It has been weeks since I even thought about reading or writing a blog. With school, work, my son’s transition to sober living, home repairs, and the new puppy; I have not had two minutes to spare it seems.
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving Holiday! We were with my husband’s family this year so it didn’t really seem like Thanksgiving to me only cooking one dish. Part of our day was spent pulling up carpet at his oldest daughter’s new house. We offered to help and that day seemed as good as any for pulling carpet. At my in-laws this year I enjoyed watching all the interactions between them. It is a third generation Italian family, with lots of people and opinions, but no one speaks Italian. I try to stay quiet if I can and just be polite and observe. Thanksgiving and Christmas is held every year at my husband’s mother’s house with 3 brothers and 3 sisters, and all of their families, family friends, and other relatives that attend when they can. As you can imagine it is always a full house and there is no shortage in food on these occasions either. My husband and I rotate holidays between our two families, and we try to host for my family when we can. I was looking forward to the long weekend and getting our house decorated for Christmas, but as it turned out I caught a cold Thursday and I just really didn’t feel like doing much of anything the rest of the weekend to be honest.
Looking forward to the Christmas Holidays always seems to perk me up. I enjoy that one day of the year where everyone comes to our house for a visit and meal. We do Dirty Santa, play with toys and children, laugh, and enjoy the day. We finish the day with a family group picture usually to moans and groans, but I always insist.
I am thankful for my life, loved ones, having employment, health and wellness, being able to quit smoking, my puppy, and this blog! This past year writing this blog has been very helpful in keeping me focused on gratitude and living for today. Reading many other blogs has also helped me, and I am also VERY GRATEFUL for YOU!
I will complete my college English course this week by turning in my Research Paper. I want to share it on my blog because I think it turned out well.
A Beautiful Mind
Life is beautiful, and with all of its beauty and splendor it can also be very difficult and challenging at times. Trying to understand our mind, emotions, feelings, or even random events that happen to us, our loved ones, or innocent bystanders can cause us great stress and sadness. Adults and children alike can struggle with these types of challenges; they do not discriminate within the human race. The lack of emotional and psychological stability and understanding can contribute to adverse reactions such as substance abuse, violence, and suicide. Mental health is important to quality of life, and this does not simply mean the absence of mental illness (School Psychologist). Mental health understanding and support, and life skill solutions that cope with emotions and feelings can help alleviate and prevent psychological instability and the subsequent effects. Psychology has advanced in the past century with many certainties and understandings about our mind, emotions, and feelings. It is time to once again evolve as a society to include this science into the school system. Our society should demand that mental health and life skills are provided to all school children as part of their standard education curriculum.
The learning process is essential to survival whether it be an individual or a culture. As early civilizations became more complex the need for communication through writing and reading led to the evolution of educational goals and processes. Throughout the ages,
educational needs have transformed as society’s needs have changed. What once was only offered to affluent adult men is now available for all children in this society regardless of social standing. Horace Mann and Henry Barnard helped organized and create the statewide “common-school systems” in the 1840s. These men sought to increase opportunities for all children and create common bonds among a diverse population. “They argued education could preserve social stability and prevent crime and poverty” (The History of Education). Our society should move forward with the addition of a mental health and a life skills curriculum today with this same goal. While in college at Morehouse one of the many essays that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote was titled “The Purpose of Education”. In this essay Dr. King said that “Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda. Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society” (King, Jr., Martin Luther). The “mental life” of which Dr. King speaks is the psychology of the mind, where mental health understanding and life skills can help mitigate those processes. We are failing our youth, if we do not address mental health understanding in our primary schools systems.
Special education and school counselors are currently a part of most school systems, but there is no set curriculum for an in-depth study of mental health, emotional stability, and stressors for students in primary education. Usually any psychological information, provided to parents or students in the educational system, stems from either behavioral issues or post tragic events. Amending current school curriculums and preschool standards to include mental
health science could certainly provide for over all understanding and preventative measures. News reports of violence related to mental health issues with our youth seem to be on the rise and much too common place. What was once thought of as a safe haven for our children, schools are now addressing safety issues with security guards, metal detectors, and armed teachers. All of these initial reactionary choices can only provide a Band-Aid to a condition that really needs surgery. “The U.S. Surgeon General estimates that one in five children and adolescents will experience a significant mental health problem during their school years. Some problems are more serious than others, but all children face challenges that can affect their learning and behavior. Schools are ideal settings to provide mental health services to children and youth” (School Psychologists). Preventative programs as part of the general curriculum are needed in addition to school counselors. “School based programs have been found to not only advance the mental wellness of children and youth, but to also improve academic achievement and behavioral functioning, indicating that schools can be a vital resource for psychological services”( Ekund, Vaillancourt, Pedley). Similar to physical fitness, all children should be taught skills to keep them be mentally fit for life as well.
Tragic and violent events like Columbine in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007, and Sandy Hook in 2012 continue to make headlines in our country. Tens of thousands of US students skip school every day because they fear attack or intimidation by other students, and one in three students will be bullied (Sojourner, Hyatt). Forty million Americans ages twelve and older have addiction involving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs (What is Addiction). And, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2012 that there were over forty thousand suicides,
showing suicide on the rise and the tenth leading cause of death for Americans (Understanding Suicide). These statistics share a common factor in mental health with psychological challenges being contributing factors in all of the above. Violence has been addressed as a leading cause of death among young people and a critical public health problem. Learning skills for identifying emotions like anger and expressing those in productive ways can be taught (Prescott).The science of Psychology has evolved throughout the twentieth century to help provide mankind with successful remediation processes that should not be withheld from our youth. These advancements and lessons can transition and prepare our youth for a healthy and less stressful life. Currently there are programs like ACHIEVE (Klotz) and LST (Botvin) that offer curriculums of mental wellness and life skills. These programs focus on social skills, decision making, prevention strategies and wellness promotion, along with specialized and specific need within a community. Some communities in Florida, New York, and California that have already put programs like these in place as non-profit or private sector, but all children need these skills and education.
As a society we are constantly evolving with new understanding, and as society advances so too should our educational system. We have seen in our society how the lack of mental wellness can be a contributing cause to senseless violence and tragic conditions. Schools are well-suited to offer support, develop resilience, and provide comprehensive coping skills (Rossen). “A Beautiful Mind” is a true story about John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, who struggled in college with his extreme intelligence and his frightening delusions. He is quoted as saying,”I need to believe that something extraordinary is possible.” Our society
needs to believe that something extraordinary is possible also. We must evolve and add these kinds of psychological studies and skills to standard primary curriculum, if we hope to prevent tragic events brought on by psychological issues.
