Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Importance of Mental Health Literacy for Today’s Teenagers
13 Plays3 hours ago
In this episode of The Positively Healthy Mom podcast, host Laura Ollinger explores the critical need for mental health literacy to support the emotional well-being of today's teenagers. You will learn how to distinguish between normal adolescent stress and clinical symptoms, providing a roadmap for parents and educators to foster resilience and grit in their children.
Discover actionable strategies for breaking the silence around suicide prevention and removing the stigma of asking for help. We also introduce the MindMap app, a free tool thanks to the generosity of Engage and Heal, designed to give teens and parents immediate access to evidence-based mental health resources and local professional support.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
- Defining Mental Health Literacy: Understanding the difference between a temporary feeling, like test anxiety, and a clinical diagnosis.
- The Power of Resilience: Why moving away from "lawnmower parenting" helps teenagers learn from mistakes and build essential life skills.
- Identifying Red Flags: How to spot "triggers" in high-achieving teens, such as sudden changes in athletic status or academic performance.
- Effective Communication: Techniques for active listening that ensure your teenager actually feels heard.
- The MindMap App: How this digital platform provides free, evidence-based modules on coping and thriving for teens.
Common Questions About Teens and Mental Health Literacy We Answer In This Episode
- What is the difference between a teen being "anxious" and having an anxiety disorder?
- How should a parent respond when a teenager starts sharing their feelings?
- Does talking about suicide "give" a teenager the idea?
About Our Guests
Amelia Floyd is the Co-Founder and President of the Engage and Heal Foundation. Moved to action by the tragic loss of her daughter's best friend, Erik Hanson, she works to establish community partnerships that save lives and provide essential resources to students and parents.
Kathleen Hassenfratz is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and co-founder of Engage and Heal. She is a leading advocate for mental health literacy in Texas, serving on the Mental Health Literacy Collaborative’s Interstate Workgroup to integrate these vital concepts into schools and communities.
- Website: engageandheal.org
- Instagram: @engageandheal
- App: Download the MindMap App for free mental health modules and resources.
Resources From Laura Ollinger
- Free Webinar: Get Through May Without Losing Your Joy, Your Mind, Or Yourself
- Instagram: @positivelyhealthycoaching
- Rate this podcast!
Recommended
Transcript
Addressing Mental Health in Education
00:00:00
Speaker
People are taking pills and numbing out and and there's other stuff first. Like this is an end symptom. What about what led to that? All the self-regulation they've missed and all the the coping strategies they haven't learned that led them there. And so we believe strongly that this is really a K through 12 conversation.
Introduction of Guests & Teen Mental Health
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello, I'm Laura olinger your host of the Positively Healthy Mom. I'm excited to be here today to introduce you to two amazing women. I haven't talked you this during our little Get to Know Each Other session, but I've been following your work, which is just amazing. So today our conversation is gonna be about the mental health of teens, the power of community to change its outcomes. I'm so honored to be joined by Amelia, Amelia Floyd, Pro Founder and President of Engage
Tragedy and Formation of Engage and Heal
00:00:48
Speaker
and Heal. And Kathleen Hasenprats, who is a licensed professional counselor and co-founder also, and she's very passionate about mental health literacy here in Texas. So thank you both for having the courage and a commitment that you bring to this work. So welcome to the show. Thank you. We're excited to be here.
00:01:06
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So let's do a little um background. What brought you all to start this organization together? Well, I would say that it started back in August of 2018 when my oldest daughter's best friend died by suicide. um Eric had just finished his first year as a cadet in the Corps at a and m He was a varsity football player at Lake Travis, an honor student, an Eagle Scout, an amazing young man. And he came home in May and started spiraling and
00:01:43
Speaker
We lost him in August. So it was a very brief three months to have to navigate how he was feeling, and he kept it very closed off.
00:01:58
Speaker
So I started a scholarship in his name. Mm-hmm. We raised $10,000 at a mini golf event and awarded three $2,000 scholarships to football players in need per the family's wishes. Beautiful. The tagline for the scholarship was Engage and Heal.
00:02:18
Speaker
It's actually an acronym for Eric's name. His name was Eric Hansen. and we decided that that was not enough. And so in October of 2019, I sat at my kitchen table with Nonprofit for Dummies and wrote up a business plan and approached friends and acquaintances to be on the board. Um,
00:02:43
Speaker
The current
Understanding Mental Health Literacy
00:02:44
Speaker
principal at Lake Travis at the time introduced Kathleen and i and she has been on since day one. So we've really grown. It's been six years now, and we've been able to donate um over $20,000 back to the school district in providing mental health services.
00:03:05
Speaker
therapy online for teachers and staff through Anticipate Joy. We also brought the ropes course back. We were able to help them reopen it.
00:03:18
Speaker
actually it was something Kathleen started back in 15, 2008. nothing's been around. So were able to fund it so that they could start to use it again. has been very positive, the response of having it being used and the teamwork and communication skills that our youth have to go through to get through the ropes course.
00:03:47
Speaker
Really, we've, our importance has really been on the education about mental health and mental health literacy and starting a conversation because you never know if you open a door, if you smile at someone, if you, you know,
00:04:07
Speaker
let somebody go first in line at the checkout. You never know whose day you might make by just the slightest effort of being cut.
00:04:18
Speaker
Well, and what i loved about Amelia when we first met, Laura, is that I was coming um from a background as yourself, as a trained clinician and had worked in the school district at that time for probably 25 years, like Travis, the last of those. But I met her because of her passion. And it was so interesting because the timing was impeccable. um I don't know she said this, but her daughter, of her daughter's best friends was Eric. That's how Amelia was so involved. you know And so here's this woman who doesn't have any professional training, but was extremely agitated, but and agitated in a way that created her momentum. And when the principal at the time introduced us,
00:05:04
Speaker
I had all that expertise and she had all the drive and, and and it was just this perfect synergy um to create, you know, some passion work because our whole board with great group of people are all volunteers. Nobody's paid. And in our sixth year, we,
00:05:21
Speaker
we do fundraise. And a lot of that is primarily to give, like Amelia just said, here she, you know, we're working this hard and we're giving money back to the school district to try to help them help kids. um But what we've learned over the six years, I think, has been our biggest takeaway is that that mental health literacy piece that Amelia referenced, it has become what we really acknowledge as something everyone can understand. you have financial literacy, mental health
Introducing and Exploring the MindMap App
00:05:50
Speaker
literacy. We need to teach what it is and what it isn't.
00:05:54
Speaker
It's so much more than, you know, I feel sad or I'm depressed. And so I won't rants right now on all of those pieces, but we just feel like we're really making some headway in doing education and then helping people find local resources because we don't offer direct services. You can call us and we'll make sure we hook you up at two or three possible therapists, but we aren't in that that action of like me getting on and having every one of these people that contact us as my client. you know we We don't want to be service providers.
00:06:28
Speaker
Yes, I understand. So with that being said, you know, the moms are listening and I have a feeling some of them are thinking, well, what is mental health literacy? Like you said, it's kind of like we get the concept of it, but like, what is the definition? And so what is kind the basis behind that?
00:06:44
Speaker
Go ahead, Amelia. Cause I love, here's what I want to show you. Is it Amelia? This isn't her background now. Okay. Six years in she's, she's pretty good. But here's a lay person, right? Who go ahead, Amelia, you know, go for what what is it? what's What's mental health literacy?
00:06:58
Speaker
Mental health literacy is basically understanding the difference between a symptom or a feeling sure versus diagnosis, for instance, to to give your your listeners some background.
00:07:16
Speaker
A lot of kids say these days that they're anxious. I have anxiety. I'm so anxious. Well, the difference between anxious, asking somebody to prom, taking an exam, um those are all normal anxieties.
00:07:33
Speaker
Whereas my youngest daughter has trouble getting out of bed, not being able to physically slow down, to do homework, to calm down towards a test. ah walk Talking somebody off a ledge is is hard. And if, I mean, i now have the experience only because of the work that we're doing, but learning how to talk to your teens and to listen to your teens, your children,
00:08:07
Speaker
are two very separate entities when it comes to mental health. A lot of times parents, and I will admit that I've done this, is you don't listen to what they are saying or you don't stop, I should say, and listen to what they're they they're saying. And the way they know that you're listening is twofold. One is you acknowledge and repeat some of what they're saying so that you understand Show that you're listening. And two, never say, I, or when I was your age.
00:08:43
Speaker
Lord knows, I'm almost 60 years old, and trust me, I've been there. But when you can say, do you want me to listen, or do you want my advice, yeah you're you're acknowledging your child.
00:08:57
Speaker
Now, right teenagers, that opens a whole different bottle of words. You know, younger children, they also have trouble expressing themselves. So when we talk about mental health with children, you break it down. Are you feeling sad? are you do you hurt? Does your tummy hurt? That kind of thing. right And you can talk to them the same way you're talking to a teen. It's just got to be broken down completely.
00:09:24
Speaker
for that age group. you know That was great, Amelia. And and I think, Laura, too, ah part of it sounds like is ah as you're like, well, no, duh, right? Like that makes so much sense to you. But we think about your average parents and just having that conversation with your kid about how was your day at school?
00:09:42
Speaker
Fine. You know, like how do we even go from unwrapping that fine to really getting into how their day might have been. and and then how do we know what to do with it once they've told us that? That's also part of mental health literacy. When do you get help? When do you just you know work at it at home? Or when do you call a professional? you know These things, same with it with you had a a bad cut. Mom and dad can do so much at home, but when's that tipping point where you've got to go to the the medical piece of it? you know So it's that you know the differentiator of understanding the nuances of even dialoguing, like Amelia said. Right, right. yes And especially, i have two boys, two girls. And so I like to kind of say, you know, what you might see in a boy is different what than you might see in a girl. And, you know, boys are naturally less chatty with their moms, you know, typically, you know, stereotypically. One of my sons is actually very chatty. But one of sons And it's like when at what point, and I'm not talking about my son, but just in general for moms, the sons, the daughters, do you start to think, oh, they've been quiet now for two weeks. They haven't been in the room as much. This is different. Yeah. Looking for that.
00:10:55
Speaker
Having that checklist. And so is that kind of something that you share, like at some type of a how to go through, like looking at those symptoms and signs and like at what point how have we causeugh crossed over that line to go see a clinician?
00:11:10
Speaker
May I jump in, Amelia, on that one? Absolutely. Laura, that's a great question. So no, we don't necessarily give a checklist, but we do now have the MindMap app. And so what we're very excited about is this app is powered by an organization called Sharpen, which is an evidence-based mental health platform.
00:11:28
Speaker
And this platform was created by their like mother load, um their technology company. And I just drew blank. I want to make sure I say right. What is it, Amelia? Resiliency Technologies. Resiliency Technologies. I want to make sure I give them a shout out.
00:11:42
Speaker
And in re Resiliency Technologies has award-winning modules in a mental health literacy program. app. And this is what we've got. We've got this library at our fingertips. And in there, you're going to see more of like the signs and the symptoms and the checklist and what differentiates anxiety from just sadness. What's the difference between I don't feel good in my bathing suit, so i might have an eating disorder. So the modules are evidence-based.
00:12:10
Speaker
They're right at the fingertips. And it is just amazing. So we are beyond excited to to provide this to the community free of charge. And it's really awesome because it's also self-discovery. So you can, if you're not sure if you have a problem, they go in and you can answer like some checklist questions. And if they feel that, you know, you need the next step, you move on to the next step and they keep going. And then there is a point where it says, you may want to look for help, turn to our resource page, at least to start. Yeah.
00:12:45
Speaker
But the foundation of the app is really and under four four buckets. And it's cope, nourish, heal, and thrive. And under each one of these tabs, there are different things. Like there's a journal prompt. There's mindfulness moments. There's um little vignettes of other youth or adults talking about mental health, whether you you click on anxiety or you click on depression. and you can see what it, quote unquote, looks like.
00:13:21
Speaker
And it's very, very, very user friendly. And like we said, it's free. It's amazing how the content can.
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah. So ah I want well want to say one thing. First of all, it's free because we fund it. Okay. So let's I want to be give us a little tout there. Because this is part of what we're doing with our money now. We're like, wait a minute. Can we yeah give it to a school district who may or may not use a ropes course? Or can we be in control of this education and get it to everyone your charge? So that's where we've kind of diverted ourselves. But secondly, to say what you were saying, Amelia, um It can evolve. And the cool thing is we can add content. So they have these evidence-based modules under the mental mental health literacy. But the other pieces, you know, mind sharpeners and mindfulness and just some of the, you know, the the cooler, more light stuff, can we can create it. We can create vignettes. We can load onto there with their help, ah with Sharpen and and the technology help. But the coolest thing is having our local therapist. and And I wanted to say this to you, like, take a look at it. Let us know if you'd like your presence on there, if you have room in your caseload. But we have people can go and they see, you know, Kathleen. hat They don't see Kathleen. Yes. But they see the local therapist, you know, um the Texas Anxiety and OCD Center with Don Bareilles. You know, they're seeing people that are here in the community. There's a touch, boom, you're already at their website and a contact. Matter of fact, out of our 76 users that have downloaded the app since November 5th, there were like 22 reaches for help, Amelia. is that what our...
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, so there were 22 reaches for help. And from those 22 reaches for help, I think it's 100% that they keep coming back and using the app. Oh, amazing. Amazing. Yeah.
00:15:15
Speaker
Oh, no, want to clarify 15 contacts through the k connect button using 988, which is, and as we all know, the mental health 911, and going right to the organization, which means I'm going to go to this particular therapist website, and I'm going to go into it specifically and make a connection. And we want to drive people to resources. That's one of our biggest goals. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful.
00:15:38
Speaker
So as we're talking, i'm thinking, okay, who out there is kind of like, I want to say overlooked, but not in your classic type of overlooked.
00:15:50
Speaker
I know a specific kind of like segment of people that exist. And, you know, we, we, probably are or both have some awareness of this, where there are these very high achieving families. They expect a lot of their kids.
00:16:02
Speaker
They're really great students. They are going to go to amazing colleges or do go to amazing colleges. And somehow the parents are blinded. They struggle to acknowledge that there might be a mental health challenge in the family. And so therefore, it's never even on their radar to reach out on and behalf of their child. And so is this app filling that gap where the child can get it on their own? Like, is that how it can work? Or is is that kind of what it's used for?
00:16:31
Speaker
Yes, the answer is yes. Now, there is an age limit. we And there is, we there are because of HIPAA compliance, We do not sell or give away any information, nor do we use it. If they were to go on our website and to click on to join our newsletter, that's how we would get their information. But yes, the kids can go on there themselves. And there are the videos and content for their age appropriateness.
00:17:02
Speaker
We're really tracking more teens right now. um And older, but we are looking towards putting in content for middle schoolers. and And we're trying to figure out a way to give them only access in a certain part of the app so that they don't have access to other things that could be concerning to parents.
00:17:28
Speaker
pausing this episode to tell you
Removing Stigma and Encouraging Open Dialogue
00:17:30
Speaker
on April 30th at noon central time, I'm hosting a free webinar for moms called get through May without losing your joy, your mind for yourself.
00:17:40
Speaker
And if that title just hit you somewhere, go save your spot right now at positively healthy coaching.com. If you can't make it live, no worries, sign up anyway in advance and I'll send you the recording.
00:17:54
Speaker
Because suicide prevention is in there, built into the the resilient technology corporation that created this really believes that that's their basis for suicide prevention. And really, when you get down to it, we believe in that as part of mental health literacy is resilience prevention.
00:18:10
Speaker
resiliency. So what Amelia's saying makes so much sense, though, we got to be careful because some of the mental health ah modules are really geared for high school and adults. And so right now we are working to figure out, you know, can we make sure a middle schooler doesn't click that they're a high schooler and then get into that part? I mean, it doesn't teach you anything that I would say i wouldn't want my so I would want my 13 year old to know, to be honest. But it depends on the parent. And of course, you want to give them that that autonomy, the parent.
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah, which I do i do find is a challenge, and I imagine you both do as well, where um parents do want to shield or protect their child from that word, the S word, um because they think it'll somehow give them the idea or something they didn't know about already or, um you know, something to kind investigate on their own. Whereas really the research shows it's actually the opposite, right? The more that word becomes And I don't want to say a household word, that's not the right term, but just like a word that is open to be discussed and it's open to have a conversation about that it's actually less likely. You're actually having a decreased rate. So can you speak to that?
00:19:17
Speaker
Well, it's interesting. i was going to go back to what you said earlier about the point of, you know, the more structured home, you know, we're straight A student and all, and you don't really, they don't see it.
00:19:31
Speaker
And that's pretty much what happened too with Eric. and You know, everybody thinks everybody's okay and they're really not. And these kids are struggling.
00:19:44
Speaker
And if, you know, you don't want it to get to the suicide piece because there's a lot of things in mental health literacy that can help them And can help them hopefully not even start, you know, to drink and use drugs. To knock out. Yeah.
00:20:03
Speaker
Yeah. The suicide piece, it it has to be taught with the mental health piece, at least in my, in, in my world. um You can't have one without the other. If you're just teaching about suicide prevention, that's great. I mean, we need it, obviously. But you also have to teach the component that gets you to that point, in a sense. Right. Well, Amelia and I always get flustered. we And we believe so much in fentanyl awareness, believe me. And we were watching them get promoted into in the state to get... um a a curriculum approved by TEA and to be mandated into our schools that there would be at least one event yearly around this awareness for kids, one educational piece. And, you know, we can't get that for mental health right now. And we said to ourselves, and we think this is so much more clear,
00:20:58
Speaker
People are taking pills and numbing out and and there's other stuff first. Like this is an end symptom. What about what led to that? All the self-regulation they've missed and all the the coping strategies they haven't learned that led them there. And so we believe strongly that this is really a K through 12 conversation anyway. but needed The other thing I wanted to point out is a lot of times what has happened also with mental health is there's a trigger. So in all of these great athletic academic families, there could be a trigger. For instance, the athlete gets hurt. The athlete gets benched.
00:21:37
Speaker
the The straight A student gets a B. or you something happened that that's pay attention to those little things because those can become extremely big things.
00:21:51
Speaker
no Yes. Yes. Which is part of what we want to teach people with mental health literacy. And I think also the other thing that I'm, I'm, I mean, not a lot of your listeners may agree, but it's okay to make a mistake. Yes. It's okay. You know, you learn from that too. And more and more, i think that's a key factor that's not happening in our society nowadays. Right. That you know when I was growing up, and as I said earlier, I'm 60, poke yourself up by your bootstraps or you know you fall off the horse, they say, get back on.
Community Support and Engagement
00:22:30
Speaker
Nowadays, it's, oh no. and it's But yes, you got to try again. i said, you know if all the times that I was told no while I was been doing this foundation,
00:22:43
Speaker
Let me tell you, there would be a lot of times i would, you know, I couldn't pick myself up through COVID and everything. And we launched three weeks before COVID. ah i So I give myself as a perfect example, COVID happened.
00:23:01
Speaker
Of course, I got a little depressed from being indoors and and I got COVID. And then finally, one day I just said, you know what? Zoom call. Let's get this going. And it was. It was the little engine that could. And now we've reached our teenage years and we really, you know, were able to spread the word. Yeah. Well, I like how what Amelia just explained in her own way was resilience, right? And and grits. and And I feel like we talk about this all the time. Like,
00:23:28
Speaker
why won't our parents let these kids fail out here and experience the the learning that comes from failing? And that's what we're talking about, like making the mistake, picking yourself back up and going for it instead of mommy and daddy helicoptering in or now what's the new one, lawnmowering over. oh yeah.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah. So I love that Amelia was really teaching about how to stay resilient as parents to to model that for our kids, because that is definitely a part of prevention when it comes to mental health.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yes. Man, i I just, I really admire the work you're doing. And, um you know, I haven't shared that it's also personal to me what you're doing. I did lose a family member for suicide ah in the year 2021. Sorry. And so, yeah, i'm I'm passionate about this topic as well. So I really do want to just help you all spread the word. That's why I was excited have you on to share this message and to you know, help it grow and help it really, you know, it sounds like you said you're in your teenager's year, so it's already taken root. It's sprouted, it's growing its its ah branches and it's really taking off. So I really admire everything that you shared today. Is there any last kind of important message that you want the moms to be aware of? I feel like we need to remove the shame of asking for help. We're
00:24:42
Speaker
you realize the stigma around mental health is still there. I think it's getting a little bit better. But if we could say one thing to moms, it's like, oh my gosh, aren't we all in this together? Look at us. it it's It's really a community that can connect if we can remove the worry about being judged. Yeah.
00:25:01
Speaker
And to that end, I would love to say that reach out to us. Yeah. I mean, we're not judging. If you have a question, please reach out. If you yeah if you are looking for help, please just click anywhere and you know we'll we'll put you in touch with people that can help you.
00:25:22
Speaker
We continue to have a presence in the community, whether we're doing presentations at the schools to the various PTOs, or if we're doing it in the community to to at a chamber event or um hosting one of our own events.
00:25:39
Speaker
you know, please come out, please come and see us. We're here for you where I'm doing this because I don't want anybody else to experience and feel what I felt. I mean, i vowed on his casket to do something. And so I live with the notion every day that I knew something was wrong, but didn't know the parents. And so me I feel guilty for not reaching out and talking and saying something. So if you see something, it's the same thing. Say something. I'd rather somebody is angry with you for 48 hours than have a whole other situation at hand and we're having to pick up pieces versus to be able to be at a point to pick up pieces and there is ah a continuation.
00:26:28
Speaker
Yeah. and And I think that language is perfect. If you are that mom who has to maybe make that awkward phone call, maybe that's the language that you use. Like, I'd rather have this really awkward conversation and you might be mad at me for what I'm about to say than to have something that would be long-term and unrepairable. And so, you know, just even modeling that language is great. So how can people get in touch with you all?
00:26:50
Speaker
go to our website, engageandheal.org. We're also on Facebook and Instagram at engageandheal. And you can also check us out on LinkedIn.
00:27:02
Speaker
And that's Engage and Heal Foundation. Wonderful. So Amelia and Kathleen, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I really admire, again, the work that you're doing and appreciate you sharing this message.
00:27:14
Speaker
Well, thank you for having us. Appreciate it. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Thanks.
00:27:23
Speaker
When you get a chance, please go to the show notes and click on the link ratethispodcast.com slash TPHmom to give my podcast a rating and review.
00:27:34
Speaker
And if this episode resonates with you, be sure to share it with your mom friends who are going through the same things. Be sure to tune in for next week's conversation. Until then, keep up the good work.