Caring For Our Kids During A Pandemic

It is our goal at The Fearless Campaign to educate, advocate and bring awareness to mental health issues with a focus on prevention. This goal also include our school aged children. The pandemic has impacted the adults in a way that has crippled our country. The deaths, job losses, civil unrest and uncertainty has caused great mental strife. One additional residual effect of a global pandemic has been school closures. The school closures have been instrumental in helping reduce the curve of Covid 19. However, a stat many are unaware of is 1 in 5 students have a mental health issue that keeps them from learning. If that’s not alarming enough, keep in mind that this statistic is before the pandemic. Now, many months into the pandemic, our kids are increasingly at risk for anxiety, depression and other ailments. It will be especially important to monitor our children during this holiday season. Kids are resilient but still need love and stability to help with the natural maturation process. The Fearless Campaign is providing a few things that could help the navigate the anxiety of kids during the holiday season.

· Allow child to call friends and family on a scheduled occurrence

· Have a hot chocolate and movie night

· Parents can view these challenges as an opportunity for learning and growth. The kids will feed off your energy. The positive and negative.

· How understanding the “porcupine and turtle” concepts can help your child with emotional self-regulation over the holidays

· A simple art activity that can head off challenges over expectations before they arise

· Practical ways to infuse a gratitude practice in your family culture i.e. preparing grandmother’s cake for a neighbor and the importance of love etc

· The importance not just of self-care, but self-compassion for parents

Why We Do What We Do...

When did you become interested in the topic of mental health?

Dr. Marquinta “Que” Harvey

I am an Epidemiologist. My training consists of the many facets including microbiology, behavioral neuroscience, and public health. My primary focus of study is centered around social stress and its subsequent impact on the health of populations. My interest in mental health and brain science began while conducting research in a Behavioral Neuroscience laboratory with Syrian Hamsters. I learned about the neuromechanisms that controlled social stress. Social stress has so many impacts on our expressed behavior, brain receptors, neurochemicals, and even brain structure. I learned stress can exacerbate unhealthy behaviors BUT more importantly I learned there are ways we can do to protect ourselves from the detrimental effects of stress.

Dr. Shannon “J” Jackson

I am a School Psychologist. My training consisted of the many facets of psychology. My primary focus of study centered around helping parents and teachers find optimal learning solutions for their student. During my training I started to research the more contemporary studies of self-multiplicity and how it refers to a person’s normative view of his many manifold aspects of self. The research suggests boys/men have difficulties navigating life in different roles. The varying roles causes conflict and the conflict causes stress to rise and increases the chances of depression. This research intrigued me to find out ways to help our young boys with their emotions and mental health.

The Challenge

When the topic of mental health comes up, the challenges faced by individuals is often poorly understood and many feel lost and ostracized when trying to seek help. Mental Illness is an important issue that affects 1 in 4 individuals and unlike most chronic illnesses the onset occurs early in the life spectrum, usually in adolescence and young adulthood.

The issue of mental health is not limited to individual genetic predisposition and/or behaviors but involves many layers related to individual, family-related, social, economic, and environmental factors. Increased vulnerability and possible future onset of mental illness is complex and often involves the presence of multiple risk factors and the lack of protective factors. This is why it is imperative that we begin the conversation by detailing the breadth and complexity of staying mentally well and decreasing possible risk factors.

It is our goal at The Fearless Campaign to educate, advocate and bring awareness to mental health issues with a focus on prevention. We do not focus solely on diagnosed clinical mental illness but also if you or a loved one has experienced a mental health crisis moment. I think most if not all of us have experienced a crisis moment in our lives. How did you cope with that moment? Did you seek help? Did you know how to access needed resources? We are here to start the conversation and hope our movement will be a resource to many. We can’t do it alone and need your help to spread the word that we are ending the stigma surrounding mental illness and taking action to promote mental wellness. Please take a stand with us and join The Fearless Campaign where we believe “Everyone Has A Story.”

Dr. Que and Dr. J