06.24.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
June 24, 2020
Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
10:00pm AM

Rachel Talamantez: Hi everyone, thank you so much for joining us today on our Facebook live briefing. I'm Rachel Talamantez, Senior manager with the County of Santa Clara behavioral health services. Today's Facebook live briefing features Jacquelyn Torres, licensed marriage family therapist and deputy director at uplift, uplift Family Services. Who will share important information related to the emotional needs of children and teens. And as part of our discussion we will also discuss suicide and recent Santa Clara County data. Which fortunately does not show an increase since shelter in place. But first, let us bring you up to date as it relates to COVID-19 in the county of Santa Clara from our data dashboard. As of yesterday, we have three thousand seven hundred and twenty seven confirmed cases. There have been 154 deaths and there have been zero new deaths, our thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones due to this virus and we wish a speedy recovery for anyone who is currently sick with the virus. We want to let you know that prior to the start of this segment Jacquelyn and I removed our face coverings [clears throat] for clarity. [clears throat] Excuse me, interestingly for clarity and sound quality. When we finish this section we will be putting our face coverings back on. Just like adults, children's and teens have been impacted by shelter in place. And we will go ahead and meet with Jacquelyn to find out how we can support children in coping with the stress of this pandemic. So, welcome Jacquelyn and thank you so much for bringing, being here today. To start with, could you share about uplift Family Services and your agency's approach to supporting children and families?

Jacquelyn Torres: Yeah, thanks Rachel. I'm happy to be here. So, start by telling a little bit about uplift. Uplift Family Services, is a community-based behavioral health organization. We started over 150 years ago, right here in the Bay Area. And we have grown and changed with this county and we've also grown through California. We now provide services in 30 counties across the state, from Sacramento all the way down to Fresno, San Bernardino and right into the heart of LA. I want to highlight that we have continued to provide services throughout the shelter in place. We quickly developed a telehealth platform, so you can see your provider and support person right there in front of you, in front of your face. We have the good old-fashioned telephone, text messaging. And we've been providing in-person services. We're following all of the Santa Clara County guidelines for safety and delivering those. But if your family is in need of services in crisis, we have continued along with the county to be there for you. Uplift provides in this county a range of services, from birth through 26 and older. We have first five programming. We have school-based services, outpatient. We do, kind of your traditional therapy and we also do intensive level stabilization. We do specialty services like um ABA and autism, addiction prevention and we are a licensed foster care and adoption agency. And we do crisis services and we'll talk a little bit about that today. But we run a 24/7 every minute of every day, holidays, weekends Mobile crisis line. That's available to any youth and family in this entire county 17 and younger. And our mission if you worked with us and you know us and if you haven't, is we do whatever it takes you know. We're about healing this community and strengthening families.

RT: Thank You Jacqueline. Shelter-in-place has been hard for adults. It's also been very hard for kids, their routines, school events, all sorts of things have been changing and not. kind of following the same routine as they typically would. So, what are some ways that adults can support children during this time?

JT: Yeah, so, you know kids, just like adults, we're all feeling a tremendous amount of stress right now. And sometimes, as adults we have the tendency to think that you know kids don't have as much to worry about as we do. Maybe, your job is impacted by this, you're worrying about bills and food. And you think kids kind of have this extended summer vacation. Or, you might think that because they don't understand a lot of it, maybe they're younger, that they they might not worry about it as much. But kids are very good at picking up on stress in the environment. They pick up little bits of information from you when you don't think they would. It doesn't matter how many walls and screens are between you, they hear you on the phone. You know, scrolling their feeds they pick up all sorts of things. And then environmental you know, they're outside, they see people with masks on schools closed and they can feel our stress. So, the stress that we're under. They can hear it in our voices. They're asking tough and very good questions that we don't always have the answer to. So, there are a couple specific things regardless of how stressed you think your child might be right now that you can do and the first one, maybe the hardest, is to take care of yourself. When you're taking care of kids you have a tendency to want to pour into them. But you know, if you're here, it's really hard for your kids to be done down here. So, think about what you can do for yourself little every day. Keep routines, so, sometimes in the last couple months every day sort of feels the same. But, if you've always done something on a Saturday, keep trying to do that. It brings a rhythm to kids days when there are predictable parts of the day. Um, give them simple and clear explanations of things that are going on. So, instead of saying "you don't need to worry about that" or "it's nothing", sometimes they'll fill in the gap with something that's not actually going on. Give them a clear answer, or something simple or tell them that we can, you can talk more about that. Try to spend a little bit of time with them every day. We get super busy, you know work and dinner and all these things just for them. And another important piece is keep them connected. You know, shelter-in-place has been really isolating, and kids stay connected on the phone or the internet and it's really tempting to use those things as a consequence for behavior. But think about if that's pulling them away from their friends or not and find ways to enrich their connection with their peers.

RT: So, due to all of the stress that you just described. Is depression and anxiety something that adults should be worried about in children? And more specifically, how do adults tell the difference between sadness and depression? Or, worry and anxiety?

JT: Yeah. So, you know kids express emotions differently than adults do. Their brains are still growing, their bodies are changing, they might not be that good at describing it. Yet, so some of this can all be a normal range of feeling. But there are some things that you should look for that might mean that your child is having a more difficult time with it. Feeling sad, irritable, and just on edge a lot of the time; so, not your kind of typical ups and downs throughout the week. But you're really noticing something's there, they're not wanting to do and enjoy things that they used to. And not that kind of boredom of I've already done that a bunch of times. But really they're, you know, that they love whatever it is and they're just not enjoying it. Eating and sleeping patterns changing. You know, lack of sleep can really affect wellness and what you put into your body. And that can really throw kids off. And if you're noticing that pattern for a period of time, you're going to want to pay attention to it. Social anxiety, so right now that might look like they get really stuck on something that they said on social media or with a friend. And also, certainly if they're talking about just feeling kind of worthless right now and there's any thoughts of harming themselves. You know, sometimes kids don't talk about feeling hopeless. And as adults we might might not pick up on it. Uh, sometimes they have a tendency to think a kid is just being a troublemaker or they're really unmotivated and you would just say like "that kids super lazy". So, I would encourage you if you have those kids in your life, think about the other things that are going on with that. to consider if there's more happening for them. And then lastly, there's a lot of physical symptoms especially with anxiety and depression, headaches, and stomachaches. And if you see those things, you're going to want to talk to your medical provider. But clue in, because sometimes kids bodies will express how they're feeling about stuff.

RT: So, when we think about talking to children. That can be really hard to find the words to talk with children about their feelings and their experiences. So, what do you suggest for parents, or caregivers, or other adults, with regards to the things they can say to children to support them and talking about their feelings and experiences?

JT: Yeah. So, you know, the first thing you kinda want to do is manage your own stress. Because kids will match up against you. They love to match up to the level that you're having. So, take a deep breath, especially if you want to talk to your child about how they're feeling. I'll say, you know your child best. So, if you think something is going on for them, it very well could be. So, tune into that and pay attention to it. If you think that they're struggling you're gonna want to ask them how they're doing. So, offering a tip. If you, if they're having a hard time but they've been real irritable or just snapping back at you when you're asking them questions, don't start the conversation with "what's wrong with you". You know, I know as an adult if someone that says what's "what's wrong with you" I'm like "nothing, what's wrong with you". You know, so, you're gonna close that door really quickly. What you, what you could do instead is go and simple and ask them "how you doing" "are you doing all right". And something that I like to do is share how you're doing first. So, I might say to my daughter like, "I've been feeling super tired recently, how are you doing". The point of asking your kids how they're doing, isn't you know check a box, it's to really get that true answer so that you can help them if they need it. If you're worried about them and they say something that makes you really concerned, don't be afraid to ask them the question "do you sometimes feel like you don't want to live anymore". We have to know how kids are feeling in order to support them. A lot of parents get nervous asking these questions to their children but we won't know how to help them unless we can hear it from them. And lastly, you know ask for help. Parents don't ask for help because they're embarrassed. They don't know if it's really a big deal. They're just not sure, they don't want to burden others. Every crisis that I have ever responded to, um bigger or small. Friends and Family always say "I wish I would have known, I would have done something". So, I encourage you not, not to wait for your families and friends wishes. Reach out now, there's a lot of folks out there that can help and support you. So, with regards to thinking about the folks that can help in support. We have seen actually a spike in calls to our suicide and crisis hotline in our county and recent medical examiner's office data shows however though that suicide fortunately has not gone up during the shelter in place from March 16th to June all ages and in the same period last year there were 38 suicides. The medical examiner is still investigating deaths for the time period and so these numbers may slightly change. But, with regards to caregivers that might be concerned about suicide and their child or their adolescent, with regards to their child and adolescent. What suggestions do you have, particularly with regards to utilizing our suicide and crisis supports and other supports that we have in our county?

JT: Yeah. You know, when we're talking about thoughts of suicide. Um, a lot of the symptoms can be very similar to the anxiety and depression. There are a couple things that you would want to pay attention to that can be more significant. Um, changes in eating and sleeping, like I said, that can really throw off just the overall feeling of wellness um for kids. Significant isolation, so, if they're really pulling back from you from their friends or anyone else for a period of time that can be very damaging to their mental health. You know, kids are reactionary. So, if there's a youth who's already struggling with anxiety and depression and they have some sort of setback a serious fight with a family or friend or a loss make sure that you're paying attention to that and giving extra support. And know that substance use increases the risk ess, especially for teens and anyone that you might just say has a low level of substance use. You're not really sure, that can absolutely add to their risk. You know also, the other risk with kids in suicide is, sometimes as adults we don't know how intense their feelings are. And kids can be impulsive and not really think through the consequences of choices. They just know they want  feelings to stop and that's why I encourage asking those tough questions. So, that we can get them to share with us and we can put supports in place. So, now we've talked a lot about symptoms and signs. And so, the question is. What do you do if you're concerned, to prevent suicide? So, absolutely. Suicide is preventable anxiety, and depression are treatable. There's an entire field of work right here in the county dedicated to this. What you can do is take suicidal statements seriously, don't pass it off as teenage angst. Pay attention to those things and if you hear something that's concerning let let your child or teen know, Ask them the question about suicide. You know, talking about suicide does not cause suicide. But, not talking to a youth who's struggling you can actually make them feel more isolated and disconnected. So, it's really important just to talk about these things with them, increase their connection. Like I said, their lifestyle, sleep, you know, some teens need more sleep. But, you know, if they're not eating healthy, get them outdoors. Right now just let the sunshine hit their face for a minute, lift up their wellness a little. There are ways that you can still increase that connection even during this time. Support any treatment plan that comes up. So, know that things don't change quickly but things will change for them. And lastly, anyone with kids but particularly if your kids are struggling, you want to safely store any firearms that you have. Alcohol, medications. Because quick access to these things can play a role.

RT: So, Jacquelyn. Thank you so much. We just have a couple of minutes left and before we close. What are some options for people if they would like to get their child or their adolescent some help? Yeah, so you know you don't have to decide this on your own. We at Uplift operate a 24/7 mobile crisis line you can call. You can just talk, we can develop a safety plan with you, we can come out and talk to your youth and talk to you. And we're really there to support you along with this process. And we'll give you some of those resources at the end here. Jacquelyn, thank you again for being with us today. And we do have a few resources to share with you. first, uplift Family Services. Their website is uplift

FS. That's U P L I F T F S. org. Their phone number is four zero eight three seven nine three seven nine  zero. You can also contact uplift through the 24/7 youth mobile crisis line. That number is four zero eight three seven nine nine zero eight five or one eight seven seven four one crisis. Our behavioral health services department website is www.sccbhd.com and you can reach us for services and support at 1-800-704-0900 and please press option two if you need the adult mobil crisis line. And finally our suicide and crisis hotline can be reached at 1-855-278-4204 or text renew RENEW to 741741
Thank you so much for being here today Jacquelyn. and this concludes our segment for today, thank you.