Organizations and what you all do, the services to the community that you all provide . Karen, would you like to start . Sure. Every mind is an organization thats been in Montgomery County for about 60 years, and we provide community and schoolbased interventions in terms of Mental Health and social services. We provide education and advocacy on particular issues that affect the community. We run the 24hour hotline, text and chat line in Montgomery County. We have a veterans program, we have a seniors program. So we really try to provide services to folks across the life span. All right. Piper . Yes. Phillips programs for children and families, were celebrating our 50th anniversary, and we serve children and their families throughout the entire metro d. C. Area, so well into maryland and virginia and the district as well. We do that through a couple of different programs. We have three school programs, nonpublic special Mental Health issues in those programs. We also have what are called homebased services. Okay. So a family where a child is theres some kind of a disruption and it could impact the family being able to stay intact. We have our workers who will go into the home and work with the family, build on their strengths and create the resiliency to keep that family intact. So thats another service that we provide. And then we have a big emphasis on career and tech education, and we are doing that through a couple of very innovative, creative programs. Our latest is a culinary arts urban agriculture program. Thats cool. A 3d design and print, and Building Trades where the kids are building houses. Those are preparing them for all of the soft job skills that you need to be able to go out and work beyond school. So lets dive into what is kind of like this new this new year thats upon us. We are trying to get back into a rhythm of things. Weve had a couple of snow days, some cancellations and some delays, but barring that the kids have been home for a little bit over the break, enjoying time with parents. Maybe during that time parents have noticed Something Different in their child, whether it is attitude or body language or how theyre communicating, both, you know, through devices or just personal interaction or lack thereof. If kids are going back to school and parents have this something, like theyre not the same, what should parents be i guess should it raise a red flag . What is just kids being kids . But were dealing in a very different time and era now and i think everybodys antennas are a little more alert than they used to be. Karen . I think it is important for families to go with their gut. If they see a change in their child that doesnt feel right, that doesnt seem right, then on first of all. So i think a lot of times parents are reluctant to maybe not overreact or, you know, i dont want to see something that might not really be there. It is okay. If it doesnt feel right, then theres a chance that theres something not right. I also think it is really important that they talk about it. So often families are concerned, what if i ask them if theyre worried about hurting themselves, is that going to plant the idea in their head. You know, Research Shows that thats not the case, that talking about things is so important with your student that if you dont do that, you dont let them know that it is okay to have the feelings that theyre having and that theres somebody there who cares and is willing to listen and help them. Piper, you want to chime in on this . Yes. And i think absolutely you need to be having the discussions and thats how youre going to get a sense, you know, is something going on, is there something thats bothering you. Talking with the schools, with the guidance counsellor, with th if theres something going on there and, you know, one of the great ways is being the driver and the kids are in the back seat and theyre talking and oblivious to the fact that youre there. Youre listening. You need to be listening to what is going on and talking i think with other parents as well to assess, you know, is there something that i need to be concerned. All right. Hang with me. We have so much more to get to after the break here on news 4 your sunday. We are talking specifically about our children and their Mental Health in this new year. Stay with us when news 4 your sunday continues right after this. Iand i like these awardwinning cheddar puffs. First place. Both events . Booyah were an awards family. Youll like them both but love our price. Awardwinning organic cheddar puffs from aldi. Simply smarter shopping. Before we start, i just want to say if anyone still doesnt have fios, please stay out of the way so your lag doesnt get us all killed, ben. Whats so good about fios anyway . Twork that makes your gaming system actually work awesomely . Hey. Did you take out the trash . Haha, garbage boy dad, i already took out ben. Its not funny. Gaming is best on a 100 fiberoptic network. So get fios. Now, just 79. 99 per month with a 2year price guarantee with a 2year agreement. Welcome back to news 4 your sunday at nbc 4. We are committed to changing minds, and on this sunday we are talking specifically about the Mental Health of our children. I am join by karen duffy of every mind and Piper Phillips cal thank you both, ladies, for joining us. We were talking about noticing some changes in our children now that weve had this break, over the holidays and kids are getting back in school and were trying to get back in the rhythm of things. Would you call these behavior issues or differences in our childrens moods that we have noticed over this break that should raise a flag for us that there is something we need to discuss here or perhaps some guidance in an area that we may not know about . I think one of the most important pieces is knowing your child at baseline. Okay. What is normal behavior for your child . Then when you start to see things that are very different in them, other children may already behave that way and thats okay. But if it is new behavior for your child, it is a red flag. We are looking at things like changes in appetite, changes in sleep patterns, maybe not engaging in activities that previously, you know, they them away from doing those things. They stopped doing them, theyre not interested. Maybe interactions with friends and family members, theyre isolating more, spending more time on their social media or on the computer, and just sort of not interacting with the rest of the world. I think those are first and foremost the signs you would see, assuming those things are, in fact, different for your child. Piper, would you say theres anything in particular . I guess is there a difference between, you know, outward signs for children as opposed to adults when were dealing with and talking about Mental Health issues . Is there a difference between the two . Well, i think you can also see more significant kinds of indicators, and it kind of depends where your child fits on the whole spectrum of Childhood Development and what theyre manifesting. What we may often see and what will bring some students to our programs are School Running away. Okay. Substance use. All of these pretty serious kinds of behaviors that are going to impact that child and do need to be addressed. So looking for that, being cognizant of what is it that your child is doing, where are they going, who are they with, what are they like when they come back, you know, those are sometimes considered coping mechanisms that theres really something very serious underlying. Were not necessarily i think we are both talking about children who are already potentially receiving some level of services and others who may not yet as well. So it is such a large topic to let me ask you, let me see if we can pinpoint this. From the services that you all are providing to our community, to the children in our community, is there of . Does this target a particular, you know, age bracket . Is it middle schoolers, is it High Schoolers or are we seeing Young Children battling tough issues . From our perspective, absolutely. A lot of the work that we were originally doing was prevention and Early Intervention type work. Now we realize a lot of the kids that are coming to us are younger and younger and having more and more. What is younger and younger . We are working with second and third graders with significant trauma background, and it is coming out in their behavior and at home. I think what most parents are worried about is as their child reaches middle school and high school and hit adolescence, what is normal at that age. There are so many other factors coming into play at that age, is it a a behavioral issue, is it just going through adolescence. I think thats why parents are reluctant to follow through because they dont know how to differentiate between what is what. Right. And society is so different now, school is very different now from when i went to school and when our parents went to school. We are dealing with things and talking about things thai dont know if they werent talked about as much or that they werent as prevalent as they are now. A lot has to do with social media, and that is a topic we will dive into right after this break. Stay with us, with much more for news 4 your sunday coming up. Welcome back to news 4 your sunday. Now we are talking about a topic that is present in all of our lives, social media. Useful tool, but it can also be detrimental for a lot of different reasons. Were going to talk with our Mental Health, specifically for our children. It is so easy now, especially at school kids are now really all computerbased. Almost every kid i see has a phone, so that means theyve got a facebook or theyve got a snapchat or an instagram and or probably all of them. Piper, let me ask you, in the services that you all provide how prevalent is social media in the discussions that youre having with these children . Right. Well, it certainly is. However, we have a practice that the students are unable to have access to their phones during the school day. It is not something that theyre really able to navigate and negotiate. They need a lot of assistance with that. So it is not prevalent in the school buildings. However, things happen outside of school. Right. And they get carried in as a result of social media. We have ratio in terms of counsellor and staff with our students who address these kinds of ongoing issues with the social media in terms of how do you communicate, how do you not get something to just kind of go further and further and escalate. Do you think that children karen, you can chime in on this. Do you think that children that you all are seeing, the topic of causing selfharm, how does that idea get planted . Is that something that they are seeing on social media and mimicking . It is not uncommon, weve reported on it, things that you find on youtube, on snapchat, is it because theyre seeing it there and carrying it into their own personal lives or what is the influence there . I think a large part of it is cutting and doing other kinds of selfharm, theres a sense of relief there. They do this because it relieves some sort of inner struggle that theyre facing. So they do it, they feel better, and then they get on to social media and sort of share, wow, im feeling better and this has happened. Theyre sharing these experiences, not that theyre hiding . No. Not a lot of students hide it shockingly enough. I would think that they would want to, but i think somehow it becomes a more effective way to release your stress, a more acceptable way. So the students are sharing that this is happening. It is accepted amongst their peers and theyre getting this instant gratification through likes and shares and mentions and so forth. Well, because of the like it normalizes it. Gee, theyre doing it and shes doing it and hes doing it, so why not . Maybe that will help me feel better. I think you see some copy cat kind of behaviors. From an experts opinion, is that a different conversation parents need to have with their children and some restrictions and parameters that need to be placed on phones, on the use of social media to perhaps not go further and further down the rabbit hole in having these indepth discussions about Mental Health and serious issues like cutting and suicide . Right, exactly. Yes, there should be restrictions on it. But what you do want to do then is turn it around and have use that as an opening to have a conversation with your child or with your student. How does it make you feel when you see this . What is your reaction to it . All right. What do youhi done about it, and get it out in the open, not kind of keep it quiet. Okay. I think one of the programs that i oversee is learning, and while that program is designed to provide intervention in the school system, we also do a lot of parent education. You know, i felt really great when i learned how to do facebook, right. Now the kids can are moving on to all sorts of things that i cant figure out. I think it is important for parents to realize that that needs to be an open conversation. Right. An open dialogue with your student. It is okay to say, i want to see what youre doing online. I want to have control over that. I want us to have conversations about it. Sure. And if you start your student with that expectation right, as the expectation. Exactly. Then i think you have a much better chance of intervening when the time comes. All right. And it may perhaps theres a time where the environment is no longer conducive to the Students Learning and to their Mental Health, to their wellness, and were going to talk about coming up next on news 4 your sunday what happens when you Start Talking about changing schools. Stay with us for that. Z2l2xz z16fz y2l2xy y16fy welcome back to news 4 your sunday. We are talking about our childrens Mental Health and we hope it doesnt get to this, but there may be a point where as a parent you say, you know what, this school is no longer conducive to my childs learning, the friends that he or she is around, you know, no longer good for them to associate with and i have to start looking at possibly some other schools to send my children to. Piper, this is an area that phillips specializes in, so talk to me about some alternatives for parents to consider. Right. Well, it is a fairly complex process because if you are looking for a student that has special education needs, then you need to go through your Public School and theres a whole process. You can get help with that through them and through the parent information and training center, the pt offices throughout the country. It is important that you are looking at really what is it in terms of the health and wellness that schools are going to be offering your child when you are looking. So there are lots of schools in this area, tons of them. They have open houses. You need to get out and visit them. You need to network with parents and talk with them. Just because it is the right program for their child doesnt mean it is the right one for yours. If you feel like you need help, there are Educational Consultants who make this their business, and it is important that they get the placements correct. So theyre a good source as well. But looking at programs provide the kinds of supports and instill environments that are going to be conducive to what that particular students needs are. Maybe they have a lot of anxiety. Right. So how is that addressed in that program . So it is good as a parent to go with like a list of, this is where i think my child really needs some extra support and does that match up with what this school offers. Right. Are they compatible there . Right, yes. Okay. Karen, you talked about the Hotline Services that your Organization Provides in Montgomery County. I want to make sure we have that information for our viewers, phone, text. It is not just for the parents, but it is also for the students. This is a Wonderful Service that you guys provide. Talk to us about that. Absolutely. It is 24 7 365 theres always someone on the other end of the line to provide supportive listening, resources, information. Support. We can do that. We can provide resources and information and referral for families in need. It is really designed to be a space where people can call or text or go online and chat, whatever is most comfortable for them, and get the help that they need. And theres not a time frame limit on that . The operations arent from this hour to this however, it is whatever . Exactly. Thats incredible. Is that service only for Montgomery County residents only . It is not. It is a 301 number but theres also an 800 number as well, so it is not tied to a specific area. We try to maintain a database of resources that are applicable. Do we have that number . Can we put that up . We will try to get some of that information online. Im happy to share that as well. What do you think, are you hearing more from the students that are reaching out to you guys through text, through phones, or is itth what we have found, what our data shows is that students are making use of the text line, which doesnt surprise any of us im sure. No, which is great. Theyre using it, thats wonderful. Absolutely. It is interesting to see the times of days theyre texting with us the most. It is during their lunch time at school. Really . Right after school, at the end of the day when theyre going home. Maybe something happened that theyre upset about. It is interesting to look at the data and make sure were providing enough resources for students when they need us the most. We talked about this initially as parents. If you are feeling some hesitation in how to approach that conversation, that theres somebody on the opposite side of this line that is totally comfortable with handling the tough questions. Karen duffy and Piper Phillips caswell, thank you both for joining us on this edition of news 4 your sunday. Well see you next time. Before we start, i just want to say if anyone still doesnt have fios, please stay out of the way so your lag doesnt get us all killed, ben. Whats so good about fios anyway . Twork that makes your gaming system actually work awesomely . Hey. Did you take out the trash . Haha, garbage boy dad, i already took out ben. Its not funny. Gaming is best on a 100 fiberoptic network. So get fios. Now, just 79. 99 per month with a 2year price guarantee with a 2year agreement. Announcer news4 today starts now. 6 00 on the dot on this sunday morning. And right now on news4 today, freezing cold temperatures caused chaos at howard university. Ruptured pipes, heating issues, and now classes delayed for days. And hitting restart on 2018. President trump heads to camp david to set his agenda but still dodged by concerns over his fitness for office. And bundle up, and then up and up and up and up, and then put another layer on and then bundle up again, because freezingcold temperatures, Winter Weather plaguing our area and the rest of the country. Maybe you heard about it. Yeah. Its a little bit cold outside. Just a