Supporting Family Mental Health Through Prevention and Treatment

Jessica Liria Director of Community Wellness & Impact

A family’s mental health is shaped by more than how each person feels individually. When one family member is struggling, it can affect the entire household, making healthy communication, supportive relationships and the ability to work toward challenges together especially important.

Healthy families are not free from challenges. They develop tools that help them navigate difficult periods together. Open communication allows family members to express concerns before they escalate.

Consistent routines can provide children and teens with a sense of stability, while clear expectations and healthy boundaries help reduce conflict. It is also important for parents and caregivers to care for their own well-being, as their responses to stress can influence the emotional climate at home.

Supporting family wellness begins with building these skills early and continuing to strengthen them as children grow and family needs change. It also means recognizing when everyday challenges have become something more. Persistent changes in mood, behavior, school performance, relationships or daily functioning can indicate that a child or teen may benefit from professional care. At David Lawrence Centers for Behavioral Health, our goal is to help children and families develop the support, skills and stability they need to thrive at every stage of their life.

That work can begin well before the point of crisis. Through the DLC Wellness Institute, youth, families and community organizations can access prevention, education and wellness programs at no cost, thanks to the generous support from the state and local community.

Children need different kinds of support as they grow. The three Empowering Youth programs – Seeds of Kindness, Rooted to Rise and Beyond the Branches are delivered through schools, afterschool programs and other community partners, meeting youth at different stages of development. Elementary school-age children build positive social skills, middle school-age youth learn healthy decision-making, and teenagers develop tools to prepare them for college and greater independence. In each case, the focus is not simply on helping a young person manage challenges, but on building skills that can strengthen their relationships at home, school and in the community.

Parents and caregivers play an essential role in helping children develop confidence, resilience and emotional well-being. Yet parenting can bring new questions and challenges at every stage of a child’s development. The Empowering Families programs provide practical, strengths-based guidance for families from infancy through adolescence.

Sprouting Strong supports parents and caregivers of young children by promoting healthy early childhood development and strengthening protective factors that contribute to lifelong well-being. Active Parenting Now, for parents of children ages 5 to 12, focuses on positive communication, responsibility and emotional well-being. Parents learn nonpunitive discipline strategies, ways to redirect misbehavior without power struggles and tools to support self-esteem, school success and healthy family relationships.

As children enter adolescence, family dynamics often change. Active Parenting of Teens helps caregivers navigate the developmental and emotional changes of teen years, with strategies for maintaining communication, managing conflict, encouraging responsibility and approaching difficult conversations in ways that support safer, more confident decision-making.

Parents, caregivers and any other adults with an active role in the lives of youth can further increase their knowledge and understanding through the Empowering Communities initiatives. Programs such as Youth Mental Health First Aid and Compassion in Action equip participants with practical tools to identify signs of mental health challenges, engage in supportive conversations and connect youth to appropriate resources before concerns escalate into a crisis.

These educational opportunities remind families that prevention is not about having every answer. It is about building trusted relationships, creating space for honest conversations and knowing where to turn when additional support is needed. Those foundations can also make it easier for families to recognize changes, ask for help and support one another when a child’s needs become more significant.

Even in families with strong relationships and healthy coping skills, children and teens can experience psychiatric symptoms that significantly affect school, relationships, self-care or daily functioning. At that point, family wellness may mean recognizing that more support is needed. Seeking professional treatment is not a failure of prevention or parenting. It is another way families can respond to their child’s needs.

Support can look different from one child or family to another, depending on individual needs. DLC’s continuum of care for children and teens includes outpatient counseling, family and group therapy, psychiatric services, community-based care and 24-hour inpatient crisis stabilization.

Some teens may need more structure than traditional outpatient treatment provides without requiring hospitalization. For those families, DLC’s medically supervised Adolescent Day Program serves teens ages 13 to 17 whose psychiatric symptoms are disrupting daily life.

A multidisciplinary team that includes a pediatric psychiatrist, licensed clinicians and a nurse helps teens develop safe coping strategies through daily therapy and wellness groups, individual therapy and family support. Treatment focuses on self-esteem, communication and emotional regulation, healthy coping skills, reducing self-harm behaviors and making choices that support long-term wellness.

Care doesn’t stop with the teen. Families are included in the treatment process so caregivers can better understand their teen’s needs and reinforce their healthy skills at home. The goal is to improve a teen’s ability to function at home, at school and in relationships while reducing the need for hospitalization.

Mental health needs can look different for every child and every family. What matters is responding with compassion, paying attention when challenges begin to interfere with daily life and recognizing that support is available at every stage, from prevention and education to treatment.

To learn more about the DLC Wellness Institute, the Adolescent Day Program or other services for children and teens, visit DLCenters.org or call239-455-8500.