{"id":8640,"date":"2018-06-08T17:01:28","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T17:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8640"},"modified":"2018-06-08T17:01:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T17:01:28","slug":"mental-health-tips-offered-for-returning-santa-fe-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8640","title":{"rendered":"Mental-Health Tips Offered for Returning Santa Fe Students"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The majority of people who commit violent acts don\u2019t have a diagnosable mental-health condition, but survivors face risks. Photo: Pxhere<\/p><\/div>\n

by Eric Galatas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

SANTA FE, Texas \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0As Santa Fe High School students head back into the classroom today, mental-health experts want them to know that help is available.<\/p>\n

Holly Doggett, the executive director of the Texas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says students headed back into classrooms may experience PTSD symptoms similar to veterans coming home after combat. She says it\u2019s critical that students understand that they don\u2019t have to go through this alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose behavioral symptoms can include agitation, irritability, social isolation and even self-destructive behavior,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd some may experience flashbacks and severe anxiety. \u201c<\/p>\n

Doggett feels it\u2019s important for school officials to establish ways for students to comfortably talk about the way they\u2019re feeling. She says parents can do their part by letting kids know they\u2019re there for them and sharing their own feelings and anxieties in constructive ways.<\/p>\n

A host of resources can be found online at\u00a0NAMI.org<\/a>, where there\u2019s a section specifically for teens and parents.<\/p>\n

A big reason people don\u2019t ask for help is due to the stigma associated with mental-health issues. Doggett notes that while some politicians and public officials have linked mass shootings to mental illness, the vast majority of people who commit violent acts don\u2019t have a diagnosable mental-health condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have a mental-health condition are much more likely to be the victims of violent crimes than they are to actually perpetuate violent crimes,\u201d she notes. \u201cAnd if there is harm involved, it\u2019s often against themselves and not others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doggett encourages students to be on the lookout for their peers who might need help, but she says self-care is also important. There\u2019s a reason on an airplane why you\u2019re instructed to put your oxygen mask on first, Doggett says, if you\u2019re not taking care of yourself it\u2019s hard to take care of others.<\/p>\n

She adds each individual experiences trauma differently, so be patient with each other; there\u2019s no \u201cright way\u201d to respond to an event like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s normal to grieve,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s OK to be anxious about going back to school. We don\u2019t go back to exactly the way we were before, in terms of what\u2019s normal. But you can get back to a new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Eric Galatas SANTA FE, Texas \u2013\u00a0As Santa Fe High School students head back into the classroom today, mental-health experts want them to know that help is available. Holly Doggett, the executive director of the Texas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says students headed back into classrooms may experience PTSD symptoms similar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8643,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8640\/revisions\/8643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}