damage COVID-19 inflicted on the population won’t be known for decades, recent research has begun to pull back the curtain and reveal the … [Read more...]
Supporting Healthcare Professionals’ Mental Health
Finding mental health support for healthcare professionals, however, has proven to be a challenge.We applauded them from the rooftops, made viral videos to express our gratitude, and threw endless pizza parties. The nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, and other healthcare professionals who stepped up during the course of the pandemic were nothing short of heroic — but that heroism wasn’t without cost. The mental, physical, and emotional burdens … [Read more...]