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Local doctors: Kids will need more mental health supports this fall

Leader-Telegram - 8/8/2020

Aug. 7--Chippewa Valley students face a turbulent fall. In three weeks, they'll come back to classrooms or begin virtual learning in their homes. Local experts say families need to give kids social time and pay close attention to their mental health.

We might not get clear answers about how the abrupt school closures this spring have impacted kids' mental health for months, said Dr. Jeremy Forster, a pediatrician at Mayo Clinic Health System.

"Anxiety and depression have been increasing, especially in our adolescent population, for quite some time," Forster said in an email to the Leader-Telegram. "How, specifically, the disruption ... affects this troubling trend may not be clear for some time."

There are a couple distinct camps of how kids have reacted to the pandemic, said child psychiatrist Dr. Alison Jones of Marshfield Clinic Health System.

"On one side, kids are actually doing much better," Jones said. "They're able to focus on one-on-one time with parents, away from social or school stressors. Then on the other hand, we're seeing a large increase in kids with depression and anxieties, either about the virus or about their lack of social constructs."

It's the looming uncertainty that faces kids next month -- if they'll go back to school, or stay home for another year -- that's "causing distress in both of those (student) populations," Jones said. "This month and next month will be really difficult for kids, because of all of that unknown."

How, then, to prepare kids for an uncertain fall?

School officials have already begun warning that districts' carefully-calibrated reopening plans could be changed at a moment's notice if the virus flares up.

Parents should brace for that possibility up front, Forster said.

"If we are prepared to be flexible, disruptions in the school structure will be less stressful for all of us," he said.

But nothing can replace hanging out with their friends, Forster said.

"Kids need other kids," he said. "I recommend treating this no different than their homework or chores. Set goals each week as to what we would like to do socially. Sometimes, that can be clubs/sports/get-togethers as disease activity permits. Sometimes that will have to be video chat."

Often, when stressed, people respond by isolating themselves, Forster said: "It may feel right in the moment, but almost never makes us feel better in the long run."

To get to the root of a child's fear or anxiety, parents should watch for changes in behavior patterns, Jones said.

"Noticing if a child is sleeping too much or not enough, and about their eating habits. Are they up-to-date on schoolwork? Are they socializing either electronically or in person? Are they enjoying the things they'd normally enjoy?" Jones said.

If not, check in. Parents might consider being more patient with kids during the pandemic, Jones said.

"They haven't been in school for six months ... that can seem like only a short period of time for adults, but to a kid, it's a fairly significant amount of time," Jones said.

Parents directly asking their kids about their mental health "should not just be a COVID thing," Forster said: "Even just the act of checking in, making sure your child knows that you are concerned about them, can have significant protective effects."

Kids are comforted by familiar routines, especially during stressful periods of time, said pediatrician Dr. Kristin Bencik-Boudreau of Bayshore Pediatrics, at a July 29 Children's Wisconsin healthcare system physician's panel.

"Whether in a virtual learning environment or in-person, kids need to have set bedtimes and awake times ... especially our adolescents," Bencik-Boudreau said. "They're really yearning for that back-to-normal scene. As much as we can give them that, it's so important."

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