Building Healthy Families and Communities.
Counselors,
educators, ministers, and anyone else who has a vested interest in
helping others must sometimes cry out in pain when confronted with the
challenges facing those who come to them for direction.
Why do an
estimated seventeen percent of middle school and high school students
dabble in drugs and alcohol? Why is this on the rise even in private
schools?
Why do people suffer from psychiatric illnesses stemming from child abuse, extended trauma, and ongoing stress in their lives?
Why do children suffer the pain of living in homes tainted by alcohol and drug abuse?
The
incidence of psychosis nearly triples around the age of fifteen to
twenty one among young people who were raised in abusive homes. The
nervous systems of preschool children become under attack by the
presence of child abuse. These children may mature into adults whose
capacity for functioning normally is severely compromised. The cost to
society can be huge.
So how do we turn the corner?
Consider the following ten steps to healthy individuals, families, and communities.
1. Encourage development of positive community connections including:
Connections with spiritual groups such as churches, synagogues, or mosques.
Connections with support groups designed to help people overcome challenges.
Connections with education systems.
2. Encourage abstinence
from mind altering substances. Criminal activity and drug and alcohol
abuse go hand in hand. Thousands can be spared the horror of trauma and
abuse if incidence of addictions are reduced. Children will be spared
the trauma of abuse.
3. Find local and national resources that
support the development of healthy families. Check out this information
on the internet.
4. Make a consistent effort to keep yourself and
your family healthy with the implementation of a healthy diet and
lifestyle. Simply avoiding simple sugars can have a profound influence
on health.
5. Change your mindset from one of living only for self
to one of networking in an effort to reach out and help others. This
will result in support being reciprocal.
6. Learn to live in your
strengths and to encourage others to find theirs. An excellent resource
for this is Dr. Martin Seligman's positive psychology.
7. Find your personal passion and line up your activities to fit that desire.
8. Live to encourage, exhort, and uplift self and others. Doing so will have a positive effect on everyone in your circle.
9. Make your family your first priority.
10. Above all, learn to laugh and appreciate the gift of life.
By
Barbara Altman
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