World Mental Health Day

The Importance of Mental Health

Although parents often focus on physical health, at MD Pediatric Associates we recognize that mental health is equally as important. Good mental health affects how a child copes with different developmental stages and helps them grow into well-rounded healthy adults. 

Protective Measures

There are many things that can help protect your child’s mental health. Some of these involve creating healthy habits, including  good sleeping routines, physical activity, and healthy eating. Keeping your home environment as stable as possible and providing your child a safe place to grow, learn, succeed and even fail, is also imperative. However, even with parents’ best efforts, there are times when more help is necessary to keep your child both mentally and physically healthy.

 According to American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 in 5 children suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder and yet only 21% of those children affected will get any treatment.

Because a child’s mental health has such an impact on their overall lives, pediatric health providers are advocating for families to have more access to mental health services and care. 

We are Here for You

Because we care about our patients’ physical and mental health, we not only have providers like Dr. Darla Kincaid, Dr. Michelle Forbes, Dr. Mark Holt, Dr. Vani Venkatachalam, and Dr. Lisa Shumate trained to have behavioral visits with families, but we have also added an in-office psychiatrist, Dr. Steffi Mendoza, to our team to provide needed psychiatric care to our patients. 

If you have any concerns for your child’s mental or emotional health, always feel free to reach out to our offices. You can schedule a behavioral visit with one of our trained pediatricians or with our psychiatrist, Dr. Mendoza. Your families’ health is of the utmost importance!

To learn more please check out:

American Academy of Pediatrics
https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/federal-advocacy/Pages/mentalhealth.aspx

Mental Health Foundation
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/c/children-and-young-people