Michele: 

Hello, everybody, Happy Monday. This is Michelle herro positive hire. I hope you your family co workers community are doing well during this pandemic. With me today. I have Christina Broderick and she is a licensed social worker, as well as a founder of a very great company that I’m that we’re going to talk about today. So a bit about Christina. She’s a clinically trained, licensed social worker, a psycho therapist and a certified school social worker. She’s worked with kids K through 12, in educational settings for nearly a decade. And she’s also the founder of ignite Edu which helps every student to learn, build and strengthen their Mental Health Foundation within their education journey. Welcome, Christina. It is great to have you on today.

Christina:

I am so so excited to be here.

Michele: 

So can you tell us a bit more about yourself? I gave, you know all the high level stuff, right? You know what your training who you help, but I’m what bought about your career in social work and working with not only K through 12, but even college students.

Christina: 

Yeah. So as you mentioned, I am currently licensed here in the state of New Jersey as well as a certified school social worker. And I also work as a psychotherapist and my journey in education and mental health started from from years years back, my family definitely built a very strong foundation as relates to education and the importance of education. And so when I started working with students, I realized there was this consistent gap that existed as related to mental health right there was a lot of you know, attention and focus on the academics and all of these things that typically relate to closing the like education gap, right, but what are we doing as relates to mental health so that is very What led me to start my journey as a relates to mental health. And then the more work that I did in the elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and even universities is where I noticed that there really isn’t a special gap that exists out there leads to students and their knowledge, skills and abilities for their mental health.

Michele: 

Wow, that is a great assessment. And it’s great to see you working in this area that has not been targeted enough at this point. So congratulations on truly focusing on that for our youth and young adults. I appreciate it. Now, when we’re looking at Ignite edu, what is ignite edu and how does it it what you know, who do you work with and ignite you when it comes to mental health?

Christina: 

Right. So I founded the company a few years ago, as early as two My direct experience with students right so I have students who I’m speaking to who I’m just watching, you know, fall apart at the seams in front of my eyes, right? Not even just be your team, figuratively But literally, right? They’re running away from me to go throw up or they’re about to pass out and all of these unhealthy behaviors and coping that they’ve developed. And as relates to mental health, we tend to be more reactive than proactive. So wanted to be able to provide a space where we are being more proactive as a release, integrating mental health into education. That’s where students spend a lot of their time within the education system. So why are we not being able to incorporate more of it into the different curriculums that they’re exposed to? So with dignity, do you the vision is that every student is able to learn, build and strengthen their mental health along their educational journey, and we developed a system in that we’re igniting education by using our three c approach to turn students from statistics into success stories. So our approach is content connection and creation. So they provide the content to just increase the general knowledge base, right. And that’s through the workbooks that we’ve created the newsletters, you send out the different communication efforts that we do. We provide the connection to the content, and that is through our courses, our programming, our training, etc. The different initiatives that we have, that just give you the information, but then connect information to your life. But the third one, which is the really most important C stands for creation. A lot of these other companies out there do a lot of same work as it relates to giving information and talking about strategies and programs in your trainings. But then it’s left up to the family, the students, the organization to do with it as they will, right the creation allows us to work directly with the students to families or organizations to create plans for more sustainable use. So we work directly with college students. We work directly with families and their students and we also work with different organizations that support Students.

Michele: 

Wow, I absolutely love it. I’m going back to my childhood. And I literally remember being in second grade and having anxiety attacks like I couldn’t breathe during standardized testing period. thinking to myself, my parents didn’t know what it was my teachers didn’t know what it was. And of course, this is the 80s. So what did that look like? You know, what would it look like had I had ignite Edu had my parents had access in rural South Carolina, where I’m sitting right now, tonight edu, they would have already been educated, but they would have had a plan created already to help me deal with my anxiety. When it came only the standard that says like any other time, I was fine. Yeah. So I can look back now at 42 writing, and I’m not gonna say you’re way past second grade, and realize, Oh, that’s what it was and how I could have dealt with and how my parents could have been to school. So I can actually relate directly relate to what you’re what you’re working towards, um, and this impact you can have because I, I’m seeing a lot of what I encountered as far as the anxiety as a kid with one of my nephews, and now he goes about school and testing and really wanting to do well.

Christina:

Yeah, and it’s common especially as things are moving and progressing. Now, there’s continued pressure for quote unquote, academic success and getting into the schools and all of this stuff, right. Like, it just continues to get more crazy and and the demands that are being put on young people. Um, but there’s a whole other layer that we’re just not addressing by doing that. So how can you expect to do well on the standardized test when you’re having anxiety attack? How can you back to do well in your exams when you can’t even focus and you can’t see straight? Are you developing all these other unhealthy coping skills. So if the company is about taking a step back, and really making sure that we’re doing the internal work, so that you’re able to produce and succeed, and whatever way that you need to be for your own life.

Michele: 

Absolutely, I love the proactive part of ignite edu. Because we know better we do better. Mm hmm. So it’s like, you’re not gonna, like I’m gonna give you this is the recipe when you get ready to bake the cake. Right. So, preheat oven here, all the ingredients. And guess what, here’s an emergency number, just in case something goes wrong.

Christine: 

Exactly. And that’s also part of it. It’s also the work of D stigmatizing mental health because when you’re able to talk about it openly and talk about the skills and the resources and the strategies, if something does happen, if it does get to a level where you do need extra support and assistance, he feel more comfortable taking that step to do it right. You feel more comfortable talking to other people about doing that step getting the support from whoever you need to make that step. And that’s what’s also what’s included in the proactiveness is not just the in terms of the actual actions, but just in case Just the knowledge and the awareness to do something when you are in need of help.

Michele:

Absolutely, absolutely love it. If we have any questions out there comments, be sure to share them. We would love to hear from all of the viewers and if you’re catching this on the replay, so comment anyway tag Christina or myself so we can answer or not we can even if she could answer, she could answer the question. Okay. Not Michelle, okay. But I’ll make sure she sees your question or comment. And be sure to connect with her here on LinkedIn. Because that’s part of being here on a social platform. You want to socialize with people, especially in areas where stigmatized like I don’t want to say anything right now. But maybe you want to ask privately, definitely reach out to her. So she’s like,

Christine: 

I’m here. This is what I love doing. I love doing this and I love being able to help and support people with their mental health so feel free to silence my inbox see with mental health questions and concerns, okay. We will we want to make some clear. very specific. Okay. So we are talking about being proactive with mental health when it comes to children and young adults, we are talking about stigma. So let’s talk about let’s talk about stigma a little bit more. What are two or three common stigmas you often encounter when it comes to mental health?

Chrisitna: 

The biggest one that jumps out is that you the first one, is that right? Maybe you should seek help for your mental health when an issue presents or you’re in a crisis, right? Wait until something is happening and that’s what I need to get that help. And that’s unfortunate because I think too often is if we wait too long to get the help and then it’s a lot harder to undo all A lot of that stuff that we’ve already developed and set in and etc. So we have a myth, I guess is that you have to be in a crisis in order to get mental health support. And that’s not true. You can get mental health support at any time, right? If you even are just maintaining and you want help to just maintain, right, there’s licensed professionals that are available to help you do that. But in that, of course, there’s the stigma that if you do get help that, you know, now you have this mental illness or people are going to judge you or you feel very alone, which are common stigmas, and sometimes they tend to exist in certain communities, in particular, for example, the black and brown community, or certain religious communities that have the stigma surrounding mental health support, or in need of mental health support. So being able to be more open to talk about it, awareness is still just as much important as it is just getting the health right the freedom to an openness to talk about it, as a direct example is eye opening. Talk about my therapist. I have a blog article about me going to make appointment with my therapist when this whole COVID-19 started. And I have a friend who actually was talking to me she said it’s because of how openly you talk about therapy that made it easier for me to go and get a therapist and thereby also talk to other people about her therapist. Right then it kind of had this like subsequent snowball effect. Um, so the openness and discussing the challenges that we’re all facing in different ways, is important as we work to D stigmatize mental health.

Michele:

I absolutely can agree with that and see it in so many ways and your generation because I’m a Gen Xer have been very vocal and open and in the need for getting mental health before you beat mental health, in breaking cycles in within your family, so I highly I love that about your generation. And so keep up the good work and being open and using social for social media to share your experiences and the importance of continued mental health.

Christina: 

And it’s so exciting to see the work and the progression of it, right? So I’m in the millennial generation and there’s still you know, bits and pieces that are still working and moving but now this Gen Z is like full force like so on it and is so inspiring to work with young people who are very dedicated to mental health and the mental health of others. It just warms my heart just knowing how be important continues to to grow into the different spaces that exist.

Michele: 

Absolutely. We have a question, what are some tips on how to explain to a child the current public health crisis without scaring them on that is a great question.

Christina: 

It’s a great one and I’m and what’s what’s difficult is Right when we’re trying to talk with children, we want to sometimes cover everything with like rainbows and butterflies and make it sound great. But what’s hard about what’s happening right now is that even for us as adults, like it’s a scary there’s a lot of uncertainty that exists. So even ourselves, we could be scared about not knowing. And we want to be careful that we don’t want to pass that fear on to our student, right. That’s why we’re in a space of how do we best communicate this with our child, so that we don’t pass that fear on. Some things I’ve been encouraging people to do is to lean on honesty. And so I would stay away from the L everything is going to be great and great, but fine if you don’t really know that right? Be honest, right? Being honest with I think your kid is will surprise you in terms of the response that you may get, versus trying to continue to paint rainbows and butterflies for them. So leaning on honesty, and that includes if you don’t know the answer, saying I don’t know. That’s a really great question, sweetie, I just don’t know that answer. How about we go look it up and see if we can Find some more information, include them in some of that process and letting them know that this is something that we’re all trying to work through together. But definitely leaning on honesty leaning on the facts that you can find, as well as limiting the information that they’re being exposed to. So I don’t know about you guys, but the social media, like as informative as it is, can just be so overwhelming at times, the alerts, the texts, the commercials like, and you can’t do anything without being reminded that you’re in the middle of a pandemic. And it can get very overwhelming. And sometimes we think that our, our kids are not feeling what we’re feeling, but they are, right, they are still feeling those pressures. So making sure that you’re also constantly aware of like, what they’re being exposed to the commercials that are coming up on their YouTube or on Hulu, right? How are you able to help manage and limit that and also set some boundaries with them, and kids learn by seeing so if they see you doing it, they’re going to want to model that as well. So step one is always starting with yourself you can’t give from an empty well, making sure that you’re in that space that you’re able to thereby best support your kids.

Michele: 

Absolutely love it. Yeah, I am on a Twitter break. Facebook newsfeed is hidden is usually hidden anyway. Yeah, but I just couldn’t do Twitter. It’s like, I can’t deal with this right now. So I’m on like, I’ve already been on LinkedIn, but it is I had to take a step back and I’m on Instagram and you know, it’s all inspirational posts, right? Or how to wear a proper mask. So it’s different for me I agree. It was it was stepping back in my mother’s to TV person. So she’s one of the news they said this and that and I was like, I don’t want to hear this. Let me just read this one thing like search by how do I do this? That’s all I want to read and not tune in every minute of the day to what what’s going on with the pan? Yeah,

Christina: 

able to navigate those conversations with people in your life. Right. It’s I understand that you want to keep me informed. Have a right now I’m taking a break. However, when I am ready to get information out the first person, I’m going to texted you, right? So that’s how you can start to set up some of those boundaries so that people are not continuously Barbadian bombarding your inbox with all of these different stats and updates and things like that because it can get very overwhelming very easily.

Michele: 

Exactly. Okay, we have another well she has questions. What are some of the common symptoms and behaviors of mental stress? And does it differ among age groups and races?

Christina: 

For sure. So a common one for example, if you think of anxiety looks different for everybody, but it definitely looks different within the like different age groups and different demographics. So common things and in terms of like mental stress it’s it’s interesting because you know, when you feel it, right, you notice that something is off with you notice that you may be your moods are shifting, your feelings are shifting, your thoughts are shifting. Are you are you spending more More time and a lot more of a negative space than like some more positive, optimistic thinking. Right, that can definitely be a sign. There’s a lot of physiological responses. one phrase I say is that if you don’t slow down your body will slow you down. So your body will start to exhibit some parts of some mental stress are showing signs of mental stress. So that can be from rashes that develop in some people, it can be from pains of developing people. That’s an I personally experienced, where I was becoming very overwhelmed and very stressed during a certain time in my life where I was having bodily pain on like the left side of my body, which was very scary, right, you know, the left side attributed to heart attacks and such and it was moving up my body up into my neck into my jaw. And it turns out when I went to urgent care, it was coming from anxiety and coming from stress. So sometimes it’s very internal where you feel it within your own mind, but sometimes your body will start to show outward signs of stress. It can look different in kids. So for example, sometimes in kids, it can come out as anger, it can come out of sadness, it can come out as isolation, right? So it can look very different, depending on the person, and depending on the age group that also is there. So it’s important to always just notice change. I’m a huge person that talks a lot about reflection and being self aware. When the more you are self aware of what your your state is, the more you’re able to take action when something starts to shift and something starts to change. And if you’re a parent, the same thing goes with your, your, your kid, if you are aware of their normal functionings and you are able to better detect if something is changing with them. That may be the sign for you that maybe we need to have a conversation we need to take a step back and see what else may be going on. And it’s not just always your typical things that just being introverted and sad or they want to stay on and you know, under the covers, right, sometimes anxiety, depression And etc I can just outwardly show in different areas such as anger, frustration, things like that.

Michele: 

Who that was a lot, but they definitely need it because like you say everybody exhibits something different in different ways.

Christina: 

Yeah. Can you think of like there’s there’s spectrums into official diagnosis, right? That there is, of course, the DSM has all these different categories as to whether or not someone can be diagnosed with a different mental illness. But there’s also on the other side of the spectrum, some of the basic things that people may be experiencing that don’t necessarily need an official diagnosis, but doesn’t mean that they don’t need assistance and some strategies to better help them support their mental health.

Michele: 

We have another set of questions from one of our viewers, so I’m going to Okay, so it comes back to generational behavior. What tips can you provide to bridge The gap between parents race and the era of what happens in this house stays in this house, and their kids that truly believe in sharing all they see and hear. How do you get parents to be considerate without condemning a Chow for voicing issues within a home that the parents would rather avoid?

Christina: 

So this is something I as especially as a school social worker, I that comes up a lot when I’m working within schools and kids are coming in and they’re sharing things that are happening in the home. And that opens up so many other doors, and it’s definitely generational. The first step is recognizing that right recognizing one the harm that can exist in that line of thinking, in the sense of is what could be shared something that would allow up to happen in my home, right. So sometimes when students share things with me that are happening in the home, maybe some thing that’s related to physical harm, etc. And I have to report it and talk about it with other people. It’s all about how can I make sure that your family is getting the support that they need. And operating from that lens and that angle, in terms of finding the balance of what things should be shared should not be shared, that comes from the conversations and the openness that you have with your child. Sometimes people just give this very blanket statement that says what happens in this house stays in this house. The students don’t know what level that is, right? Is that everything? Or is that there’s certain things so definitely be willing to have that open conversation talking about you know, your experience with it. When you grew up and what that felt for you. Did you have times of uncertainty where you wanted to share something but you weren’t sure if you should share it. You wish you should have shared it so that you could have gotten a help for yourself and for your family. I think sometimes we shy away from wanting to be open and communicate effectively. I think Are our kids because we don’t know what they can and cannot handle? Are they too young for this? Should I not be talking about this? But the more that you’re able to have those conversations, the easier it will be when certain times come up where you are these these spaces where you’re unsure are your kids, I’m sure that they can come to you and talk to you and ask you about these things. Then when everything is kind of, again, rainbows and butterflies, but now you’re leaving up to your kid to figure out what yes or no, is this something that I should or should not share? So I would definitely, one take a step back and reflect on your own experience with that with growing up how you felt, and then to be able to have those open and honest conversations with your kids as it relates to what the what should be said and you know, kept private within the household. But what are some things that would be okay for them to share and then knowing if they do share it, what that means for the family and if you’re okay with that.

Michele: 

Great, thank you so much. Stand for that response. It is Mental Health Awareness Month. And in the midst of a pandemic, this is definitely one of the most imperative times to be focusing on mental health. There are some reports where employers are seeing a 900% increase in their employees using their mental health services. What does ignite Edu doing for parents and students during this pandemic?

Christina: 

Right. Um, so, as I mentioned, the people that we serve our students are actually families as well as organizations. So we wanted to be strategic about the offerings that we’re presenting, especially during Mental Health Awareness Month, but also during this time. So one thing that we have that’s great for organizations and or students who have clubs and stuff like that is creating a wellness classroom. On Google Classroom, so while those classrooms provide a space for organizations or for clubs to have resources, community activities, etc as it relates to wellness. And then in addition to that, we have our four week ignite Edu courses. So those are starting this Saturday, May 16. Enrollment ends this Wednesday. And we have two cohorts. So there’s one cohort that’s meant just for college students. And then we have another cohort that’s meant for families. Both cohorts, they use the self written workbook that I have the Ultimate Guide to student mental health as we go through the mental health journey. So we talk about things such as just in general like what is mental health, mental health versus mental illness, etc. We talk about mindset, resiliency, self care, wellness sustainability, over the course of the four weeks, so it’s not just me chatting and talking and the participants listening in is also very interactive and engaging. We’re building community We’re talking about this together having a shared experience over the course of the four weeks.

Michele: 

Great, that sounds fantastic. How can people find out more about what you’re offering in the month of May I can’t believe it’s may March, like eight years.

Christina: 

Like it’s like March and the more March and the more and more March.

Michele: 

Now it’s a it’s like, how can people find out more about these services and events that you’re hosting?

Christina: 

Yeah, so the primary spot is the website, Ignite. edu dotnet, I G and I, T e, d u dotnet. on there, you’ll find information of the courses. You can purchase the workbook separately of use when you use it by yourself. You’ll also find replays of events that we did so a few weeks back, we did a panel series of COVID-19 in education where we had a panel of educators, a panel of college students in a panel Parents, and each night we spoke to the different demographics about their experience during COVID-19. And what that’s been like for them in their space. So you’ll find all of that on our on our site, you can book our courses directly on our site. You can buy the workbooks directly on the site right now they’re actually ebooks. So as soon as you purchase you get them downloaded and sent your email immediately. Both of our courses comm automatically come with a copy of our workbook. So you’re able to get more bang for your buck because you’re able to get that direct guidance and support as you’re working on your mental health journey.

Michele: 

Who Thank you so much, Christina. As you know, as part of my my tech company, we work with experienced Latina black and indigenous women who are scientists and engineers, technologists as well. And one of the things they’re having to deal with while they’re working from home if the cause some engineers still have to go in to the office or manufacturing facility is dealing with their their own mental health, but those are their children. That stress level and expect this level is really high for them and how they perform at work plus now adding on all of these additional responsibilities? Yeah, I would, I would definitely I would definitely share this with him. And I’ll continue to share ignite Edu with them. But I do want to invite invite you to come speak to my community directly later this month because I want them to be able to engage with you on a higher level, like everybody’s like, I don’t want to ask them any questions. They generally ask more because they understand generationally, and culturally the things we’ve encountered and new to encounter and things that they want to be able to help their themselves and their children deal with.

Christina: 

Um, I’d love to thank you so much for the invitation. And I think it’s definitely an uptake we’re seeing now in terms of providing these spaces for people. There’s tons of questions. out there. And while the internet is beautiful with all the information, it can get very overwhelming as well. There’s a certain level of like intimacy and connection when it’s with your community of whether it’s your work community or organization, community, etc. So I would be very happy to speak with them. It’s something I’m doing for a lot of different spaces right now, which is hosting, trainings and webinars. I have one coming up. It’s understanding mental health in the black community. I’m doing that next week for an organization so I welcome the opportunities and anyone who’s listening, feel free to send me a message if you would like to talk about how I can present a webinar treating etc for your organization.

Michele: 

Great. I have one other question, and I read it you may not be able to answer I know we’re getting close to time. In addition to the Ignite Edu resources, what are some other examples of positive I love this positive mental health practices families can engage in

Christina: 

To gather, whoo, I love that I love that it’s being done together. I think the more that we can engage in these types of work together, the better off I think the whole family is. So, simple things right now, especially because we’re a little limited on the outward things that we’re able to do. I have families that have started cooking together and they get like really fun to make do like a cooking competition. Have you ever seen like chopped, where you have like a basket of ingredients, you’ll get creative, right? You can do exercises together. I’m really big on mindfulness practices. So that can be from formal meditation to just like watching and observing. So as a family that could be looking out the window and pointing out the different things that you see that are blue, things that are green, that are yellow, right, that is just a way to bring more presence and awareness in that moment that you guys can do together, as well as just turning to some online activities that exist so whether they are games or just Reading different articles as relates to mental health. As I said earlier, awareness and knowledge is definitely important. So being able to increase your awareness and knowledge together would be extremely awesome. As well as doing a lot of the different practices together. What’s great is within our courses, we help guide you on actually developing a self care and wellness plan as a family. So what does that look like in terms of your emotional health in terms of your physical health, your social health, right? We cover all of these different pillars of mental health and wellness, and how are you able to create these plans, you guys can effectively do them together.

Michele: 
Thank you so much. I love that I love like this. We think so broadly, and not. I think when we’re trying to come up with solution, I don’t know maybe because I’m an engineer, as opposed to something very simple to implement, but yet is very impactful. So keyshawn thank you again for a great time. Question. Be sure to connect with Christina here, send her a message like, Hey, I saw your live stream. And so she knows how did you find her? It’s always good to know how people find you. Right? I googled you like great.

Christina: 

I mean, really cool. I don’t think anyone’s googling me yet.

Michele: 

But they will. They will definitely, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. I will see you next time. I’ll be back later this week. talking more about diversity, equity inclusion. And this if you don’t know this is definitely diversity, equity, inclusion, mental health. So if you thinking it’s not it truly, truly is, and truly encourage more people in your community to utilize mental health services and now more than ever, because we truly truly could use it in the in these times of uncertainty. Everybody, I will talk to you later. Thank you, Christina.
All right.

Bye, everybody.