Charlotte County condos and co-ops may soon see a change to inspections1 injured in crash involving school bus in Bonita Springs
Credit: PDPics/Pixabay COVID-19 has affected all of us in different ways, whether it’s physically or mentally, but one younger generation may have an even harder time dealing with the effects of the pandemic. Experts who spoke with WINK News say how long it takes young people to bounce back might depend on their age. “When you don’t see friends, you don’t see teachers, or people that provide you an outlet, it’s become incredibly difficult for kids to thrive,” said Amy Wimpey Knight, president of the Children’s Hospital Association. “We saw 200 kids a day in person before COVID; we’re seeing 310 kids a day on a screen and 30 in person. So the demand for psychological services in kids has really exploded,” said Dr. Harold Koplewicz, founding president and medical director at Child Mind Institute. But Koplewicz said some groups are harder hit than others. “The first date, the years of training to finally make the football team, the child who wanted to get a lead or get into the chorus of the school play – those things are gone, they can’t get them back.” That’s why he said people between 13 and 24 years of age are suffering the biggest losses, and a lot of them end up in emergency rooms. “What that means is that you’ve really overrun the system of care. It’s not a place that we should be taking care of children’s behavioral health conditions,” Knight said. “We should be far removed from that – dealing with it in a community, dealing with it in a primary care physician’s office, but those have been inaccessible for children during this time.” But even as offices and schools reopen, for some of these kids, the pain of the pandemic remains, creating a new type of long hauler. “We’re thinking a lot about what we call long haulers in adults. And so these are people that will have symptoms for years to come. They’re oftentimes visible symptoms – we need to think of our children in the same way,” Knight said. No matter how long the pandemic drags on, there is hope. “We know that these things are very treatable. We know that with slight management techniques, we can get improvement in symptoms. And if it’s serious, we also know the treatment works for kids with mental health disorders,” Kopewicz said. He said other age groups are less impacted because, for adults, this is a blip we can recover from. Children five to 12 years old are resilient and can make up their academic losses quickly, and kids under five enjoy spending extra time with their families. MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES Warning signs to look out for in your child: Isolation or refusal to attend school; Changes in eating habits; Withdrawal from peers or social activities; Withdrawal from extracurricular activities at school or in the community; and/or Reports of bullying, harassment, or intimidation in school, the community, or on social media. Kids’ Minds Matter: https://kidsmindsmatter.com/ SalusCare has a weekly zoom support group for parents. It’s free and you do not need to be a client. It’s Monday nights at 7. Zoom ID: 975 9545 3712 Password: 488302 SalusCare Emergency Services: 239-275-4242 National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255 Disaster Distress Helpline: www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline Parent/Caregiver Guide for Helping Families Cope with COVID-19: www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/fact-sheet/outbreak_factsheet_1.pdf Smart Social: Monitor your kids online https://smartsocial.com/parental-control-software/ National Association of School Psychologists: School safety and crisis David Lawrence Center website for children If you or a loved one are struggling, you can find support by visiting resources on the NAMI website. For a comprehensive list of resources and organizations, you can visit This is My Brave. For additional tools, including a treatment locator, you can visit the CDC’s mental health web page. FGCU Community Counseling Center https://www.fgcu.edu/mariebcollege/counseling/communitycounseling/ National Alliance on Mental Illness, Collier County namicollier.org National Alliance on Mental Illness, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry counties namilee.org Lee Health – Behavioral Health https://www.leehealth.org/our-services/behavioral-health Lee Health Foundation’s – ‘Kids Minds Matter’ https://leehealthfoundation.org/kids-minds-matter The National Alliance for Caregiving offers a free handbook Circle of Care: A Guidebook for Mental Health Caregivers Collier County Mental Health Court ca.cjis20.org/home/collier Lee County Mental Health Court ca.cjis20.org/home/lee Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance convio.net Local Support Groups: Anxiety and Depression Association of America adaa.org U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Mental Health and Addiction Insurance Help) hhs.gov/programs/topic-sites/mental-health-parity Southwest Florida Resource Link http://www.swflresourcelink.com/services/mental-health–substance-abuse Stop Now And Plan (SNAP) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration https://www.samhsa.gov/ American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: Talking to kids about suicide