Mental Health Essentials for Parents: Knowledge and Skills to Support Your Child

The parent-child relationship is the most powerful mental health intervention known to humankind.
– Bessel van der Kolk, MD

All children are sad, anxious, irritable, or angry at times. Occasionally, they may find it challenging to keep agreements, focus on tasks, or interact with others. In most cases, these are just typical phases in their development. However, these behaviors may indicate a more serious problem. Without attention, mental health conditions can prevent children from reaching their full potential. Whether you want to prevent future issues, your child just doesn’t seem like their usual self, or you have significant concerns, the good news is that you can help.

This workshop will highlight the nature of stress as it relates to your children, the impact of family conflict, and the power of connection and joy. Without recognizing that certain behaviors tell a story about your child’s unmet needs or the mismatch between our expectations and our kids’ capacities, it’s easy to miss important signs and symptoms. Sometimes we even make things worse in our efforts to remedy the problems. Let’s do this together. 

• For additional support, check out the Quick Video Solutions Library, Parenting Principles for Progress not Perfection. Explore the Video Solutions and Handouts for all the classes including  The kids are Not Alright: 7 Steps to Make Your Home Their Safe Place, Be Your Child’s Calm Center: Techniques to Calm the Brain..

After this class, you will be able to:

• Identify and apply relationship strategies and everyday habits that support good mental health in children and teens
• Recognize the impact of parents’ mental health on the family
• Recognize and respond to signs in children and teens that more mental health support is needed.