BENEFITS OF MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORTS ON YOUTH
What is Mental Health?
- Includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
- Affects how we think, feel, and act.
- Helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.
- Mental health is important at every stage of life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUF5EmRsjBE&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax-h2Mi1GJE&t=4s
Why is Mental Health Important?
- When we are mentally healthy, we enjoy our life and environment, and the people in it.
- Nurturing our mental health can also help us combat or prevent the mental health problems that are sometimes associated with a chronic physical illness.
- Managing stress well can have a positive impact on heart disease
Mental Health Stigma
- The lives of people with mental health conditions are often plagued by stigma as well as discrimination.
- Stigma is the negative stereotype and discrimination is the behaviour that results from this negative stereotype
- Individuals with a mental illness are faced with multiple, intersecting layers of discrimination as a result of their mental illness and their identity
Benefits of mental health support for youth
- Promote psychological well-being
- Protecting adolescents from adverse experiences and risk factors
- Strengthen an individual's capacity to: regulate emotions, enhance alternatives to risk-taking behaviors, build resilience for difficult situations and adversities, and promote supportive social environments and social networks.
Mental Health and Human Trafficking
Possible psychological effects of human trafficking include:
- Depression
- Anxiety disorders, including panic disorder
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Substance use and disorders
- Shame and guilt
- Alienation and isolation from social supports
- Thoughts of suicide
- Identity confusion
The risk of developing a mental health disorder is influenced by many factors:
- Past experience of trauma/abuse
- Duration of exploitation
- Violence
- Restrictions on movement while being trafficked
- Greater number of unmet needs
- Lower levels of support following trafficking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ju2G3KtKNA&t=3s
Resources for youth mental health
When to Ask for Support
Contact a mental health agency if you or someone you know needs help for a child or youth with behavioral, emotional and/or mental health and addiction issues. This includes:
- Anxiety
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD)
- Depression and other mood disorders
Helplines: In the event of an emergency, please call 911 or go to your nearest hospital or emergency department.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact any of the following services
