Did you know that mental illness directly and indirectly affects millions of Canadians across Canada? That’s 1 out of every 5 Canadians. Unfortunately, due to a strong societal stigma of mental illness, many individuals suffer in the shadows alone. Many Canadians with mental illness will not seek the help they need, and society continues to remain unaware of the significant burden that mental illness places on us all.
October 1st to October 7th is Mental Illness Awareness Week, which is a perfect time to dive deeper into the conversation about mental health and mental illness, and to end the stigma associated with it. Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. Nobody is immune to mental illness; mental illness can affect us all, even from as early as infancy.
There is popular belief that babies, toddlers and young children do not develop mental health problems, and are immune to the effects of early adversity and emotional difficulties. However, according to Everyday Family, this is false. The American Psychological Association published an article in February 2011 which emphasizes the fact that babies and toddlers can suffer from mental illness. Unfortunately, young people are very rarely ever diagnosed with mental illness until later in life, and this is ultimately due to lack of mental health care for young children from birth to five years old.
These are some of the mental illnesses that have been known to ail children:
- Anxiety disorders
- Behavior disorders
- Developmental disorders
- Eating disorders
- Elimination disorders
- Mood disorders
- Tic disorders
Each of these disorders affects adults too, but the symptoms, signs, and behaviors associated with them are different in children.
Here are some general symptoms to be aware of in your child (note that symptoms in the mentally ill are recurring or long-lasting, and are not to be confused with sad days or the occasional temper tantrum):
- Inability to cope with daily problems and activities
- Changes in eating and sleeping habits
- Violence and anger
- Long-lasting negative moods
- Thoughts of death
- Lost interest in favorite activities and friends
- Hearing voices or hallucinations
- Night terrors
- Excessive worry
Yorktown Family Services is an accredited infant, child and youth mental health agency, and we offer early years programs to support the healthy development of infants from newborn to age three years. Here is a description of some of the programs we offer for parents and their infants:
- Ontario Early Years Drop-In (no registration required) – Ontario Early Years Centre is a drop-in program for parents with children birth to 6 years, and the goal of the program is to ensure healthy child development through parent/caregiver and child interaction and child-focused programs.
- Baby Lap Time (registration required) – Baby Lap is a program for parents who have infants from the age of 0-1 years which focuses on the Parent and Infant relationship. In the past year, we have had a total of 2366 parents attending this program, and parents say that they feel they have a better relationship with their infant after attending.
- *NEW* Baby Love (registration required) – Baby Love is an attachment-based program to help caregivers with babies 2 months to 12 months give their babies a better start in life; one that supports better health, a better relationship, and better learning. It helps parents recognize that babies have minds, that babies “talk” to us, and that they need us to respond. Babies who start off well are likely to do better for the rest of their lives. Baby Love is offered in partnership between Yorktown Family Services and Dr. Jean Wittenberg, MD, who designed and developed the program at The Hospital for Sick Children.
If you have any questions about infant mental illness, or would like to request more information for any of the programs or services Yorktown Family Services offers for healthy development of infants, please feel free to contact Shahla Yaghoubian at 416-394-2424 Ext. 226.