Health Is More Than A Physical: An Occupational Therapist’s Perspective

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, so it is a great time to do a check up on your child’s mental health. I have a unique perspective on children’s health, because I am a mother, and I also work with children professionally as a pediatric occupational therapy practitioner (OTP). Although OTPs are mostly associated with physical health, we play a critical role in promoting physical and mental health and well being of children, as they are very much interrelated (Cahil, 2016). As a mother, I have benefited from my professional background in many ways, and I would like to share what I have learned with other parents.

Culturally, we put enough emphasis on maintaining physical health. The first day of school, children are armed with notes reviewing allergies and medications, parents pack the healthiest choices for snacks and lunches, and the length of school recess is debated, so that our children can move and be active enough. We teach children to put a bandage on a cut, to wash their hands to prevent infection, and to brush their teeth every night. What is missing, however, is teaching our children how to maintain their mental health and what proper mental health hygiene looks like. Many of us do not teach important mentally healthy soft skills to our children. What do they learn from us about how to cope with feelings of loneliness, rejection, loss, or failure? What do we teach them about how to heal their minds when they are hurting? It is important that we teach our children how to take care of their bodies, but it is even more crucial to teach them how to care for their minds.

In the United States, nearly 5 million children have some type of mental health challenge that significantly interferes with daily life (Salamat et al., 2015). When we hear statistics like this or the term mental health, we tend to think only of mental health disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety or depression. Positive mental health, which is developing and maintaining mentally healthy habits, applies to all children with and without mental illness (Bazyk et al., 2015). Some characteristics of positive mental health include: positive affect, positive social interactions, and the ability to adapt to change and cope with life challenges (Bazyk et al., 2015; CDC, 2017).

My professional background as an occupational therapy practitioner has helped me to understand that teaching children how to cope with the wounds of the mind can build resilience and can even save lives. Although strategies can vary widely based on the age, lifestyle, and personality of a child, the following suggestions might offer you some guidance. Keep in mind that spending just minutes a day on any of these strategies before they are needed can make a significant impact:

TALK

- Talk to the child on a consistent basis

- Ask open ended questions about the child’s day, beyond “how is your day” (i.e. what did you play at recess? Who was a good friend to you today and why? What were you curious about today?)

- Ask relevant follow up questions such as what was difficult that the child persevered through or what was the child’s proudest moment

- Talk about what you notice and identify the emotion the child seems to be experiencing (i.e. “you seem so excited/joyful/sad/frustrated right now, what happened?”)

SHARE

- Share about similar experiences you have had when the child faces a difficult emotion, such as failure or loss. Share what may have helped you get through that challenging time (when appropriate).

- Share how to get through difficult feelings by having a positive self-talk, especially during the worst moments

- Share that these are feelings that everybody has felt before and acknowledge that it hurts to feel some emotions, but that the feeling is not permanent.

TEACH

- Teach the child to acknowledge the positive emotions that they experience and what that feels like to them

- Introduce and teach calming strategies (for when they are upset) before the child needs to use them: deep breaths, count to 10, take a quiet moment in a special cozy corner or talk to someone about how they are feeling when they are calm and ready.

- Teach the child to have self-compassion by being an encouraging and positive friend to themselves, especially when something bad has happened, instead of ruminating (going over and over) on flaws and insecurities.

- Teach the child to distract themselves with a book or a video when they find that they are ruminating on negative feelings or memories until the feeling has passed.

- Teach the child how to communicate when the “heart hurts” and talk about what that means (i.e. feeling one of the painful mental wounds like loneliness or rejection and how to heal it (see heal)

PRAISE

- Praise the positive things you see in the child or that you see the child doing; encourage and celebrate those moments; oftentimes as adults we tend to only address the negative and the negativity becomes the child’s inner voice.

- Positive emotions such as gratitude, joy, curiosity and awe have been shown to broaden a child’s thinking habits, reduce negative emotions and encourage resilience (Bazyk et al., 2015).

- Praise the process over the outcome — thoughtfully comment on the work the child has done to complete a task over only praising the end result.

HEAL

- Teach how to heal a mental wound; this is best done through sharing

- In those “hurt” moments lies the best time to be kind to yourself and to focus on how capable you are.

BUILD

- Build up the child’s inner voice (see praise) by encouraging them often and catching them doing well; saying things like “I know you can do it” or “You worked so hard on that” and “I love how creative you are” or “I love how you think”

- Many times feelings are relegated to “sad” “mad” or “happy”, so build and expand the child’s vocabulary to include frustrated, curious, excited, anxious, nervous, scared and worried etc. and discuss what they may feel like

LEARN

- Learn to recognize what the child’s “normal” is and when something seems off

- Learn from the child by taking turns role-playing different situations to apply some of these lessons

- When role-playing, reverse the roles: the adult can play the child in the situation, and the child can play the adult. This is telling, as you may see how the child interprets or perceives the adult in a situation.

Making the commitment to improve our health literacy, including how to foster positive mental health in our children, is a reality of life in modern society (Pizur-Barnekow, Darragh & Miller, 2016). Having open discussions with our children and teaching them mentally healthy habits helps provide them with a good foundation. Engaging in conversations with parents and community members, as well as sharing information about the importance of mental health is beneficial to us all. If everyone works together with a common understanding, we can support our children and ensure that they will live both physically and mentally healthy lives.

References

American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA]. (August 2016). Occupational therapy services in the promotion of mental health and well-being. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70(Supplement_2),15. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2016.706S05.

American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA]. (2016). Occupational therapy in school settings fact sheet. Bethesda, MD: AOTA Press. Retrieved from http://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/AboutOT/Professionals/WhatIsOT/CY/Fact-Sheets/School%20Settings%20fact%20sheet.pdf

American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA]. (2009). Raising the bar: Elevating knowledge in school mental health. Retrieved from http://www.aota.org/PractitionersProfDev/CE/Aota/Webcasts/School-MH.aspx

Bazyk, S., Demirjian, L., LaGuardia, T., Thomspon-Repas, K., Conway, C., & Michaud, P. (2015). Building capacity of occupational therapy practitioners to address the mental health needs of children and youth: A mixed-methods study of knowledge translation. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(6), 3–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2015.019182

Cahil, S. (2016). AOTA Societal Statement on Youth Violence. Retrieved from https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/AboutAOTA/OfficialDocs/AOTA-Societal-Statement-on-Youth-Violence-final-for-web-posting.pdf

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Children’s mental health. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/basics.html

Pizur-Barnekow, K., Darragh, A. & Miller, C. (2016). AOTA’s societal statement on health literacy. Retrieved from http://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/AboutAOTA/OfficialDocs/Health-Literacy.pdf

Salamat, A., Javaherian-Dysinger, H., Krpalek, D., Parikh, S., Lee, K., Christensen, B., Liu, A.,Ngo, K., Goya, Y. (2016). Perspective of school-based occupational therapy practitioners in addressing students’ mental health needs. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70 (4 Supplement 1), 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2016.70S1-PO5121

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS]. (2010). What to look for. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealth.gov/

Winch, G. (2014). Why we all need to practice emotional first aid [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/guy_winch_the_case_for_emotional_hygiene