Protecting Your Family’s Mental Health

Family is everything. They’re not just the people we love—they’re the people we turn to in moments of distress. They’re our main form of support on difficult days. And they’re often the first to notice when something’s amiss. 

Effectively, our family carries us through life’s highs and lows. But family life isn’t without its challenges, and one of the main difficulties families may face is mental ill-health. 

With 1 in every 8 people—nearly 970 million globally—living with a mental health disorder, mental health takes center stage when protecting your family’s wellbeing.¹ But how can you keep your family safe from mental health difficulties when you can only do so much? 

The quick answer is: it’s always best not to wait until something’s wrong—there’s lots you can do every day to prevent mental health challenges in your family unit. In this article, we’ll outline 10 practical ways to better you and your loved ones’ wellbeing, all backed by research. 

Best Ways to Protect Your Family’s Mental Health

Protecting your family’s mental health might sound like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. As with most things in life, it’s the little things that make a huge difference. Small, intentional actions can quickly add up, helping you support your family through whatever life throws at you. 

1. Manage Your Own Mental Health

As with anything when it comes to taking care of others, we have to focus inwards first. If you want to keep yourself mentally healthy so you can continue to protect the mental health of the family, taking steps to practice self-care—such as putting time aside to recharge—isn’t optional.  

Take time to do things that bring you satisfaction, whether it’s going for a walk, listening to music, or running a bubble bath after a stressful day.   

Children are incredibly perceptive—they pick up on your stress, moods, and coping mechanisms. What’s more, research suggests that 80% of parenting comes from modeling behaviors.² You get to decide whether these are behaviors you want to see in your child or not. 

2. Spend Time in Nature

Spending time outdoors as a family can boost everyone’s mental health by reducing stress and improving mood. Try tuning your senses to what’s around you—the trees, plants, smells, sounds, and textures.³ Practicing being truly present in nature can act as a form of mindfulness, maximizing the positive impact nature can have on your mental health. 

Research suggests that exposure to nature can reduce stress and increase feelings of wellbeing in as little as 20 to 30 minutes per day.³ Whether it’s a family hike, picnic, or swapping a daily car or busy journey for a walk together, half an hour spent outside could help you protect your family’s wellbeing.  

3. Connect as a Family

Even under the same roof, it’s easy to feel disconnected. Busy schedules, personal routines, and constant screen time often pull us apart—even when we’re in the same room. 

But you can start taking steps to protect the mental health of the family by building stronger connections. And this starts with small, meaningful actions. Creating (or buying!) a pack of conversation cards to encourage chatting during dinner or swapping your evening screen time for board games can create pockets of connection that make your family feel closer. 

4. Prioritize Reading

Reading doesn’t have to be a solitary activity—it’s a way to connect as a family over a shared activity. A study conducted by Mindlab International at Sussex found that reading can reduce our stress levels by up to 68%. And the reduction in stress can be seen after just 6 minutes of reading!⁴

What’s more, reading can offer many children an escape or refuge during difficult times, so it’s a great activity to try together as a family (or even reading solo while sitting together!).⁵ 

5. Listen to Music

Music has a unique ability to uplift our mood. In fact, music may benefit our mental wellbeing in the same way physical exercise aids weight loss!⁶ Research suggests that music helps our mental health in more ways than one:

• It reduces stress
• Provides a space for us to release our emotions 
• Helps us to feel less alone, and more understood by others⁷

What’s more, dancing, singing, or simply listening to music as a family could bring you closer.⁸ 

6. Be Active

Exercise releases certain chemicals in our brain—namely endorphins, endocannabinoids, and dopamine—that make us feel good. This effect means that physical exercise serves as a preventative measure against mental health difficulties, such as anxiety and depression.⁹ 

However, research shows that the real benefit comes in those who are prone to mental ill-health—exercise can help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression, helping those who struggle with mental ill-health feel partially better.¹⁰  

Exercise also boosts our self-esteem, helps us concentrate, and improves our sleep.⁹ 

But the guidance to “be active” is pretty vague, right? Well, being active as a family doesn’t have to mean costly gym memberships. It could be trying a new activity like cycling or setting an exercise challenge to complete as a family each week. 

7. Learn as Often as Possible

As strange as this may sound, learning a new skill can work wonders for your mental health. Learning a new skill can boost your self-confidence, make you feel better about yourself, and help give you a sense of purpose.¹¹ 

Learning with others also gives you opportunities to bond and strengthen your relationship, which means learning together as a family can improve your family unit.¹¹ 

Studies show that learning a new language could be particularly beneficial for your and your family’s mental health. For starters, it can boost children’s academic performance. But it can also improve concentration, memory, communication, and creativity, which all have a positive impact on mental health.¹² 

8. Try the Act of Giving

It’s true that happiness often comes not from what we get, but from what we give. Research shows that acts of kindness can improve our wellbeing by giving us a sense of purpose and triggering the brain’s reward center.¹³ 

Giving can be a great way for your family to bond. For example, you could start a penny jar to collect money to donate to a favorite charity, making it a family mission to save a specific amount by a certain date. You could also volunteer for a local charity together. 

That said, it doesn’t need to be something big—giving might just be doing something for another family member to make their day slightly easier, like writing a thoughtful note in your child’s lunchbox. 

9. Prioritize Presence During Family Time

Spending time together as a family is crucial for building strong family bonds. In fact, studies show that when parents prioritize parent-child leisure activities—activities that you do for enjoyment, rather than out of necessity—it leads to better parent-child relationships.¹⁴ Spending leisure time together also reduces conflict among family members.¹⁴  

But if one thing’s for sure, family time is most meaningful when you’re present. So, make a conscious effort to remain focused on the people you’re with and actively listen to them when they speak. 

10. Reach Out for Professional Mental Health Support

If you’re struggling to know how to protect your family’s mental health, it’s okay. We don’t always have all the answers (although wouldn’t that be great?!). If you’re finding it hard to manage your daily parental responsibilities or if your relationships are feeling strained, it’s important to reach out to a professional mental health support service.

Here are some signs to look out for that may indicate a family member could benefit from professional support: 

• Extreme mood swings
• Difficulty concentrating
• Unexplained changes in sleep or appetite
• Changes in ability to perform normal, daily tasks

Support for Family Mental Health Issues

At Mission Prep, we aim to provide support and sustainable change for adolescents and families facing mental health challenges. Our residential treatment centers offer premier teen mental health treatment programs targeting the entire family system. Our goal is to help families function as a whole family unit while protecting their individual wellbeing, too. 

For more complex or severe difficulties our residential centers and inpatient programs offer structured support in a calm, peaceful environment conducive to healing. Alternatively, our outpatient programs provide ongoing care without significantly disrupting you or your child’s routine.  

At Mission Prep Healthcare, our team is here for you. Get in touch today. 

Final Word on Looking After Your Family’s Mental Health

Our number one job as parents is to protect our family. And while this may have solely focused on their physical health in the past, mental health has started to come to the forefront in recent years. 

With 1 in every 8 people struggling with a mental health disorder, there’s a high chance that someone within your family may need support with their mental health. This task can feel daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. You can take preventative steps to protect your family from mental health difficulties, or support them if they’re struggling. 

If you or someone in your family is battling mental ill-health, reach out to our team. At Mission Prep, we’re here to provide compassionate support tailored to your needs. Whatever the circumstances, you don’t need to face them alone – we’re here to help.  

Contact us today at (866) 575-4960. 

References

1. World Health Organization. (2022, June 8). Mental disorders [Fact sheet]. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
2. Fidelity Charitable. (2023, November 14). Study shows that more than 80% of parents find success in modeling philanthropic behavior for their children—growing the next generation of givers. https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/about-us/news/study-shows-that-more-than-80-percent-of-parents-find-success-in-modeling-philanthropic-behavior.html
3. Harvard Health Publishing. (2019, July 1). A 20-minute nature break relieves stress. Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/a-20-minute-nature-break-relieves-stress
4. Whiteman, H. (2016, October 12). Five ways reading can improve health and well-being. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/313429
5. National Literacy Trust. (2020, July 13). Children and young people’s reading in 2020 before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-reading-in-2020-before-and-during-the-covid-19-lockdown/
6. McCrary, J. M., Altenmüller, E., Kretschmer, C., & Scholz, D. S. (2022). Association of music interventions with health-related quality of life: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open, 5(3), e223236-e223236.
7. American Psychiatric Association. (2023, August 1). The Transformative Power of Music in Mental Well-Being. https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/power-of-music-in-mental-well-being
8. Tarr, B., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2014). Music and social bonding: “self-other” merging and neurohormonal mechanisms. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01096
9. Mikkelsen, K., Stojanovska, L., Polenakovic, M., Bosevski, M., & Apostolopoulos, V. (2017). Exercise and mental health. Maturitas, 106, 48-56.
10. Mahindru, A., Patil, P., & Agrawal, V. (2023). Role of Physical Activity on Mental Health and Well-Being: A review. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.33475
11. NHS. (2022, December 16). 5 steps to mental wellbeing. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/#:~:text=Research%20shows%20that%20learning%20new,you%20to%20connect%20with%20others
12. Spence, C. (2022, April 29). How learning a new language changes your brain. Cambridge University. https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2022/04/29/learning-language-changes-your-brain/   
13. Cregg, D. R., & Cheavens, J. S. (2023). Healing through helping: An experimental investigation of kindness, social activities, and reappraisal as well-being interventions. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 18(6), 924-941.
14. Zabidi, A. S., Hastings, R. P., & Totsika, V. (2022). Spending leisure time together: Parent child relationship in families of children with an intellectual disability. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 133, 104398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104398