Weekly Five: Mental Health Awareness

Weekly 5 graphic/photo

Mental Health Awareness Week is May 4-8 and is the perfect opportunity for students, staff and families to take care of each other and practice self-care. With the current changes in our world, it is common to experience a myriad of emotions. The loss of normalcy and connection, along with possible economic and health concerns can result in children, teens and adults feeling some degree of grief – a sense of loss and sadness. It’s important to acknowledge these feelings, while learning ways to manage them and to potentially find meaning in them. The weekly 5 this week focuses on Mental Health Awareness tips. 

  1. Look for signs. Everyone responds differently to stressful situations. For signs of mental health distress look for excessive worry, irritability, avoiding distance learning or other activities, unhealthy eating or disruptive sleeping habits. 

  2. Check-in. Support your children by checking in and asking how they are feeling.  Also check-in with friends and family members by connecting with them via social media, telephone, email, mail, text messages and video chat.  

  3. Find coping strategies. Try to keep up with regular routines, take breaks from watching the news, exercise, eat healthy and try deep breathing techniques.

  4. IUSD resources. IUSD mental health and wellness staff is here to support our students.  For more information about mental health and wellness resources, including staff contacts by school site, services, tips for coping with stress and for talking with kids and teens, and more. Visit https://bit.ly/2YcWloq.

  5. Community mental health resources. Access your regular mental health provider for support. If you are in need of alternatives, go to iusd.org/covid19 for more information. 

For more tips and information go to iusd.org/covid19.