Take time to talk to kids about mental health

It’s never easy to have tough conversations with kids. That’s why Austin Public Health is launching a public service campaign called “Ask, Listen, Talk, Repeat,” in the hopes of raising awareness of mental health issues in children and teens. The campaign encourages parents and caregivers to have “critical conversations” with young people, “a generation that is sometimes forgotten when discussing mental health.” Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County’s health authority, points out that in the last few years kids have “been besieged by several factors from losing time with friends due to the pandemic to the rise in usage of social media. Let’s start our response with simple conversations. Take the time to talk with your kids about how they are feeling and pay attention to changes in behavior.” According to Austin Public Health, national studies show that “one in six children in the United States experience a mental health disorder and that nearly 50 percent of all lifetime mental illnesses begin by the age of 14.” Those are sobering statistics. Find resources at the campaign website, AskListenTalk.org, and a mental health toolkit here.