An App to Consider: Liberate
Mental health affects everyone differently, but our backgrounds and identities can have us bond over similar experiences and feelings based on our cultures and how others perceive and interact with us.
Category: LINKS
Catching Up on Sleep
Truthfully, the chances that your sleep schedule aren’t the best are quite high. Adolescents in high school and college, despite needing a sufficient amount of sleep, do not get the recommended 8ish hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. There are tons of reasons for this: technology, caffeine, and just being too busy are just a few factors, to name a few.
Weekend Reads: Latino Youth Stories about Their Mental Health
We wanted to use today’s post to highlight personal essays from Latino youth and how their culture and personal experiences have played a part in their mental health and coping mechanisms. Studies and news reports are showing that Latino adolescents and young adults struggled with their mental health throughout the pandemic, and this comes on top of existing reports of increases in depressive symptoms.
Mindshift and CBT
Choosing a therapist can be confusing, and there are so many different types of therapy. A common practice style is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The goal of CBT is to help you identify thought patterns, examine how they affect behavior, and change the patterns that are not helping you.
COVID9Teen
This week, we wanted to do something a little different and draw attention to a contest being run by The Journal of Adolescent Health. If you want to tell more about your story during the pandemic, the journal is seeking any form of written or artistic submissions by young people (who are at least 18 years old).
Queer Adolescents of Color
QPOC, an acronym standing for “queer people of color,” are minorities in several ways. Not only are they racial minorities, but they are also members of the LGBTQ+ community. This intersectionality – the ways that things like discrimination and disadvantages overlap if you belong to more than one marginalized group – can be difficult, especially during adolescence.
Young Athletes and Mental Illness
One of the biggest news stories this week centered around Olympian gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the competition, citing her mental health. She opened up about the pressure that she was facing, especially as the top performer in her sport.
Mental Health America
Recently while doing some research both for school and my own personal curiosity, I stumbled onto the website for Mental Health America. I was interested in looking for different mental health questionnaires and screenings.
Using Your Watch to Practice Deep Breathing
There are tons of breathing and meditation apps available online (we’ve covered a few of them before if you want some suggestions!). If you’re running out of space, unsure which one is best for you, or just want something that’s convenient, finding a tool to help guide you with your breathing to help you get or stay calm may be easier to find than you think.
Using Books to Learn and Cope with Mental Illness
Maybe you’re a bookworm. Maybe you have “reading more” as one of your plans for the summer. Maybe you read as a hobby and use it as a form of stress relief when you need a break from school and/or work. Whatever the reason, you may be on the lookout for something new to read.
