In My Backyard

by The Guidance Center

In My Backyard is an open conversation about children and mental health. Psychological and emotional distress amongst children doesn’t spare any family or any community – we all know a child who is struggling, whether that child tells us or not. In this podcast, we will speak with experts about the many factors that contribute to emotional distress in children, how to address those factors and how to create a community where all children have the help they need to be healthy and happy. By shining a light on these issues, admitting that they are in our own backyards, it will make it easier for a struggling child to get help, and ideally, we can all begin to be kinder and more supportive of each other. This podcast is made possible through generous donations from our listeners and supporters. Please visit tgclb.org or text HOPE to 562-262-5689 to support our cause with a donation of any amount or join our Hope and Healing Club to become a monthly donor today.

Episodes

Season 3 Episode #3: Revisiting the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Children

38m · Published 14 Nov 21:09

In the last decade, the number of children reporting suicidal thinking and feelings of hopelessness has increased by 71% while completed suicides by children have increased by 56%. These grim statistics were true even before the overlay of social isolation and anxiety created by a global pandemic, when children lost loved ones and parents lost jobs. The closing of schools isolated them from the normative social, educational and developmental experiences of school and sports and play. As pointed out by the New York Times, the school closures at the same time isolated our children from the teachers and school staff […]

Season 3 Episode #2: Providing Treatment to Traumatized Children

55m · Published 01 Nov 17:50

We all experience stress throughout our lives. For a child raised with at least one healthy adult relationship, and a relatively trauma-free upbringing, experiencing normal stressors is a positive thing. They learn to adapt and grow to become resilient and functional adults who can navigate the everyday pressures of life. Althouigh, different outcomes emerge when a child is exposed to prolonged experiences of stress – child abuse, a chaotic home, community violence, social isolation, profound poverty and the like. Those very same brain responses that are adaptive in a child with a stable upbringing – flight, fight, or freeze – […]

Season 2 Episode #24: The Realities of Domestic Violence

55m · Published 01 Oct 19:41

This episode contains a very important conversation about domestic violence, which may include emotional, physical, sexual and economic abuse. This might be painful and triggering for some listeners. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. Again, that is 1-800-799-SAFE or 7233. You may also text the word START to 88788. Help is available. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence defines domestic violence as “the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systemic pattern of power and control perpetrated […]

Season 2 Episode #23: STORIES: The Experience of Being Gender Non-Binary

54m · Published 01 Sep 19:18

According to The National Center for Transgender Equality, “most people – including most transgender people – (identify as) either male or female. Although, some people have a gender that blends elements of being a man or a woman, or a gender that is different from either male or female. Today’s podcast is another installment ofSTORIES, conversations with people with lived experience sharing their personal journeys. In this episode, we will be speaking with Mickey Prince, a Guidance Center clinician who also happens to be gender non-binary. In My Backyard is brought to you by The Guidance Center, a children’s mental […]

Season 2 Episode #22 - STORIES: The Lasting Impact of Surviving Gun Violence

51m · Published 01 Aug 18:09

The Center for Disease Control reports that 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the United States in 2021 (last year with available data). These horrific statistics only tell a part of the story. They don’t count people who are shot but survive and the witnesses who are left forever changed by the experience. Today’s […]

Season 2 Episode #21 - Exploring a Link Between Mental Illness and Mass Shootings

49m · Published 30 Jun 21:22

This episode explores whether there is a link between mental illness and mass killings, a tragic phenomenon that is relatively unique to the United States. The National Council for Behavioral Health wrote in 2019, “after (mass shootings), political leaders often invoke mental illness as the reason for mass violence, a narrative that resonates with the […]

Season 2 Episode #20 - The Failures of the Foster Care System for Hard-To-Place Children

53m · Published 15 Jun 14:18

This episode revisits the LA County foster care system, a system that has been the recipient of unfavorable news coverage, particularly related to our most traumatized and troubled children. Foster placement is particularly complicated for our most troubled youth, many of whom are “involved with the juvenile delinquency system, sex trafficked, developmentally disabled or suffering […]

Season 2 Episode #19 – The Impact of Racism on Young People of Color

48m · Published 31 May 20:44

Today’s podcast revisits the pandemic of systemic and institutionalized racism against people of color, and the impact it has on the emotional well-being of children and youth. The mental health system has long recognized that chronic stress has a negative impact on mental health, but it is only relatively recently that trauma and chronic stress […]

Season 2 Episode #18 - School Based Mental Health

38m · Published 15 May 22:52

Today’s episode discusses school-based mental health, what it is and how this treatment model increases access and availability to services for many children who would otherwise not receive help. The benefits of school-based mental health services have long been noted. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that “school-based mental health services can improve access to care, […]

Season 2 Episode #17 - Early Childhood Education

48m · Published 01 May 19:35

In our most recent episode, we spoke about children and families experiencing homelessness: how a family might become homeless and what they are likely to experience in a shelter. In this podcast, we look at this problem from a different lens, coming to understand the vital importance of early educational experiences for these and other […]

In My Backyard has 55 episodes in total of non- explicit content. Total playtime is 45:29:48. The language of the podcast is English. This podcast has been added on November 27th 2022. It might contain more episodes than the ones shown here. It was last updated on April 18th, 2024 16:12.