One Community, One Family Promotes Support of Children and Family

In recognition of Child Mental Health Awareness Day on Thursday, May 7th, One Community, One Family would like to share some tips with the citizen’s of Ohio County on nurturing children’s emotional well-being. We often talk about how to stay healthy physically. Remember, mental health is important too and the best medicine is prevention! Stay alert, parents! With the busyness of life and the stress of economic downturn, parents can become self-focused and accidentally overlook the state of their children.
Be aware of how your children are feeling. If you see a change that concerns you, pay attention and activate your investigation skills! Ask your child questions, let them talk, help them find the source and nurture them back to a healthy state.
Exercise is proven to increase good mental health! Take a walk with your child, ride bikes, toss ball, go swimming, play tennis, go fishing; get active and you will both feel good!
Know where your children and youth are at all times. Provide safe places and safe activities for their enjoyment. Know their friends and know the parents of other children. Summer is coming, what will your children be doing?
Support your child’s school and reinforce the safe & drug free message. Be interested in your child’s school work, monitor their grades and keep open communication with teachers.
Do your best to provide a safe home with nutritious meals, adequate sleep, healthy rules, boundaries and constructive discipline.
It takes a county to raise a child! Every citizen of Ohio County should do their best to provide children with a safe community. You can ask a youth to volunteer with you, read a book to a child, take a walk, talk to young people about being drug-free and the risks and results of destructive behaviors. Tell them your story.
When you hear about the accomplishments of children and
youth or read about them in the newspaper, send a personal note to congratulate them. Positive behaviors deserve positive feedback; if you are proud of a child, tell them.
Empowering families! Since many children have mental health struggles that are real, painful and sometimes severe, a variety of resources are available in Ohio County to support them and provide services. However, a family who faces the challenge of dealing
with multiple agencies can become overwhelmed.
One Community, One Family is a system of care that promotes communication between all entities by providing an advocate, called a Resource Facilitator, to a struggling family. The facilitator helps the family develop a unified plan and form a team that may include friends, family, teachers, social workers, probation officer, clergy, school staff, employer and others.
Through service providers and support people coming together for meetings, services can become more efficient and more cost effective.
For more information about One Community, One Family, call Brenda Konradi at 513-520-6574. Take action! Now it’s your turn to recognize Child Mental Health Awareness Day on May 7th. One Community, One Family encourages you to find one way to support a child or youth in Ohio County and then tell someone about it!