October ’17 Newsletter
Every month Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds & Director Susan Orban likes to connect you with current articles, events, and resources to help you keep your family healthy and informed!
For children over 6 months old
Ten things you should know about flu vaccinations for your child
Chances are you’ve had the flu during you’re lifetime, so you know how horrible it can be. The flu can be worse than a week in bed. According to the American Association of Pediatrics, at least 200,000 people – including kids – were hospitalized last year, and serious complications can occur.
healthychildren.org offers ten reasons why everyone (with some important exceptions) over the age of 6 months should be vaccinated now.
Among the 10:
1. Anyone at risk should be vaccinated, especially those with asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and weakened immune systems, for example. Out-of-home caregivers, too.
2. Get vaccinated right now! The flu season usually begins in the Fall.
6. You can still catch the flu (but not from the shot!), but the symptoms are likely to be a lot less severe.
8. The flu vaccine does not cause autism. The research is robust.
10 reasons why everyone over the age of 6 months should be vaccinated.
A loved one may be suffering. You can help.
Take a free Mental Health First Aid training on December 8 & 15 or a Youth Mental Health First Aid training on December 2 & 9
Truth is, you’re more likely to face a friend, colleague, or loved one in a mental health crisis than you are one who needs CPR.
And if you work with kids – as a counselor, educator, coach, juvenile officer, or the like – then you may be the first to note something different in their behavior.
Truth is, you’re more likely to face a friend, colleague, or loved one in a mental health crisis than you are one who needs CPR.
Consider, then, Mental Health First Aid training and its companion Youth Mental Health First Aid as your opportunity to help.
In two four-hour classes, you’ll learn how to identify when someone you know is struggling, the right questions to ask them (and yourself), how to stabilize the situation – if necessary – and when and how to refer them to professional services.
There are two trainings in December.
We’re offering a Youth Mental Health First Aid training at Westerly Hospital on two Saturdays, December 2 and 9, from 8 am-12:30 pm.
Our next Mental Health First Aid training is over two Fridays, December 8 and 15, 12:30-5 pm at South County Hospital.
South County Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds offers regular trainings for people who work with kids (Youth Mental Health First Aid), for all of us (Mental Health First Aid), and specialized suicide prevention (QPR). All are designed for non-mental health professionals.
Register for the December 2 & 9 Youth Mental Health First Aid training at Westerly Hospital. Contact Dr. Rob Harrison by email or at (401) 316-4134.
Register for the December 8 & 15 training at South County Hospital. Contact Donna Greene by email or at (401) 788-2371.
Help your teen like themselves
80% of us are nicer to others than we are to ourselves
But when they’re having a bad day, reports Dr. Karen Bluth in Greater Good Magazine, “They beat themselves up [with self criticism].” Many or most of us are there for our friends when they have a bad day, and that goes for teens, too.
Bluth continues, “Self-compassion [could] have a protective effect against trauma, peer victimization, depression and self-harm, and low self-esteem.” Caring about themselves could help fight the depression and, more worrisome, the suicidal tendencies that our teens are experiencing.
Read How to Help Teens Become More Self Compassionate.
Chocolate zucchini cupcakes? Porcupine sliders?
Involve your kids in choosing the menu and cooking the food. They’ll have fun (so will you) & they’ll eat healthier.
You’ve had nothing but battles with little Gertrude or young Isaac over trying some healthy foods. All of us parents have been there.
The good news is that you have some creative friends with tried-and-true ideas and resources. It might be smashing food (digitally) to see what it’s made of. A cookbook with recipes exclusively from 8-12 year olds. Gross-named foods (always a hit) like Porcupine Sliders. And videos for you on how to cook with your child.
Find all these resources on the Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds website.
