Thursday, January 23, 2020

Want to know how you can help when mental illness happens to someone you care about?

 Tara Rolstad on Openness, Connection, and Hope  ,  T
Want to know how you can help when mental illness happens to someone you care about? 

What was that this current Contact professional mental health speaker Tara Rolstad at TaraRolstad.com! Transcript    so what do you do when you have  identified a child in a family that is  struggling with mental health issues how  do you help with the resources that you  have available for that matter what do  you do if you find out your own child's  best friend is in the psych unit or a  co-worker is struggling with severe  anxiety or a friend is having suicidal  thoughts well on a community level  hopefully you're already having regular  meetings about mental health you're  having conferences and parent education  events on the topic you're talking to  kids about mental health health frequently and  often and you're teaching them coping  and regulation skills and you have a  ready list of resources and support  groups for parents on a personal level  we need to remember that it's not our  job to fix it any more than we would try  to fix a heart attack our job is to be  open provide connection and hope the  first and probably the most important  thing that you can do for any family in  this situation is listen just listen  honestly a parent who is going through  this experience is probably scared  they're exhausted they have no idea how  to find their child help or their lives  have become consumed by the help that  they have found and that help isn't  helping they're questioning their  parenting skills they desperately need  someone to tell them that they're a good  mom or dad and they just need someone to  hear them of course if you mentioned  self-care I have to warn you they might  punch you but practice your  bob-and-weave because it's worth it they  don't know how important it is they're  not taking care of themselves and  honestly listening cannot be  underestimated in its power and value  one of the most important things for me  was just knowing that I could talk  openly about what we were going through  without judgment or fear that I could  talk about it to people at work at  people at church to other moms I was  really struggling to parent a mentally  ill teenager and little  kids at the same time and sometimes I  just couldn't participate in normal mom  conversation I would walk down every  afternoon to the elementary school to  pick up the little ones and they'd want  to stay and play on the playground so I  would stand around with the other moms  and they'd be talking about fractions  and potty training and I'd really want  to talk about fractions and potty  training but I couldn't because I was up  in my head worrying about what do I do  that giant stash of pills I just found  in Kim's nightstand I mean I knew that  the stash of pills meant two things it  meant she was preparing for another  overdose attempt and it meant she was  off her medication so do I tell her I  found the pills or just take the pills  and don't tell her I found the pills do  I take the pills and put them all back  in the little pill bottles because  they're expensive and you don't want to  be wasteful I couldn't flush the pills  cuz I'm from Oregon and that's bad for  the environment I couldn't talk about  fractions or the science fair but it was  okay because there were a few moms on  that playground at that time who knew  just enough about what we were going  through that if I couldn't talk it was  okay they were there with hugs and with  tears and if I could talk they listened  and sometimes when they did talk I over  shared and I'm sure they had no idea to  what to do with that but it was okay  because they were there for me it was  enough in fact it was everything  remember  awkward silence how cool would it be if  instead our friends and family members  when they told us about struggles with  mental health issues were met with  immediate comfort and love presence not  fixing or if they were met with offers  of things our communities already do  well things like meals or visits coffee  dates or connections with families  who've been down that road before I've  learned by walking through my family's  journey and by working with families and  shattering stigma conferences that when  we talk openly about mental health  people  experience tremendous gratitude that  we're even talking about it they also  learn more about different disorders  they learn more about the experiences of  family members in their struggles and  they gain confidence in talking about  / Mental Health Speaker Tara Rolstad on Openness, Connection, and Hope  views •Jun , SHARESAVE  Tara Rolstad  subscribers SUBSCRIBE Want to know how you can help when mental illness happens to someone you care about? Contact professional mental health speaker Tara Rolstad at TaraRolstad.com! SHOW MORE Transcript  so what do you do when you have  identified a child in a family that is  struggling with mental health issues how  do you help with the resources that you  have available for that matter what do  you do if you find out your own child's  best friend is in the psych unit or a  co-worker is struggling with severe  anxiety or a friend is having suicidal  thoughts well on a community level  hopefully you're already having regular  meetings about mental health you're  having conferences and parent education  events on the topic you're talking to  kids about mental health frequently and  often and you're teaching them coping  and regulation skills and you have a  ready list of resources and support  groups for parents on a personal level  we need to remember that it's not our  job to fix it any more than we would try  to fix a heart attack our job is to be  open provide connection and hope the  first and probably the most important  thing that you can do for any family in  this situation is listen just listen  honestly a parent who is going through  this experience is probably scared  they're exhausted they have no idea how  to find their child help or their lives  have become consumed by the help that  they have found and that help isn't  helping they're questioning their  parenting skills they desperately need  someone to tell them that they're a good  mom or dad and they just need someone to  hear them of course if you mentioned  self-care I have to warn you they might  punch you but practice your  bob-and-weave because it's worth it they  don't know how important it is they're  not taking care of themselves and  honestly listening cannot be  underestimated in its power and value  one of the most important things for me  was just knowing that I could talk  openly about what we were going through  without judgment or fear that I could  talk about it to people at work at  people at church to other moms I was  really struggling to parent a mentally  ill teenager and little  kids at the same time and sometimes I  just couldn't participate in normal mom  conversation I would walk down every  afternoon to the elementary school to  pick up the little ones and they'd want  to stay and play on the playground so I  would stand around with the other moms  and they'd be talking about fractions  and potty training and I'd really want  to talk about fractions and potty  training but I couldn't because I was up  in my head worrying about what do I do  that giant stash of pills I just found  in Kim's nightstand I mean I knew that  the stash of pills meant two things it  meant she was preparing for another  overdose attempt and it meant she was  off her medication so do I tell her I  found the pills or just take the pills  and don't tell her I found the pills do  I take the pills and put them all back  in the little pill bottles because  they're expensive and you don't want to  be wasteful I couldn't flush the pills  cuz I'm from Oregon and that's bad for  the environment I couldn't talk about  fractions or the science fair but it was  okay because there were a few moms on  that playground at that time who knew  just enough about what we were going  through that if I couldn't talk it was  okay they were there with hugs and with  tears and if I could talk they listened  and sometimes when they did talk I over  shared and I'm sure they had no idea to  what to do with that but it was okay  because they were there for me it was  enough in fact it was everything  remember  awkward silence how cool would it be if  instead our friends and family members  when they told us about struggles with  mental health issues were met with  immediate comfort and love presence not  fixing or if they were met with offers  of things our communities already do  well things like meals or visits coffee  dates or connections with families  who've been down that road before I've  learned by walking through my family's  journey and by working with families and  shattering stigma conferences that when  we talk openly about mental health  people  experience tremendous gratitude that  we're even talking about it they also  learn more about different disorders  they learn more about the experiences of  family members in their struggles and  they gain confidence in talking about  hard issues like suicide that's tangible  hope for families with mental illness  struggles   hard issues like suicide that's tangible  hope for families with mental illness  struggles  in your if she can go online and check

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