Christmas is right around the corner and mental health professionals are reminding parents to check on their children while they are home for the holidays.
Christmas break is approaching students and professionals say this is the perfect time to address mental health.
According to the World Health Organization 1 in 7 young adults between the ages of 10-19 experience mental health struggles.
These symptoms and triggers increasing during the holiday season. Things to look for can be isolation, irritability and changes in relationship dynamics.
"Check in with your kids and check in with your loved ones, especially with your kids. Kids, teens, adolescents, young adults, they really struggled to express when those boundaries have met when they need a little bit of space from the family because we feel obligated, don't we? We feel so obligated to spend time with family. But we can't spend meaningful time with family. We don't have time to ourselves," Tierney Davenport, said.
Mental Health Professional, Tierney Davenport, UAMS' AR Connect Now, does suggest pinpointing issues and opening the door for meaningful conversations.
"As a parent, like ask yourself like, what did I want when I was a teen? What did I need to hear? What did I need to be asked? Sometimes that's hey, are you doing okay? Like, hey, I would like you to spend time out here. How can I make that easier for you right now? Sometimes it's too loud. Sometimes there's too many people sometimes it could be anything but a lot of these things can be addressed"
It is no secret that many students spend a large amount of time on social media platforms, this time increases when they are home for the holidays.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 90% of U.S. teens use social media, and there was increase of depressive episodes by 206,000 thousand following increased social media use during the pandemic.
With the same downtime mirrored during the schools breaks many teens find themselves comparing their holiday with their peers, triggering anxiety as well as other mental health issues.
Davenport shared solutions. "Reflecting with your teens, or what kind of things do you post on Facebook, Instagram TikTok, like what kinds of things do you present. Is it possible that other people are doing the same thing, and giving the best pieces of themselves as well, really challenging them to kind of process through some of that. And reminding your teens, you know, like what's meaningful," Davenport said.
Davenport suggests never ignoring a mental health issue. It is encouraged to be proactive when getting ahead of a potential crisis.
"When you start seeing it affect little different factors of your life. When your work starts to suffer when your relationships start to suffer. And when, when you really see that start to happen, because being proactive with mental health is much better than being reactive. When you feel like you need a little bit of extra input. A little bit of feedback that's time to call," Davenport said.
AR Connect Now does have free virtual resources for you and your child to try during their time at home. If someone is experiencing a emergency crisis you can contact the suicide hotline at their new number 9-8-8-
For more information on AR Connect Now click here.