School is Starting, Kids are Psychologically Messed Up, and We All Need to Help
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09/06/21 • 48 min
1 Listener
COVID has been traumatic for young people. For a year and a half now, it’s either been impossible to go to school or the place that they go to doesn’t match what they used to know as school. The virus may have caused severe illness or death in their families. It’s a frightening time for all of us and especially so among the youngest and most vulnerable. So as in-class education really begins again in earnest, what’s the state of these people showing up to the classrooms and how can we, not just as parents or teachers but members of society, help?
We speak with Ruby Ramirez, principal in the Dallas Independent School District, about how she prepared her school for the state of mind the students are returning with. One thing that’s helped everyone feel better? Masks. Yep, the things that made everyone so uncomfortable in the earlier days of COVID now give students a sense of security in the classroom and hallways.
Masks are a big deal for Dr. Robin Gurwitch as well. She’s a psychologist and Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and she points out that one of the best ways to recover from our societal trauma is to stop the virus itself. To do that, wear your dang masks where you’re told to wear it. In the interview, Robin mentions some online resources that could help anyone.
Here they are:
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (www.nctsn.org or https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/disasters/pandemic-resources)
American Psychological Association (https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19/parenting-caregiving)
National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope with COVID-19
https://www.nctsn.org/resources/supporting-children-during-coronavirus-covid19
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress: https://www.cstsonline.org/assets/media/documents/CSTS_FS_Discussing_Coronavirus_w_Your_Children.pdf
https://www.cstsonline.org/assets/media/documents/CSTS_FS_Finding_Right_Words_Talk_Children_Teens_Coronavirus.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/for-parents.html
American Psychological Association at https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19).
Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.
Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at [email protected].
Help is available right away.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.
International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/
John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.
Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.
John is on Twitter @johnmoe.
COVID has been traumatic for young people. For a year and a half now, it’s either been impossible to go to school or the place that they go to doesn’t match what they used to know as school. The virus may have caused severe illness or death in their families. It’s a frightening time for all of us and especially so among the youngest and most vulnerable. So as in-class education really begins again in earnest, what’s the state of these people showing up to the classrooms and how can we, not just as parents or teachers but members of society, help?
We speak with Ruby Ramirez, principal in the Dallas Independent School District, about how she prepared her school for the state of mind the students are returning with. One thing that’s helped everyone feel better? Masks. Yep, the things that made everyone so uncomfortable in the earlier days of COVID now give students a sense of security in the classroom and hallways.
Masks are a big deal for Dr. Robin Gurwitch as well. She’s a psychologist and Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and she points out that one of the best ways to recover from our societal trauma is to stop the virus itself. To do that, wear your dang masks where you’re told to wear it. In the interview, Robin mentions some online resources that could help anyone.
Here they are:
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (www.nctsn.org or https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/disasters/pandemic-resources)
American Psychological Association (https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19/parenting-caregiving)
National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope with COVID-19
https://www.nctsn.org/resources/supporting-children-during-coronavirus-covid19
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress: https://www.cstsonline.org/assets/media/documents/CSTS_FS_Discussing_Coronavirus_w_Your_Children.pdf
https://www.cstsonline.org/assets/media/documents/CSTS_FS_Finding_Right_Words_Talk_Children_Teens_Coronavirus.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/for-parents.html
American Psychological Association at https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19).
Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.
Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at [email protected].
Help is available right away.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.
International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/
John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.
Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.
John is on Twitter @johnmoe.
Previous Episode
Meditation is Good and Helpful and Doesn’t Require All That Woo-Woo Mysticism
When we asked Dr. Darshan Mehta, Medical Director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine in Boston and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, about the image problem that meditation had, he knew exactly what we were talking about. As he points out, when media outlets write about meditation, it tends to be accompanied by a photo or illustration of a glowing, athletic white woman in a particular yoga pose. This tendency is kind of funny, sure, but it also conveys that unless you look like that, you can’t meditate.
Not so. Laura House, a comedian, writer, podcaster, and meditation instructor, explains that anyone can learn to meditate, reduce stress, and find more calm in their lives. It doesn’t necessitate any religious beliefs or New Age philosophy.
Dr. Mehta walks us through the medical side of it and how it helps blood pressure levels and recurrence of depression. It can also give your immune system help as it broadly reduces inflammation of cells and tissue.
Listen to Tiny Victories here or on the podcatcher of your choice. Visit Laura House's website and follow her on Twitter @imlaurahouse. Find out more about the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at their website here.
Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.
Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at [email protected].
Help is available right away.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.
International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/
John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.
Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.
John is on Twitter @johnmoe.
Next Episode
Jackie Kashian Did What You Should Do
1 RecommendationsTherapy isn’t about hating your mother. It’s not about crying over something that happened when you were six and then dwelling on it for the rest of your life. And the difficulty or trauma you faced back then is not something you can simply “get over” or “move past”.
Good therapy is much more like what Jackie Kashian did, as she describes in this episode. She talks about the violence in her home growing up. And the neglect. And the substance use and death of her mother. Then she talks about going to therapy and figuring out how that past informed her adult life, how it guided her decisions, and how it laid a foundation for the life she would live.
With that understanding in place, she could better distinguish between healthy and unhealthy habits. It’s not dwelling in the past, it’s getting a map for the future.
Listen to Jackie Kashian's podcasts, The Jackie and Laurie Show and The Dork Forest on the podcatcher of your choice. For tour dates, visit Jackie's website, JackieKashian.com. Follow her on Twitter @jackiekashian.
Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.
Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at [email protected].
Help is available right away.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.
International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/
John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.
Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.
John is on Twitter @johnmoe.
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