A new education program encourages parents of young children to be as aware of their youngsters’ mental health as they are of their physical well-being.
Locally, the program is sponsored by NAMI of Cape Cod and the Islands, a chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It targets parents of children from preschool age through 18, said Ron Holmes, executive director of the local chapter.
Mental illness “can show up at an early age,” Holmes said. Among other things, parents in this new Basics Education Program are trained in communication skills so children realize “it’s OK to talk to Mom or Dad about it,” he said.
This month, the NAMI chapter of Cape Cod and the Islands wrapped up its first session, offered free once a week for six weeks on Nantucket.
Eleven parents completed the program, said Ruth Blount, one of two course leaders.
They came with questions about their children’s anxiety, attention deficit, obsessive thinking and other issues, she said. Their children range in age from about 8 to 16.
Getting together in a group to talk about common concerns “takes away a lot of the fear,” Blount said. In addition, she said, “It helps you understand what your loved one is going through.”
The program included information on a range of mental illnesses and their impact on the brain, as well as research, therapies and medications.
Parents received information about working with schools to develop an individualized education program for their child and got advice on maintaining a paper trail for school records, mental health treatment and interaction with the juvenile justice system.
Parents also discussed removing guilt and understanding how brain biology plays into mental illness.
“We always blame ourselves,” said Blount, who has an adult child with serious mental illness.
She wishes something like the Basics Education Program had been around when symptoms of her child’s mental illness started emerging, she said.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve been able to get help much sooner,” Blount said.
“This is a scary subject,” Holmes said. “We get that.”
NAMI is working with the Barnstable school system to explore the possibility of offering the Basics Education Program to parents of elementary school students this winter, Holmes said.
Gina Hurley, Barnstable schools’ director of student services, said the proposal is still in the discussion stage.
Recognizing the importance of childhood mental health, the Barnstable schools this year put school counselors in all five elementary schools and will start screening kindergartners for mental-health issues, Hurley said.
“We are seeing issues with younger age children all the time,” Holmes said
Article source: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131118/NEWS/311180307