New Child Safety

Feature

WELLNESS: Child Mental Health: Have You Ever Considered Natural or Alternative Therapies.

A great deal of our focus while our children are newborn babies and young toddlers is their physical well-being. As parents we are striving to create nurturing homes, safe schools and caring communities and when our children are young, keeping them physically well and safe from harm is a full-time job. In addition to a child's physical well-being, some parents are also concerned with mental health and well-being. Children experiencing ADHD, anxiety or depression require care and environments that support their particular experience. For parents, considering medical care, education, social activities and other aspects of their child's life is challenging. There are debates surrounding whether or not to use medication in treating ADHD. Many clinicians and parents strongly advocate the use of medication and have had notable improvements. For others, a natural and holistic approach of diet, exercise and complementary or alternative therapies is a better choice for their child for a number of reasons. Either choice requires a network of clinicians (either using traditional or alternative therapies), social support and good information for parents so they may make the right decisions for their child, and once made have the knowledge and support to put to use all the options they have to help their child either overcome or manage a mental health issue.

There are a number of ways to treat and manage children's mental health issues and not all traditional care providers and the different approaches agree on what to do. However there are a number of resources to use from your family doctor, specialists and other clinicians you can use to get the information you need. Many of us are fortunate to have a family doctor, local health clinic or community care facility where we can go to get information and ask questions. In some cases, it is more difficult to know what to do if you are thinking or wanting to follow a natural and holistic approach. Of course, both approaches do not need to exist separate from each other. In fact, some of the best and most successful outcomes for parents are when a combination of treatments and therapies are used from both traditional and alternative therapies. The links below provide both very basic and in-depth resources for you.

Here at the NCS, we decided to feature recent research in the area of mental health and nonprescription therapies. We are not advocating discarding the use of prescription therapy. Rather, we wanted to present information that we felt was more difficult for parents to get and provide a useful starting point for parents who knew they wanted to pursue alternatives therapies but was still at the stage where they needed more information. Even locating a good alternative therapist is a daunting task for some. Below we are providing options for resources for parents to consider.

Very Basics: Child's Mental Health

Canadian Mental Health Association

Diverse information across several topics for children along with resources for the family http://www.cmha.ca/BINS/content_page.asp?cid=2-29

American Psychiatric Association:

Link provides are basic description of Depression and ADHD in children with links about helping children cope with stress http://healthyminds.org/More-Info-For/Children.aspx
Mental Health Issues Specific to Older College Age Students http://healthyminds.org/More-Info-For/College-Age-Students.aspx

MedlinePlus

Child Mental Health http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/childmentalhealth.html
Teen Mental Health http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/teenmentalhealth.html

In-Depth: Complementary or Alternative Healing

The Family Guide to Holistic Care for a Healthy Mind and Body (Kathi J. Kemper, MD, FAAP)

Dr. Kemper presents a great deal of information on alternative treatments for depression, anxiety, stress and substance abuse. Her work discusses both children and teens and a number of ways to treat and manage mental health issues through a number of lifestyle and environmental perspectives such as nutrition and stress management. For parents, she specifically covers the advocate role and provides resources that are required in the area of complementary therapies, which many parents are interested in doing for their child.
The videos
The link

Global Perspective

World Health Organization Publicaiton: Atlas: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Resources (pdf) presents information on country resources dedicated to child and adolescent mental health and specifically discuss the disadvantage in the developing world http://www.who.int/mental_health/resources/child/en/index.html