There is a lot of news these days about young people and mental health—and most of that news is pretty alarming. To see what we mean, check out the following articles:
- 48% of Young Adults Struggled with Mental Health in Mid-2021
- Children and young people: statistics
- Kids’ mental health is in crisis. Here’s what psychologists are doing to help
- Mental Health Challenges of Young Adults Illuminated in New Report
This news is alarming, yes, but also understandable. Today’s young people have lived through a pandemic, witnessed new kinds of political unrest, worried about war, faced grim facts about climate change, and more. Given those kinds of life experiences, it is not difficult to understand why young people today might be dealing with a range of mental health issues.
Those issues include the various kinds of depression, anxiety and panic disorders, disorders centered on traumatic experiences, and other challenges.
If you have young people in your life, you may find yourself worrying about their mental health. For many adults who have young people they love in their lives, it can be extremely difficult to face up to the idea that those kids might be dealing with a mental health disorder. It is all too tempting to decide that whatever behavior might be signaling a problem is “just a phase.”
Unfortunately, that often simply is not the case. But even after concluding that a child or adolescent might need mental health care, many parents and caretakers are at a loss when it comes to questions like how and where to get help. Maybe you have recently found yourself in that very situation.
If so, we have good news. Peak View Behavioral Health can help—and our summer program may be exactly what you are looking for.
The Peak Navigation Adolescent Summer Program
Young people often do not have sufficient coping skills to navigate challenges in their lives—and parents or caretakers are not necessarily equipped to help kids develop those skills. That is nothing to be embarrassed about, by the way. None of us are necessarily born with a complete set of coping mechanisms, and it is hardly fair to expect adults to pass on skills they themselves have never had the opportunity to learn (this, we should point out, is why mental health treatment is a great idea for many adults, too).
The Peak Navigation Adolescent Summer Program is designed to address this issue. The program is designed for children and adolescents who could benefit from better mental health, more healthy behaviors, and a range of coping strategies.
The program gives young people a chance to forge connections with kids their own age—and it offers plenty of fun, too. After all, having fun is a great way to support your mental well-being.
A Look at the Program’s Details
The Peak Navigation program serves two age groups in what we call “Mind and Body Groups”—youth ages 9 to 12 and adolescents ages 13 to 17. Young people in either age group will have similar experiences in the program.
Those experiences fall—broadly speaking—into three groups: therapy, group activities, and life skills coaching.
Therapeutic approaches include art therapy (which allows young people to support their mental health through creativity), pet therapy (which builds on the positive connections that can be forged between people and animals), and mindfulness practice (which involves learning to stay present in the current moment rather than replaying the past or worrying about the future).
Various group activities build on ideas explored in therapy and also support a range of life skills the program helps young people develop. Those life skills include:
- Practicing good eating habits to support physical and mental health
- Learning coping and emotional regulation skills
- Discovering ways to build healthy relationships and have positive peer interactions
- Addressing peer pressure in effective ways
- Improving communications skills
- Identifying various emotions
- Developing self-care and self-advocacy skills
Three Interlocking Levels of Care
Different kids have different needs at different times—and that is why Peak View Behavioral Health offers a continuum of care options for young people. These include:
- Inpatient care: providing crisis support and stabilization
- Partial hospitalization: providing a full-day program and medication management
- Intensive outpatient care: providing a half-day program
We can help you identify what your child needs in order to experience improvements in their mental health that they can maintain and build upon over time.
We Are Ready to Help This Summer
At Peak View Behavioral Health—located in Colorado Springs, Colorado—we offer personalized mental health care for adolescents, adults, and families. If a young person in your life is struggling, the Peak Navigation program may be just what they need to get back on track in terms of their mental health.
We are also ready and able to help you address your own mental health—which is actually an excellent way to help yourself, the young people in your life, and your entire family. Mental health is important. We are always here to help you take care of yours.
