Dr. Ava Satnick is a board certified pediatrician and lactation consultant who practices integrative medicine and works with children of all ages through her center, Holbrook Health. In Thursday's talk, titled "A Call to Teen Spirit" she will be discussing how the pandemic especially affected pre-teens and young adolescents and offers some insights and solutions for alleviating anxiety and depression.
What is anxiety?Anxiety – feeling worried, nervous, or plain scared about something like an interview or other important event – is natural. These feelings normally come and go in response to your situation, but with an anxiety disorder, they become persistent and overwhelming.
Children, teens, and young adults may suffer from anxiety and panic. Panic attacks cause physical symptoms such as a racing heart, shaking, and nausea and may sometimes result in chest pain. Those who suffer from anxiety and/or panic may find it increasingly hard to take part in everyday activities. At young ages, such intense fear that you or your child may be unable to function, remaining immobile, or crying uncontrollably. In older children and teens they may refuse to go to school or college because these experiences have become anxiety-inducing. They will need to relearn how to constructively use these emotions and understand their stressors so they can live to their highest potential.
Receiving the support from one-on-one counseling by a NMC counselor or by attending the Breastfeeding Connections group that NMC counselors facilitates, is an opportunity to get the education and support so desperately needed by many parents. Being with other parents in the Breastfeeding Connections group or a Baby & Me Group is also beneficial for their mental health. To be able to hear that what they are experiencing is also what others are going through and to receive support from NMC counselors or facilitators contributes to a successful nursing experience and also their well being.
Additional resources for Postpartum Mood Support:
- Postpartum Support International (PSI):
Helpline: 1-800-944-4773 (Spanish & English)
Text: English: 503-894-9453; Español: 971-420-0294 - La Leche League, Postpartum Mood Disorders
- Nursing Mothers Counsel, Inc.
Free breastfeeding education and support; pumps for rent (grant pumps available).