‘Healthy Minds, Successful Kids’: The California Model for Helping Children with Mental or Learning Disorders

Why the California Healthy Minds, Successful Kids project? The answer is simple: the 20% of children Californians have been diagnosed with a mental health or learning disorder. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed every child in the state (and the world) to unprecedented stress: traumatic experiences, financial and learning losses, and ongoing uncertainty.

“They have never been so necessary basic mental health skills like now”, explain the experts from the Child Mind Institute, which in collaboration with the California state authorities has created a series of free videos, based on evidence, accompanied by study guides, also available for parents, educators and students.

One of the first, understand the feelingsis aimed at school-age children, and takes them on a journey in which they learn to perceive, identify and share their emotions with other people, no longer being distracted by the circumstances of what is important that we are feeling. Sharing is important, it assures the children of the story, because it creates a growing trust with our loved ones.

The following points to a sensitive topic for many children: how develop the ability to calm down in situations that challenge, frighten and stress them, such as exams, delivery of qualifications, training and competitions, winning and losing. Who to ask for help? Where to find answers?

The protagonists are a community of hedgehogs who, along with other animals, go through their school life, exploring friendship, birthday parties, sports festivals and graduations, all situations that children face with emotion, but that can also produce insecurity, fear, impatience, anger and disappointment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GngH5iKM_hs

With tenderness, the narrators and the children tell the stories of the hedgehogs, including that of Juan, a very organized hedgehog who still does not have quills, and that is why he is experiencing emotions that surpass him. So he turns to his emotional emergency backpack or personal care backpack, a tool created by him for those moments when everything seems to get out of control. There he has his favorite foods and toys, and also a music player to listen to the sounds that make him feel good.

It is possible to see the videos on the ChildMind.org page, on their channel of Youtube or also download them. Together with them, the family or school can obtain worksheets to reinforce the basic skills that the “Healthy Minds, Successful Children” program wants to encourage:

• Understand the feelings. They will learn that a better understanding and recognition of their emotions can be an important first step in coping with difficult situations in a healthy way and maintaining deeper relationships.
• relaxation skills. Students will learn specific relaxation skills, such as slow breathing, that they can use when experiencing intense or uncomfortable emotions.
• Understand the thoughts. Students will learn about the connections between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and how they can change thought patterns to make them more useful.
• Manage intense emotions. Students will learn to recognize and manage intense emotions without giving in to the urge to act impulsively, which can exacerbate problems.
• Cultivate mindfulness. Students will learn how paying attention to the present moment can increase self-awareness, improve decision-making, and help manage uncomfortable emotions.

All videos and materials are available in both English and Spanish. There are introductory shorts for families and educators. Skill sheets summarize key ideas and present an activity that can be practiced at school or at home.

The Child Mind Institute explains that this set of free, print and video resources is evidence-based and can be used to teach children skills needed at this time to take care of their mental health and learn to cope with difficult situations.

Based on the clinical experience of the Child Mind Institute

All project resources were developed under the direction of Dr. Harold Koplewicz, child and adolescent psychiatrist, founding president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute, and led by David Anderson, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, and Janine Domingues , Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology from the University of Connecticut.

For children to enjoy the short films, they hired a bilingual creative team. The two casts worked together on the production. In the Spanish version, the Emmy winner and Spanish journalist Raquel Marvez, the former creative producer of Sesame Street and video games Magaly Villacorta-Faria, actor Danny Pino, comedian Hari Kondabolu and actor J. Carlos Flores, among others.

But this is not a production just for school children. In the section for students there are versions of each theme according to age, whether for intermediate (middle schoolers) and high school students (high schoolers). Through a series of conversations, adolescents and young people talk about how they have experienced situations of loss, migration and frustration, and also occasions in which they have felt injustice towards them.

Materials for children can be developed with the help of caregivers or educators, and adolescents can work with them with a little more independence, and learn to make successful personal decisions as a product of a healthier mind and more ownership of themselves. (EITHER)