Health tips and mental health tools for the back-to-school family from IHC Primary Children’s Hospital

As families gather school supplies, backpacks and clothes to prepare for the upcoming school year, the experts at Intermountain Children’s Hospital recommend adding to your back-to-school list: health tips and wellness tools mental health back to school to ensure your child has a good start to the school year.

Preparing for your child’s health includes getting well-child visits, getting needed vaccinations, and familiarizing yourself with Intermountain Health’s GermWatch.org, which tracks emerging illnesses and provides tips for families about help children when they are sick.

A well-child check-up can help ensure children’s physical and mental health, and includes a physical exam, growth tracking, and age-appropriate assessment of cognitive, social, and emotional development. emotional and behavioral, infancy through adolescence.

During these evaluations, health providers can also discuss with the patient and their family about the child’s emotional and behavioral concerns, educational well-being and social needs related to health.

These tests and examinations are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics to promote good health for children of all ages and developmental stages.

Well-child visits also include important immunizations, growth tests, vision and blood pressure screenings, and other guidance for parents to help children stay healthy when they start school.

Vaccines are also available at local health departments, and may be covered by families who qualify for the Vaccines for Children Program.

The vaccine can protect children of different ages from the following diseases:

• Influenza
• HPV
• Measles
• Mumps
• Rubella
• The body of the day
• Tetanus
• Whooping cough (pertussis)
• Polio
• Hepatitis A and B
• Varicella (chickenpox)
• Haemophilus influenzae type B (HIB)
• Neisseria meningitis
• I’m pregnant
• COVID.

If your child is sick, or you’re wondering what infectious diseases are circulating in Utah, GermWatch.org provides detailed maps and graphs showing disease activity levels.

It also contains information about specific illnesses such as the flu, RSV, and other viruses, how they are spread, how they are treated, and what you can do to help your child feel better. better.

“It’s normal for children to feel anxious about the changes of going back to school, and it’s important for families to talk to their children about their feelings, what to expect, and set strategies that will be help transition into the school year,” said Amanda Choudhary. , senior director of pediatric behavioral health at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.

“We also want to help parents recognize the signs of when their child needs help, and what resources are available to them,” Choudhary added. “The number of children in need of mental health support often begins to increase when students return to school, and we don’t need to wait until a crisis hits. Help is available – and more help is on the way.”

There are ways to make your child successful with their mental health when school starts.

One in five children between the ages of 3 and 17 nationwide face a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral problem. Additionally, suicide remains the leading cause of death for young people in Utah. Last year, 43% of Utah youth who were feeling sad, hopeless, or suicidal reported that they didn’t talk to anyone about it.

Here are mental health resources recommended by experts at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital for all Utah parents to add to their back-to-school lists to prepare for the upcoming school year:

Contents of mental health toolkit and checklist:

1. Preparation – Prepare your child for mental health success:

• Create routines that include sleep times, meal times, active and focused times, and how much time should be spent on mobile devices and social media.
• An example of enthusiasm about school. Talk to your child about the exciting things about the school year, whether it’s new shoes or a new teacher, or plan to hide a fun note in their bag every day.
• Help your child see in advance what to expect, such as going to the bus stop, visiting the school in advance, and when and where you will see them after school.
• Talk about the day, accepting and validating their feelings, and discussing what helps them feel calm during difficult times.

2. Be aware – Know these signs of distress:

• Changes in behavior or mood. This includes isolation or withdrawal from friends or activities, and eating habits
• Inability to tolerate or recover. If your child comes home crying one day, it’s a good sign that he can talk to you or show you how he’s coping with a difficult recovery. But if your child struggles for a long time or is restless, and can’t recover from a difficult day, that’s a big concern.
• Always a struggle. Difficult days can happen. But if difficult days happen every morning, or several times a week, or your child avoids school, try to get support.

3. Resources available – Know where to get help:

Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital “Talk to Tweens” tools. These tools, from experts at Intermountain Children’s Hospital, can help parents and teachers start conversations with children and help them better recognize, express and manage their emotions. The free “Talk to Tweens” resources, downloadable in English and Spanish at TalkToTweens.org and hableconsusjovenes.org, include conversation starters, a downloadable Idea Wheel, and additional tips for families.

Free Assessment, Referral, Consultation Service (ARCS): 801-313-7711. This nationwide service can help families learn about and connect with services available for children near their communities.

Home Improvement and Free Response: 1-833-SAFE-FAM. This service sends a team into homes in times of need to help stabilize vulnerable children.

National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988. This resource offers free support if you or someone you love, an adult or a child, is in trouble.

SafeUT tool. This is a free app that provides a crisis intervention hotline for students, parents or guardians, and teachers, with live chat and a private phone line.

Pediatric Disorders Assessments Available 24/7. The facility is available in the emergency departments at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital’s Salt Lake City and Lehi campuses.

Inpatient programs at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. These programs are located at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital locations, including the Miller Family Campus in Lehi, the Salt Lake Campus, the Wasatch Canyons Campus in Taylorsville, and the nearby Intermountain Regional Hospital in St. George.

Call 911 or take your child to the nearest hospital emergency department. Use this tool in case of self-harm, suicide attempt, or any other life-threatening emergency.

In addition, Intermountain Children’s Health is expanding much-needed mental health services for children and youth in crisis at the new Intermountain Primary Children’s Behavioral Health Center set to open in Taylorsville in 2025.

The 90,000-square-foot facility will include:

• An increase of about 50% in patient beds
• Center for foot problems
• The first state mental health center to provide mental health care specifically designed for youth with autism and various neuro needs.
• Family-centered health care, including the ability for parents to sleep at night
• Outpatient facilities designed for intensive outpatient treatment, day treatment and group therapy programs.

Behavioral health is one of the key areas under Primary Promise, Intermountain’s historic campaign to build a national health system for children. Philanthropic support is still needed to help complete the new facility, help more children grow up stronger, and even save lives.

To learn more visit primarychildrens.org.

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