Prevention101

I was diagnosed with mental illness. Can I live a normal life?

People living mental illness are often ashamed or even afraid to tell others what they are going through. They are worried about the judgments people will make about them if they knew that they are taking medication or seeing a therapist. It is important for people to remember that there is no shame in getting help with mental illness, like depression, obsessive- compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and there are many different types of help in today’s world.


Continue reading “I was diagnosed with mental illness. Can I live a normal life?”

Why Are So Many Teens Self Medicating Today?

Anxiety and depression in preteens and teenagers are more prevalent today than five years ago. One potential contributing factor that has increased dramatically in the last five years is children’s access to social media from a very young age. By fifth grade, many children have cell phones, which provide almost constant access to social media. By the time they are teenagers, they have been exposed to social media for several years.

Continue reading “Why Are So Many Teens Self Medicating Today?”

What is the Best Way to Educate My Child?

There are many opinions as to what education really is. If you ask ten different people, you will might get ten different answers. Shimon Waronker, EdD, believes an education is primarily the development of character traits in a child.

If children are resilient, courageous, humble, and empathetic, then a parent has succeeded because no matter what challenge is thrown at them, they will have the tools they need to meet that challenge and overcome it. Character traits are critical in education and are really primary to academics. A lot of people will say, “What do you mean? Education is all about the academics!” But in truth, academics are secondary to the development of positive traits because a child with no resilience will give up and quit, and it makes no difference what challenging course material they receive—they will always have a propensity to quit.

Continue reading “What is the Best Way to Educate My Child?”

What is bullying? What is the difference between aggressive behavior and bullying?

The term bullying is used frequently, and while there certainly is a great deal of bullying happening, it is important to know that bullying is a very specific type of aggressive behavior. Very often children fight over things. Two children want the same ball on the playground, or two children want to be first down the slide. This is fighting between two peers of equal power. It is not bullying. It may be behavior that we want to work on, but it isn’t bullying.

Bullying is the deliberate abuse of power to harm another person. There are three critical components in that definition, so let’s consider each of them:

Continue reading “What is bullying? What is the difference between aggressive behavior and bullying?”

What are some tools parents can use to help protect their kids from drugs?

In the field of substance abuse prevention, there is a concept known as protective factors. These are conditions or behaviors present in an individual’s environment that decrease his or her chances of falling prey to addiction and other risky behaviors. The following are some protective factors that parents can provide, no matter the age of their children.

Continue reading “What are some tools parents can use to help protect their kids from drugs?”