Helping Kids Battle for Mental Health (Guest: Mike Bushman)

LISTEN to an excellent interview with Mike Bushman on The Changing  Behavior Network [link].

 

There is so much I know today that I wish I understood as a 15-year-old sitting on railroad tracks in my hometown, borrowed weapon in hand, trying to generate what I thought was courage to end my pain. Fortunately, I decided that night to give it one more chance. Thirty-five years later, my two college-age children, wife of 26 years, successful career and new writing endeavor remind me how fortunate I am to still be here.

I can’t share what I know today with my younger self, so I share what I’ve learned with others at that early, sometimes painful, stage of life. I also think it’s critical to help parents understand important roles they can play in helping children through the roughest of months and years. The following three actions stand out as particularly critical to my recovery.

Help Your Child Recognize What Makes Them Special

An important point in my healing came from a youth group exercise (attended at my mother’s intense insistence) in which we went around the room and shared something we liked about each person. I was stunned and moved that others saw good in me that I couldn’t see in myself. Ask your children to tell you what they believe are their greatest abilities. If they can’t see any value in themselves, you have reason to be concerned. Recognize their strengths and validate their importance to the world, even if these strengths are very different from yours.

Find Out What Your Child Needs and Change YOUR Routines to Help

Coping mechanisms to fight mental health challenges often involve behavioral change. Healthier diets provide the nutrients many of us need for proper brain function. If that’s the case for your child, adjust your family diet as well as the food kept in the house. Exposure to outdoor elements is nourishing for many individuals. If exercise and outdoor activity lift your child’s mood, build it into your family’s routine. Sleep deprevation and addictions easily can deter mental health improvement. Remove access to substances and distractions from sleep.

Be Available for Kids Who Aren’t Your Own

I found it easier to open up to other adults than to discuss some issues with my parents. Discussions with other adults were lifesavers. Kind words can make an incredible difference to a troubled teen. Just after the night where I took that weapon to the tracks, someone I only knew casually praised work I had done. It was said with enough sincerity that I actually believed the compliment. Do that for your children, of course, but do it for others as well. Besides, you never know when others you influence will be important sources of support to your family.

There are many great resources, including throughout The Changing Behavior Network, to assist parents in aiding children facing mental health challenges. You should also encourage local schools to create forums for mental health discussions aimed at reaching students who need hope that their pain isn’t permanent, knowledge that coping strategies can help, and proof that a happy life is possible.

Read, listen and engage as as aggressively as you would act if you had a child battling cancer. It can be a matter of death, or successful life. ###

 

 

Following a successful career in the political and corporate environments, Mike Bushman retired to return his first passion: writing. He has written two successful novels followed by a recent novella, Suicide Escape. Every page in this captivating story carries a message deeply felt and shared by Mike. [website]

				Future-focused Solutions: Looking Past Today’s DivideMike Bushman offers fresh solutions to lingering challenges
				View on www.mbushman.com	Preview by Yahoo

James D. Sutton, EdD, CSP

Consulting Psychologist/Certified Speaking Professional
PO Box 672, Pleasanton, TX 78064
(830) 569-3586 Email

Stepfamilies: Blessing the Blending (Guest: Valerie J. Lewis Coleman)

NOTE: This post announces a 25:26 minute talk radio interview with Valerie on The Changing Behavior Network [Interview with Valerie J. Lewis Coleman].
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Anyone, parent, child or teen, who has ever been part of a blended family knows there often are difficulties and obstacles to making a stepfamily work as as it should. Discouragement mingled with frustration shouldn’t be the name of the game, but often it is. The job of drawing together a family across multiple households is a challenge not suited to the weak of heart or spirit.

But it CAN be done, according to our guest on this program, Valerie J. Lewis Coleman. She has, as they say, “Been there!” Faced with the struggle to parent five children from three different households, Valerie was often overwhelmed, almost to the point of giving up.

Looking back on those struggles, Valerie shares how her experiences of heartaches, frustrations and sleepless nights were but the labor pangs required to birth her passion to help others stop what she calls the “Stepfamily Maddness.” From her own journey, plus the experiences and contributions of others going through similar circumstances, Valerie compiled and edited a book, Blended Families: An Anthology. This work, and the wisdom gleaned from its pages, well-represent this topic of blended families.

With over 20 years of experience in families and relationships, Valerie has given advice on varying stepfamily issues, including Baby-Mamma Drama, defiant children and a really tough one: disapproving in-laws. Also, as an established author in her own right, Valerie encourages and trains new authors through her publishing company, Pen of the Writer.

www.PenoftheWriter.net

 

To listen as Dr. Sutton interviews Valerie J. Lewis Coleman, click this [Interview with Valerie J. Lewis Coleman].

James D. Sutton, EdD, CSP

Consulting Psychologist/Certified Speaking Professional
PO Box 672, Pleasanton, TX 78064
(830) 569-3586 Email