Children's Mental Health: Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of this Series!

If you missed part 1 you can read it here.

I told you all in part 1 that I would be talking about lack of acknowledgment as part of a struggle with children's mental health.

I briefly spoke about families not acknowledging children's mental health until it involves social security benefits but I want to continue the conversation about family here and tomorrow we will move on to school.

A lot of the mindset that I have seen with Black Families when it comes to children's mental health is that they are just being lazy or this extreme fear of the children becoming dependent on meds.

So, we have the families like we discussed yesterday that enable their children with this check and now we have to discuss the families that completely ignore the issues.

There are many different reasons that parents/guardians hesitate to seek mental health assistance - it may be fear, it may be not understanding mental health, it may even be a "we're not claiming that" mentality - all understandable. There are tons of historical reasons for all of this but that's another post.

However, it is okay to admit that your child is struggling. Would you rather get your child help or allow them to continue to suffer because of your fears?

Many parents do not seek help because they fear their child getting put on medications which is a valid concern. Medications are not always necessary so do not let that deter you from seeking help. There are other ways to manage mental health symptoms without medications that can be used first. However, medications are not necessarily a bad thing either. If that is what is going to help, it is okay. In some circumstances they can be weened off, it is a matter of communicating with the prescriber and knowing that person has your child's best interest at heart.

It is okay to get help. Let's discuss your concerns together - get on my calendar here.