Today is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day! Sometimes as parents we are more comfortable talking about physical illness than mental illness, but here are some things to remember so that we can be part of reducing stigma:
- Mental Illness is not uncommon. 1 in 6 U.S. children aged 2–8 years (17.4%) had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder.5
- Mental illness is treatable.
- In many cases mental illness is preventable. In fact this blog is dedicated to best practices and science-based tips and tools parents can use to reduce the likelihood of mental illness. We can never reduce risk completely, but just like washing hands reduces our chance of physical illness, by using these prevention strategies we can reduce our chance of mental illness and addiction, while also promoting wellness.
- Living well, even with serious mental illness, is completely possible.
If you are interested in learning more about childhood mental illness, click below for a comprehensive list of resources and information too numerous to list here:
