Tag Archives: Fear

Special Parents Confidential 66 Mental Health America

Mental Health America.

Mental Health is a subject that has taken center stage in large areas of our conversation. Everywhere you look in the media, people are talking about mental health. Certainly within the special needs community, the awareness of mental health for both people with special needs, and their caregivers, has become a major priority.

But where do the standards of care come from? How has the conversation changed over the years to get where were are now; that mental health is a major issue? And who is providing the oversight for how this condition is diagnosed and treated?

Mental Health Is Physical Health.

One of the major organizations for mental health awareness is Mental Heath America. Founded in 1909, MHA is the nation’s leading community-based non-profit dedicated to helping all Americans achieve mental well-being. MHA’s work is driven by a commitment to promoting prevention services for all. This includes early identification and intervention for those at risk, and integrated care and treatment for those who need it. They also work for policy standards and changes, with both local governments, and on the Federal level.

Online Screening

In this episode we talk to Theresa Nguyen, the Vice President of Policy and Programs with Mental Health America. She discusses the growing awareness of mental health issues, and some of the significant gains that have been made in diagnosis and treatments. For example, Theresa talks about MHA‘s new Online Screening Tools that can help you determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition. This offers many supports including DIY tools to help you get better.

Links Mentioned In This Episode.

MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA – The main website for MHA.

MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA’S ONLINE SCREENING TOOLSTheir free, private, online screening tools. These can help you determine if you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition.

ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA’S ONLINE SCREENING PROGRAM  – Explains all the details about how the screening is done and the results and where to get further help.

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 26 Parent Problems

Parent Problems

Parents of special needs children face problems that few others can understand. Extraordinary  joy and crushing despair, sometimes in the same day, the same hour, the same moment. One thing is true, people who relate the best to these moments are other parents of special needs children. We have a bond that, while often unspoken, is a shared knowledge that ‘this is our life’ and we all know exactly what it’s like.

For those who are just starting out on their journey with a special needs child, the fear and uncertainty can be very daunting. How do you cope? Where do you look for help? Who can you trust? And possibly the most important question of all, who understands what this means?

To help answer those questions, Donna Kirk has returned for another interview episode. Donna was my guest in Special Parents Confidential Episode 23, in which she talked about her book, Finding Matthew, the story of her son who was born with severe brain damage. She and her husband, Ed, experienced everything a parent of a special needs child could face. A terrible life-altering diagnosis, years and years of therapies, trying to find help for their son, watching him struggle into adulthood, and finally facing the hardest loss of all, the death of their special needs child.

After we finished the interview for that episode, Donna contacted me again and asked if she could talk about the lessons she learned and how they might help parents who are currently struggling and trying to cope with the emotional rollercoaster that raising a special needs child can cause. Top of the list for any parent, honesty and communication.

For more resources on specific issues, check out our Helpful Links page.

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