Mental Health Support at Woodland

Meet Our Staff

School-Linked Mental Heath Therapist at Woodland One Day a Week:

Woodland's School-Linked Mental Health partner is Life Development Rescources, PA.

This program provides clinical therapy sessions in school during school hours. School-Linked Mental Health programs are primarily funded by health insurance, both private/commercial insurance and MN Healthcare Programs (MA).  Sliding fee options are available for families whose cost for therapy is burdensome for their individual circumstances.  Additionally, assistance is available on a case-by-case basis through funding provided by a MN Department of Health state grant. 

Ask Julie or Jon above for more information about this program.

Visit https://lifedrs.com/ to learn more about Life Development Resources, PA.

Supporting Children’s Mental Health: Tips for Parents

We know that children need to be mentally and physically healthy before they can learn or feel successful in school. Here are some recommendations for a supporting your child’s mental health:

Love and Emotional Support:

Support from family goes a long way in improving a student’s self-confidence and ability to face and overcome challenges. Make sure that your children know they can always depend on your love. Establish “family time” on at least a weekly basis. Decide on a time when the technology and phones are turned off and the family spends quality time with each other. Allow each child to choose the activity on a regular basis. 80% of success in life is just showing up. Be there for your kids. Be tuned in and mentally/emotional present.

Physical Health:

Good physical health supports good mental health. Take care of yourself, so you can care for others. Your well-being is the first step. Encouraging healthy habits like regular exercise, healthy eating, adequate sleep, and reducing stress, helps students live a more balanced and regulated lifestyle. Taking care of the body will help the mind. Regular exercise also decreases negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and depression. Opportunities for play, recreation, and adventure are important for children’s development, learning, happiness, and health.

Manage Stress:

Place age appropriate expectations on your child. Children will take their cues from you. Just as they share in your moments of joy, they will also share in your pain, stress, anxiety, or anger. Kids watch the adults in their life. Don’t give them more information or responsibility than they can manage. Also, avoid over-scheduling your family. The feeling that we have too much to do in the amount of time available to us is a frequent cause of stress.

Appropriate and Consistent Discipline:

Predictability and structure at home helps students feel safer and helps students learn to regulate themselves. Provide as much consistency, routine, structure as possible (bedtime, work time, screen time). Create a harmonious home through clear and fair rules and consistent and fair discipline. Allow opportunities to discuss disagreements within the family. Limits should be enforced consistently, and there should be clear and appropriate consequences when those limits are challenged. Also allow your child some choice and control in daily activities.

Developing a Trusting Relationship:

When children feel loved and respected by parents, they want to please them. Parents form trusting relationships with their children by exhibiting predictable and mature behavior and by protecting them from harm, excessive anger, or abuse. Children who feel safe to make mistakes can also learn to make better decisions in the future. A trusting relationship between parents and children is the cornerstone of effective discipline and self-confidence.

Encourage Talents: 

Developing individual talents, skills, and interests helps children feel competent and more able to deal with challenges positively. Let your children know that you have confidence that they can do things on their own. Refer to past struggles and goals. Point out how they were able to overcome them. Offer praise 5 times as often as criticism. Celebrate small victories.

Value Close, Trusting, Positive Relationships:

Seek a large social circle of friends, families, school, and your community. This creates a sense of belonging and trust. It also provides a safety net and support system in times of crisis. Having friends and staying connected with loved ones enhances mental wellness. Friends and family share times of joy and are there for each other in times of need.

Speak Up:

No one has to deal with mental health issues alone. Encourage open communication with your child and others. There are resources to help. If you are worried, seek more information from the pediatrician or school. Trust your gut instincts and be proactive, this can be key in preventing future issues. Mental health professionals are everywhere including your student’s school so reach out for help when needed.

Be an active listener:

Focus tough conversations on feelings. Be an active listener without judging, rescuing, or trying to fix emotions or situations. Be available even if they don’t seem to need you. Just be present and available. When kids want someone to talk to, they need: Someone to care, Someone to really listen, and Someone to lean on or cry with. Listen to your child when he or she describes being stressed. Be a good listener and reassure them you will support them. Teach your child problem solving and help your child identify their feelings and options. Help your child learn to break big problems into smaller ones that can be dealt with one at a time.

How to let people know you are listening

• Actively listen when someone needs to talk: turn toward the speaker, speak calmly, listen more than speak, summarize, reflect.

•  Make eye contact if appropriate and strive for a warm facial expression

•  Listen more, talk less

•  Your compassionate presence is more important than your words.

•  Try not to interrupt.

•  When you do speak, do it in a calm, warm tone.

•  Label, summarize, and mirror the feelings the other person is expressing.

•  Ask questions to clarify and show you are listening.

Things NOT to say

• I know how you feel.

• Let’s talk about something else.

• You should work toward getting over this.

• I know how you feel. (Instead say, “I feel sad too.”)

• You’ll feel better soon.

• You need to relax.

• Also, don’t judge just accept the emotions and the situation.

Behaviors to watch for

If your child shows some of these behaviors, if these last for a prolonged time, or seem to get worse rather than better, reach out to your health care provider or mental health specialist.

•     Restlessness, anger, aggressive behavior

•     Sleeping or eating difficulties

•     Headaches, tummy aches, body aches

•     Withdrawal

•     Sadness, tearfulness

•     Poor concentration

•     Unexpected fears and worries

•     Acting younger than their age

•     School avoidance

Resources for supporting your child: 

23 Parenting Articles on Conscious Discipline created for Woodland's Weekly Bulletin 2022-2023:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lTtRGGUgEIovCN29O2nBjjdL_B5Gm3ur?usp=sharing

Kid's Anxiety 

Parent Article 1 - Anxiety Awareness - From Woodland Weekly Bulletin Oct 2023

Parent Article 2 - Anxiety Coping - From Woodland Weekly Bulletin Oct 2023

Parent Article 3 - Anxiety Calming - From Woodland Weekly Bulletin Oct 2023

Parent Article 4 - Anxiety In The Long Term - From Woodland Weekly Bulletin Nov 2023

Parent Article 5 - Counteracting Anxiety Using Independence - From Weekly Bulletin Nov 2023

Parent Article 6 - Counteracting Anxiety Using Free Play - From Weekly Bulletin Nov 2023

Parent Article 7 - End of Anxiety Articles, Intro to Let Grow Program - From Weekly Bulletin Nov 2023

10 Therapist and Child Approved Activities to Support Kids with Anxiety

https://familytherapybasics.com/blog/2017/10/8/10-therapist-and-child-approved-activities-to-support-kids-with-anxiety

20 Fun Activities to Help Kids With Anxiety

https://perfectionpending.net/20-fun-activities-to-help-kids-with-anxiety/

A-Z Activities for Coping Skills for Anxiety

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EXpkVw3fh0

Clinical Anxiety

The Child Mind Institute has a webpage dedicated to anxiety with additional information, resources, and

recommendations for parents, educators, and children: 

https://childmind.org/topics/anxiety/

The Anxiety Resource Center offers helpful links to resources about different types of anxiety disorders, the impact of COVID-19, tips for families, and more: 

https://www.anxietyresourcecenter.org/resources/helpful-links/

National Institute of Mental Health offers downloadable graphics, videos, brochures, and fact sheets, on anxiety

disorders: 

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/get-involved/digital-shareables/shareable-resources-on-anxiety-disorders

Mindfulness

6 Mindfulness Exercises to Ease Anxiety:

https://www.mother.ly/child/ease-your-anxious-child-6-simple-mindfulness-exercises-to-try-today

More Mindfulness Exercises and Tips:

https://positivepsychology.com/mindfulness-for-children-kids-activities/

Virtual Calming Room from Osseo

https://sites.google.com/apps.district279.org/virtualcalmingroom/home