Can we talk about the mental health needs of the student body @MCPS?
The students will be asking for help today at the @mocoboe meeting. They’ve been asking for awhile. Why aren’t we listening?
Here’s a few points:
1. Services need to be accessible.
Mental health needs to be a priority and students need a safe space to process emotions
Students need to know what resources there are for mental health (better communication)
Invest in sports for mental health. @officiallyali is all about this
And finally, multiple @MCPS students and graduates have experienced tragic deaths this year, including via homicide, suicide, and overdose. The latter are what psychologists often refer to as “deaths of despair”
We need to be proactive, not reactive.
We need to do better. You don’t need to be a trained psychologist to help a student. Be real, be genuine, and develop that relationship. Connections matter
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First, it’s probably useful to talk about what the @TheLeaderinMe is. It is a SEL program based on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book, originally published in 1989, is a self help book designed to help people succeed. That’s right, it’s pop psychology.
I have a lot of concerns about the program, including that it frankly puts the most important “habit” last (Sharpen the Saw- this is the one about the importance of a work life balance). But that’s not the point of this thread. This thread focuses on the feedback @MCPS received.
We have hit the three year mark since @MontgomeryCoMD started pandemic restrictions on March 12, 2020. Here’s a few notable events in Montgomery county during the pandemic restrictions
Let’s start with sports. Private gyms were able to open in June 2020. But many youth sports remained closed. Some outdoor sports were permitted to run with restrictions.
Starting on December 15, 2020 there was a limit on how many people could be at an outdoor game (25) This meant that parents could not watch their child play. We sent one parent to the field to livestream the game to the other parents. Players had to wear masks outdoors.
So I have fallen down the rabbit hole of the privacy policies of online mental after looking into @betterhelp and seeing that @hazelhealthinc “assumes” consumers consent to collecting and sharing information.
I started looking into @LyraHealth. And it looks good. 🧵
Lyra is an online mental health platform. I know a few Lyra providers and they enjoy working with Lyra and feel their clients’ information is well protected.
I took a look at their privacy policies and I’m impressed.
First, they specific that “advertising technologies” (trackers, etc) are not used on the sites where clients are searching for and receiving care.
This is important. They are not using private mental health information to target ads.
On March 8, 2015, I called my OB because I hadn’t felt our second son, move in awhile. He was normally active so this was a change. My OB was calm but direct, telling me that there is a chance there may be an issue and we may need to deliver our son that day.
He was far enough along to be considered viable but would be very premature, so I was sent to a hospital with a high level NICU.
The ultrasound confirmed my worst fears. Our second son no longer had a heartbeat. He had passed. I screamed, because that’s all I could think to do.
We need to talk about why children were more impacted by the pandemic and its response than adults have been. It’s been getting more noticeable as we are shifting back to 2019 norms.
This is a bit of a repost for me, with updates. I posted something similar about 3 months ago 🧵
We are nearing the 3 year anniversary of the March 2020 lockdowns. We have been living with Covid for more than 3 years.
For kids, this has been the majority of their lives. For a 9 year old, Covid has been present for 1/3 of their life. Many don’t remember a time before Covid.
My 6 year old doesn’t remember a time before Covid.
Let’s talk about why youth sports are so important.
🧵
This infographic explains it well.
Kids who play sports have
Lower stress
Less anxiety/depression
Are less likely to use drugs
Are less likely to attempt suicide
Have higher self esteem