Youth Mental Wellness

Research suggests one in five adolescents will suffer from a mental health disorder, such as depression, anxiety, substance use, or eating disorders. The goal of Tonka CARES is to build partnerships, increase education and awareness, and improve accessibility to resources surrounding mental wellness among youth in our community. Important mental health habits—including coping, resilience, and good judgment—help adolescents to achieve overall well-being and set the stage for positive mental health in adulthood.

Addiction: What Is It?

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Facts & Statistics

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that involve unhealthy relationships with food, body image, and self-esteem. Common types include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, each characterized by behaviors like extreme food restriction, purging, or compulsive overeating. They can affect children and teens, often driven by emotional, social, and genetic factors, and early intervention is critical to support recovery and prevent serious health complications.

National Eating Disorders Association

Self-Harm

For some people, when depression and anxiety lead to a tornado of emotions, they turn to self-
harm looking for a release. Self-harm and self-injury are any forms of hurting oneself on purpose.Usually, when people self-harm, they do not do so as a suicide attempt. Rather, they self-harm as a
way to release painful emotions.

How to Deal with Self-Harm: A Guide from Crisis Text Line (pdf)

Mindfulness

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

Much of our stress and pain comes from being pulled away from the present moment. We are distracted with regrets about the past, worries about the future, and judgments about the present. Mindfulness is all about encouraging awareness of oneself in the present moment, without judgment.

Practicing mindfulness can help to improve our social and emotional well-being, and contribute to the ability to manage difficult or stressful situations.

Several activities exist to improve mindfulness, mindful breathing, body scans, meditation, and yoga, are just a few that can improve your daily awareness.

Mindfulness Resources

http://www.changetochill.org/

https://www.stopbreathethink.com/

https://www.headspace.com/

https://insighttimer.com/

Treatment & Therapy

Becoming more aware of resources within the greater community can help you in navigating the path to wellness and recovery. Below you will find a short explanation for both types and levels of behavioral and chemical treatment programs. For more information on specific providers please visit our resource page.

Levels of treatment include:

Inpatient Addiction Treatment–campus-based intensive care with separate lodging and programs for males and females
Outpatient Drug and Alcohol Rehab–treatment that meets four evenings a week, so you can live at home, attend school, or go to work
Sober living–a welcoming, safe peer community with built-in addiction recovery support and resources; designed specifically for young adults ages 18-29
Continuing Care–ongoing counseling to reinforce your healthy behaviors, relationships, and lifestyle

Types of Therapy:

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a treatment approach that emphasizes balancing behavioral change, problem-solving, and emotional regulation with validation, mindfulness, and acceptance.

Cognitive Behavioral TherapyCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that focuses on exploring patterns of thinking that lead to self-destructive actions and identifying the beliefs that direct these thoughts. Through CBT, people can learn to modify their patterns of thinking to improve coping.

Acceptance and Commitment TherapyAcceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) uses mindfulness and behavioral activation to increase psychological flexibility and the ability to engage in values-based, positive behaviors while experiencing difficult thoughts, emotions, or sensations.