I was honored to be invited to participate in a community-share program this week with the Consortium for Infant and Child Health (CINCH), outlining the work that Family in Focus® is doing in the community.
The focus was on how Family in Focus supports teen health. If you've been around for a hot minute, you've heard my contributions to the Teen Health 360 initiatives, also hosted through the Eastern Virginia Medical School. Check out these fabulous videos about how to support communication between teens and adults.)
But for this presentation today....y'all, I was given 3 slides and 5 minutes. I had to lean upon my Pechakucha (aka TED Talk on Speed: 20 slides/6 minutes) experiences.
And: GO!
What were the most important things to cover in those 5 minutes:
1) My WHY
At the heart of Family in Focus, and quite honestly me, is a foundation of creating connection, relationships and emotional health. These are the bedrock for health and are underlying each and every thing that happens in my life, decisions I make and the actions that I take, including programmatic direction of Family in Focus.
2) The HOW takes many forms
And that's the real beauty, and not something a reason to get overwhelmed. Starting from the foundation of emotional health, connections and relationships, it's time to see how teen health is emotional health.
And teen health is family health.
Let me explain:
Of the biggest health concerns in our society right now (which "epidemic" do you want to choose? Ob*sity (we will talk shortly about why the word is morphed to acknowledge how it is actually harmful to those in larger bodies), cardiovascular disease, diabetes, suicide, loneliness, addiction/substance use, parental stress...) if you look at the heart of each and every one, there is stress, disconnection and/or shame. Y'all, those are all EMOTIONS.
We cannot talk about treating substance use & abuse by just trying to take away or penalize the use of the substances. We have to understand WHY we turn to substances in the first place. And more often than not, it's self-medication: wanting to feel better, wanting to stop feeling uncomfortable emotions.
We cannot talk about the vilification of body weight without talking about the shame that is being imposed upon others about their eating, movement and body. SHAME is the least-healthy emotion: it makes us withdraw from community and resources and healthful connection.
Connecting with emotions is the way to understand and help ourselves and others, and yes that means with teens.
Removing the ick
We all know that teens go through an icky rollercoaster of emotions: that's learning, growing and navigating the complexities of growing up. And the only way to help our teens navigate those emotions is to have a practice of emotional regulation for ourselves as adults.
3) It's all related and coming together
In the presentation, I expanded upon how I work with teens & adults, as well as connecting with community groups, schools and organizations, and there is a very special inclusive emotional health care clinic coming soon. It is ALL related because it comes back to creating connection and relationships and expanding emotional health. The ripples reach the entire community and create cultural change.
At the end of the community share presentation (still in under 5 minutes!), I highlighted my upcoming feature, Become an Anti-Diet Parent.
What on Earth does that have to do with Teen Health? EVERYTHING. Teens are inundated with messages about their body, how to supplement, restrict, punish and glorify arbitrary measures that are being set by others. Let's admit it: teens are growing up in a very challenging environment, physically, food, emotional and social environment. Adults - parents - are a part of that messaging because we have been socialized this way as well. We can't help without becoming aware of the socialization we're all bathing in.
How do we address the socialization? We as ADULTS get to help them by addressing our own perspectives about health, food, emotions. We get to create and model the healthy relationships we actually want our children to have. That's Anti-Diet Parenting.
Look at the connections, my friends:
Connection to what's important for the individual and their health
Building strong relationships, with food, body, self, and family
Emotional health: it drives everything in our lives.
Join me for the free training to become an Anti-Diet Parent, to help you and your family.
Check out the Family in Focus with Wendy Schofer, MD Podcast!
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