Social Emotional Support

THIS IS A SAFE PLACE. ALL ARE WELCOME HERE.

Are you experiencing anxiety or depression, friendship drama, challenges at home, or navigating substance use? Just need a place to talk? We're here.

We are well equipped to provide a safe, welcoming space for all students to navigate whatever social-emotional challenges come their way - without judgment.

Schedule a time to meet with your counselor by speaking to Mr. Palmquist in 247A. If your need is urgent, let Mr. Palmquist know and he will get you connected to your counselor as soon as possible.

ADDITIONAL MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORTS

General Mental Health Resources:

• Worried you might be living with a mental illness? Take a screening quiz!

• Mental Health Literacy has a wide variety of guides and resources for all topics relating to mental health: more info on disorders, guides for understanding if your parent/siblings live with a mental illness, and action guides to find support in your community.

• A Guide to Mental Health Terminology can help distinguish some of the clinical language you hear around mental health/illness.

De-stress tools:

• Dealing with stress? Check out some of these tools! If you want to know more about how the stress response works, this is also a great guide.

• The 54321 Grounding Technique is a great tool to refocus and find calm.

• Pixel Thoughts helps you distance yourself from thoughts that are bothering you.

• When you’re feeling anxious, this Breathing GIF can help you reach a cool calm.

• Change to Chill provides a variety of stress-management resources including video guides and techniques, self-help guides, and ways you can help others around you.

• Grounding to Create Personal Calm is a worksheet you can download to help you find your stable points.

• Penzu is a free, online journal to work through your thoughts.

“Working Through It” Resources:

• You Feel Like Sh*t is a great website for getting to the bottom of why you feel bad while helping you figure out what steps to take next.

• Building Self Esteem Toolkit to help you work on thinking of yourself in a different light.

• ModernLoss provides resources for those grieving or losing someone in their life.

• Antidepressant Skill Workbook for Teens is a self-paced workbook that offers a step-by-step self-care guide with antidepressant skills for teens managing depression as well as tools for concerned family members, friends, or partners.

• Help Guide for Cutting and Self-Harm can help remove some of those harmful urges.

Mental health apps:

• Anxiety Helper is an app that helps anyone cope with anxiety, panic attacks, depression, etc. and includes useful resources like a venting platform, panic attack control , and even location services to local mental health services

• Breathe2Relax is an app designed to teach breathing techniques to help manage stress, anxiety, or complex thoughts.

• CalmHarm Offers timed activities to help resist or manage self-harm urges with the ability to log completed activities and track progress.

• Habitica turns your real-life into a game in order to make good positive habits to support your mental and physical well-being.

• Mindshift helps cope with symptoms of anxiety.

• Moodkit helps improve your mood by developing self-awareness and healthy attitudes

• Moodring is a journal platform with emojis to track your feelings on a day to day basis

• Moodtools a self-help app targeting depression. It offers features like a depression questionnaire, thought diaries, suicide safety plans, and a variety of helpful videos.

• My3 lets you stay connected when you’re having thoughts of suicide by having ‘safety net’ contacts.

• NotOK is an alert system you can set up for days when you’re not doing well or are feeling suicidal. By clicking a button, your chosen contacts will get a message that you need support so that they can reach out to you in a moment of crisis.

• The Schizophrenia App helps people living with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder better manage their symptoms.

• ShineApp is a great tool to help you stay strong and positive. It can send you motivational texts to start the day, give you resources and things to think about based on certain topics (ex: self-love, anxiety, burnout, etc.), and help you explore gratitude

• Stop, Breathe, Think helps you check in with how you’re feeling and try short activities to get in tune with your emotions.

• SuperBetter helps increases resilience - the ability to stay strong, motivated and optimistic even in the face of difficult obstacles.

• WhatsUp provides CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) methods to help you cope with depression, anxiety, anger, stress and more

• Youper is a chat-bot app that helps users with mood tracking, coping skills, and emotional problem solving.

Talk to your parents or guardian:

• If you’re struggling to talk to your family about what you’re feeling, here are some tips of how to start that conversation.

• If you’re worried about some of their arguments against you or a loved one needing to seek help, check out this article.

• Does your parent/guardian live with a mental illness themselves and you don’t know what to do? Check out this guide or check out the Could My Parents Have ____? series.

How to support others:

• This guide can help you understand mental illness in your siblings (or loved ones) and answer some of the common questions that people feel about their loved ones journey.

• Seize the Awkward can help you find tools and strategies to talk to a friend or family member who you think might be struggling with mental illness.

• Youth MOVE has a great guide on supporting a friend or family member living with a mental illness.

• Know The Signs is a tool to recognize and respond to signs that someone may be feeling suicidal.

• PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center can provide tools for bullying as well as resources/support.

Drug/Alcohol Abuse + Addiction Resources:

• Addiction Guide can help explain addiction, help find resources for yourself or a loved one, and link you to community resources.

• Addiction Center gives explanations of how specific disorders and substance use can sometimes manifest. While not all people with mental illness live with a substance use disorder, substance use disorders themselves can vary between people.

• In The Rooms provides immediately support for people struggling with substance use either through chat, online, and online communities.

Other advocacy & support organizations:

• Alcoholics Anonymous

• American Chronic Pain Association

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

• Anxiety & Depression Association of America

• Depression & Bipolar Support Alliance

• Eating Disorders Anonymous

• International OCD Foundation

• National Alliance of Anorexia Nervosa and Other Disorders

• National Center for PTSD

• National Children’s Advocacy Center

• National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA)

• National Institute of Drug Abuse for Teens

• National Sexual Violence Resource Center

• Planned Parenthood

• Sex Addictions Anonymous