This webinar included a panel of experts discussing parents’, teens’, and preteens’ digital technology and social media use and its relation to mental health. Panel members were asked to discuss current patterns of social media use by parents and youth, and share about the potential for both positive and detrimental effects of social media, including the role of technology and social media in supporting social connectedness and awareness, while also contributing to mental health challenges. Panelists suggested approaches to social media use that incorporate mindfulness and support well-being.
In this lecture, learn trauma-informed mindfulness strategies that empower youth by reshaping trauma reactions. The 3 co-founders of the Holistic Life Foundation discuss how accessible mindfulness and yoga have proven benefits in reducing stress, enhancing feelings of self-worth and self-love, and creating a sense of resilience and optimism. They also explore how the brain processes stress, intrusive thoughts, and negative self-talk. The co-founders aim for participants of the lecture to come away with a deeper understanding of mindfulness and yoga for addressing trauma and supporting positive mental health in youth.
Dr. Denese Shervington has an intersectional career in public health and academic psychiatry. This presentation utilizes the Social Ecological Model to explore the impact of interpersonal, community, institutional, and societal factors on individual-level behaviors in minoritized children, especially those living in poverty and experiencing racial oppression. A Healing Justice framework which expands upon current evidence-based models of screening and treatment to include ancestral and indigenous practice-based evidence and wisdom is offered as a method of transformational healing for minoritized children and their families.
Parenting can be challenging at the best of times, let alone parenting children through war or refugee contexts. Global conflicts entail many changes for children and their families, with the potential for acute and longer-term impact on well-being and mental health. What can we do to help? Effective parenting can act as a protective shield against the difficulties that children face in challenging times.
This session with Dr. Christina Bethell presented new research and approaches to promote child and family well-being using a positive approach to health that fosters self, family and community-led healing of the trauma and adversity concentrated in many of our families and communities today.
Drawing on extensive doctoral research and professional practice, this lecture with Dr. Angel Acosta invites participants into an exploration of how practitioners and scholars have deliberately integrated the notion of healing into K-12 curricula and professional education.
