Articles

What Are the Most Common Mental Illnesses in Children?

Written in Partnership with In the City Camps: One in six youths, ages 6-17, experience a mental health disorder each year. Anxiety and depression are prevalent among children. Between 2016 and 2019, an estimated 9.4 percent of children from 3 years old to 17 (approximately 5.8 million) were diagnosed with anxiety and 4.4 percent (approximately 2.7 million) with depression.While we do not yet understand the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, we know it had a significant impact on children’s mental health. From March 2020 to October 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), emergency department visits for mental health crises increased 24 percent for children from 5 years old to 11 and 31 percent for those from 12 to 17 compared with the same period in 2019.

Articles

How Parents and Caregivers Can Support Their Kids’ Mental Wellness

Written in Partnership with In the City Camps: Helping your child develop good coping skills will benefit them throughout their life. Building strong coping skills is helpful for all children and especially for those navigating mental health challenges such as depression or anxiety. Here are some tips on fostering a supportive environment at home.

Articles

Five Ways to Foster a Young Person’s Mental Health

Written in Partnership with In the City Camps: Despite increased awareness of mental illness among their caregivers, many children and teens are still struggling with untreated or undertreated mental health issues, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Approximately 14 percent of 10- to 19-year-olds currently are experiencing a mental health condition such as depression and/or anxiety.

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Relationships in Treatment

Finding the right team is crucial in mental health treatment! But what does this even mean? It is essential to have support from positive relationships with therapists, psychiatrists, school, work and family members.

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Making An Emotions “Chavruta”

Psychotherapy, or “talk therapy,” is a primary treatment method for anxiety (National Institute of Mental Health). It involves discussing one’s worries in a directed manner with an expert to relieve anxiety. While “talk therapy” is practiced currently, Jewish tradition has long recommended a similar approach to alleviate mental distress.

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Mi Sheberach for Loneliness

Articles

A Story of Teenage Death by Suicide – Mental Health Awareness Month ’22

As Mental Health Awareness Month draws to a close, I think about my friends’ son who died by suicide a few weeks ago. He was 16. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, and my heart aches for my friends. This most awful of tragedies continuously haunts me. It’s impossible to imagine that someone who is 16—who has his whole life in front of him—could be in so much pain that he chooses to make such an irreversible decision...

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Is Virtual Therapy Here to Stay?

Is Virtual Therapy Here to Stay? A program recorded on 5.24.22 with the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies and JFS Houston.

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Taking “Pride” in Derech Eretz

Much progress has been made in the push for equal rights and inclusion in the LGBTQIA+ community; however, a great deal of work remains to be done. Nearly 75 percent of LGBTQIA+ youth surveyed in a recent study reported having faced discrimination based on their sexual orientation, and 42 percent reported seriously considering suicide in the past year (The Trevor Project)...