Innovations in Behavioral Healthcare
 http://foundationsevents.com/counselortoolbox
 Meetup Thursday June 20th at 6pm at Merridee's
Breadbasket
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20 Ways to Nurture
Children’s Mental Health
Instructor: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes
Executive Director: AllCEUs Counselor Education
Host: Counselor Toolbox Podcast
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Objectives
 Identify what children need for good mental
health
 Identify 25 ways to nurture children’s mental
health
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Children’s Mental Health
 Children need to feel
 Safe
 Emotionally
 Physically
 Competent (efficacy)
 Able to succeed in school
 Able to succeed in managing emotions
 Able to succeed at …
 Confident (esteem)
 Lovable for who they are
 That they belong
How does NOT feeling these contribute to mental health issues?
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Physical
 Sleep and Sunlight
 Help set your circadian rhythms and vice versa
 Circadian rhythms regulate (feeding, sleeping, stress) hormones
 Lack of sleep  fatigue, irritability, low distress tolerance, poor
concentration
 Sunlight produces far more bioavailable vitamin D
 How much?
 3-6 Years Old: 10 - 12 hours per day (8p-6a)
 7-12 Years Old: 9 - 11 hours per day (9p-6a)
 12-18 Years Old: 8 – 10 hours per day (10p-6a)
 Create a sleep routine
 Evaluate sleep hygiene AllCEUs.com/sleep
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• National Sleep
Foundation
• WebMD
How can this help
youth feel safe,
confident and
competent in school,
relationships,
activities?

Physical
 Eliminate Caffeine
 Caffeine stimulates the HPA-Axis leading to a perpetual state of stress
 Caffeine has a half-life of 5-8 hours
 Chronic caffeine intake
 Has been shown to increase serotonin and acetylcholine and inhibits
the release of GABA, which contributes to our feeling of alertness.
 Reduces the number of active receptors (tolerance)
 When it is stopped, the brain’s abundant supply of happy chemicals is
abruptly cut off and the person feels depressed.
 Reduces cofactors necessary for neurotransmitter synthesis
 Inhibits the absorption of iron and B-vitamins involved with the
synthesis of serotonin, dopamine and GABA
 People often use caffeine to compensate for inadequate sleep
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https://www.precisi
onnutrition.com/cof
fee-and-hormones

Physical
 Nutrition
 Provides the building blocks to make neurotransmitters responsible for
mood, motivation, libido, concentration and energy.
 Maintains a healthy gut microbiome to help produce 80% of the
neurotransmitters and prevent leaky gut (AllCEUs.com/gut)
 Deficits of specific nutrients (i.e., vitamins A, B6, B12, C, folate, iron,
zinc, and calcium) are associated with lower grades (CDC)
 Interventions
 Involve youth in creating a weekly menu
 Encourage maintenance of an online food diary
 Eat colorfully (Yellow, Red, Green, Blue/Purple/Black, Brown)
 Start a hydroponic (or regular garden)
 Keep fruits and chopped vegetables easily accessible
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How can this help
youth feel safe,
confident and
competent in school,
relationships,
activities?

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Physical
 Exercise
 Higher physical activity and physical fitness levels are associated
with improved concentration and memory.
 Time spent in recess has been shown to positively affect students’
attention, concentration and classroom behaviors
 Consider the motivation of behaviors
 Brief classroom physical activity breaks (i.e., 5-10 minutes) are
associated with improved attention, concentration, on-task
behavior, and educational outcomes
 How much
 Children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 years should do 60
minutes (1 hour) or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
daily. (moderate=50-70% of max HR, vigorous =70-85% max HR)
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• Bike riding (incl.
stationary)
• Basketball/sockball
• Walking
• Balloon toss
• Tag
• Dancing
• Obstacle course (in
or out)
• Mini trampoline
• More…

Physical
 Relaxation and Recreation
 Many youth get up, go to school, come home, do homework
until 8 or 9 o’clock then go to bed with little time for true
relaxation.
 Relaxation is the state of being free from psychological and
muscle tension
 Techniques to calm the HPA-Axis and Teach Self-Regulation
 Guided Imagery (even to space)
 Yoga, Tai Chi
 Progressive Muscular Relaxation
 Deep breathing
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Physical
 Screen for
 Autism: 1:59 (CDC)
 Developmental Delays: Cognitive, social and emotional, speech
and language, fine and gross motor
 Learning disabilities impact up to 10% of children
 AD/HD
 Must watch for differential dx Asperger's Disorder, and Other
Common Misdiagnoses and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children
 Mood disorders (NIMH) Depression 3%; Anxiety 8%; PTSD 4%
 Thyroid Disorders
 4.6% of the U.S. population age 12 and older has hypothyroidism
 Hypothyroidism is one of the most common causes of
intellectual disability
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Environmental
 Help children learn
 Identify how they learn best and teach them how to modify
their learning
 Auditory/Visual/Kinesthetic
 Reflective/Active
 Apply what they learn to things that are important or useful
to them
 Newton’s laws
 Biology and the NWF
 Nutrition and broken bones
 Hand washing and staying healthy
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Environmental
 Structure and Limits
 Let children know you care
 Help children learn to self regulate
 Create consistency and predictability in a sometimes
chaotic world
 Interventions
House/Class Rules (Bring/Make rules list for vacation)
Review rules regularly (before getting out at the park or
at grandma’s)
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Environmental- ACES
 Reduce exposure to:
 Direct or indirect physical, verbal or sexual abuse or neglect
 Family members with addictions or mental health issues
 Caregiver loss
 Interventions
 Self care
 Regularly discuss children’s feelings and thoughts if a family
member has a mental illness
 Connect with children daily, even if from a distance
 Military---write letters ahead of time and give them to
stateside partner to give to children each day/week
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Environmental
 Safety—Emotional and Physical
 Ensure children’s environments are:
Free from threats to their physical safety
Free from bullying or verbal abuse
Rich with images (social media, television, music, posters
etc.) that help them feel safe, special and included
 Dr. Seuss Oh The Places You’ll Go
 The Middle by Jimmy Eat World; Confident by Demi Lovato
 Inclusive television shows
 Adults in the environments need to be responsive to
the needs of children
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Environmental
 Safety—from Internal Critic
 Teach children about negative self-talk
 Do not model negative self talk or use global criticism
 Teach children to:
Separate fact and feeling based reasoning
 I feel stupid therefore I am stupid
Focus on objective facts
Identify and address things over which they have control
Develop skills to accept that which they have no control
over.
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Interpersonal
 Attention and Unconditional Positive Regard
 Unconditional positive regard for who they are as
people, not what they do
 Authentic praise and genuine interest (They can tell)
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Interpersonal
 Communication Skills
 Assertiveness
 Role play
 Insist on using the I feel ___ because ____ with objective
language
 I feel angry because you won’t let me stay out after midnight.
 I hear you are frustrated and I realize it seems unfair,
however, I believe that it is important that you get adequate
sleep and you can see your friends tomorrow.
 Effective listening (paraphrasing)
 Do not just ask “Do you understand?”
 Insist on eye contact
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Interpersonal
 Healthy Boundaries
 Are critical for healthy relationships, increasing self- esteem and
reducing stress, anxiety and depression.
 Boundaries set a clear line between what is you and what is not you.
 Help people not get drained by always giving, being unable to say no
and seeking approval from others
 Emotional
 Taking responsibility for other’s feelings and problems (Not my circus)
 Letting other people’s feelings dictate your own
 Sacrificing your own needs to please
 Blaming others for your problems
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Interpersonal
 Ask for Help
 Social support is one of the greatest buffers against stress
 Help can come in the form of encouragement, empathy or
assistance
 Asking for help does not represent weakness
 Encourage children to ask for help when needed
 Help children learn how to find appropriate assistance
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Interpersonal
 Appreciation of Individual Differences
 Temperament: Help them synergize
E/I (People and environment)
S/N (Conceptualization)
T/F (Motivation)
J/P (Time management)
 Talents
Public speaking
Sports/physical activities
Science and math
Art
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Emotional
 Mindfulness and Emotion Identification
 Children who can identify vulnerabilities and emotions can
intervene before they enter the red zone.
 Mindfulness activities
 Model emotional vocabulary with the “I am feeling ____ because” to
help children not personalize and become learn to use feeling words
 Prompt mindfulness-- “It seems like you are not happy. What is
going on?” “I am ____ because ____”
 Body scan (Energy, sleep, appetite, pain/discomfort, urges)
 Many children somaticize their emotions
 Encourage visual, olfactory, auditory triggers for happiness
 Make a collage of “Things that make me happy”
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Emotional
 Distress Tolerance
 Tests, doctor’s visits, break-ups, not getting
asked to a dance, someone being mean
 Help children learn to wait to act in their wise
mind
 Make a list (poster) of distraction options
 Activities (coloring, watching fish, talking,
tearing/shredding)
 Opposite emotions (do something that makes
them happy)
 Push it away (Write it down and put it away,
throw a bunch of balls)
 Sensations (Catharsis, ice, wall sits, splash cold
water)
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Distract
Don’t
React

Cognitive
 Problem Solving
 Children who can solve their own problems feel much more
empowered.
 Use scaffolding to help them solve real-world dilemmas
 What is the problem?
 Janie and I got into a fight.
 I do poorly on my tests because I get so nervous
 What are possible solutions?
 Stop being friends, continue to be friends, become frenemies
 Drop out of school, learn to manage my anxiety, get
accommodations
 What are possible interventions for the solution you want? …
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Cognitive
 Self-Efficacy by experiencing success
 Teach them how to set SMART goals
Overall goal: Be class valedictorian
Specific: Get a A in chemistry
Measurable: Yes
Achievable: Yes but I will need to set aside 1 hour a night
to study and get afterschool assistance from my teacher
Relevant: Yes
Time Limited: Yes. 1 semester
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Cognitive
 Psychological Flexibility
 What kind of person am I (values worksheet)
 What does it mean to be…compassionate, loyal, creative
 Do one thing each day that is…
 Who and what is important to me
 Family
 Reputation/popularity
 Friends (which ones)
 Work/School (GPA)
 Activity (football, band, piano, tae kwondo)
 How do I feel right now and why. (Angry because I don’t want to
study. Embarrassed because Sally posted a photoshopped pic of me)
 How could I solve this problem in a way that will help me get closer
to what is important to me.
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Cognitive
 Cognitive Distortions
 All or Nothing
 Find exceptions or solutions
 Fallacy of Fairness
 You may not have caused it, but you have to fix it.
 Use psych. flex to address the effectiveness of staying angry.
 Magnification—Mountains from molehills
 Evaluate the facts
 Minimization of the positive
 Remember the positive things
 Personalization
 What parts were your responsibility
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Cognitive
 Learned Optimism
 We are wired to pay more attention to the negative for
survival
 This leads to a negative outlook
 This prompts us to be more aware of the negative things that
happen and interpret events with a negative filter.
 Interventions
 Positive journaling
 Dialectics
 Living in the AND
 Gratitude Wall
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Cognitive
 Self Esteem
 Radical acceptance of strengths and weaknesses
Unconditional positive regard
Attention and authentic praise
 Appreciation for synergy
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Summarize
 Help children prevent vulnerabilities and enhance
mental health by
 Helping them address cognitive and emotional issues
 Ensuring they have a safe environment
 Teaching them healthy interpersonal skills so they can
get support when needed and prevent getting burned
out
 Children need to feel like they are loved, they
belong and they are capable at home, school and
in relationships
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