Children's Mental Health Blog

Today’s children and teens face many stressors and outright dangers.How can concerned caregivers set the stage so that it’s more likely that their child will let them know what’s going on when it matters the most?

Sandra (not her real name) had a history of extensive substance abuse. Her behaviour while under the influence strained her relationship with her family and eventually she found herself in conflict with the law.

During the first week of 2016, a friend of mine admitted he had already broken his New Year’s resolution: to start every day with a positive attitude...

It’s Christmas! For many it is a time full of fun, excitement, adventure and a feeling of belonging. And yet for some children and youth, Christmas can be a frustrating time of conflict...

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, “Trauma is the emotional response when a negative event is overwhelming” (CAMH). The event could cause physical, sexual or emotional injury...

Most of us have been touched by bullying at some point in our lives; whether we were a victim, a bully or know someone that was bullied. This is Bullying Awareness Week (Nov 15-21) and a good time to consider the importance of accepting who we are and talking about bullying prevention.

Facebook. Twitter. Snapchat. Instagram. Sites like these are increasingly woven into the social lives of a large majority of today’s youth. The rapid increase in social networking use has raised a number of questions including, how does the use of these networking sites impact youth mental health and vice versa?

A friend recently shared with me a comic that contains two panels about the teacher-parent relationship. The panel captioned “1969” shows parents angrily addressing their child about his bad grades while the teacher looks on smugly. The other panel captioned “today” shows parents angrily addressing the teacher about their child’s bad grades while the child looks on smugly. At the bottom is the caption “see the problem?”

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioural and learning disabilities.

The University of California notes that “Wellness is much more than merely physical health, exercise or nutrition. It is the full integration of states of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.” In other words, our mental health is interconnected with our physical and spiritual health. Because these states are interrelated, there are also similarities in how we can care for ourselves. Here are ten ways to improve your wellness generally, and specifically your mental health: