Mental Health Community Care at the Y
May 7, 2025
Mental Health Community Care at the Y
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, The Granite YMCA is encouraging community members to care for themselves and others. Mental health is how we think, feel and act. At the Y, we recognize that we all have mental health, and mental health is an important part of our overall health and social-emotional well-being, as well as a core component of our identity.
Community Care Approach to Mental Health
The Y supports the mental health of individuals and communities in all the work we do to help people reach their full potential—whether that’s teaching life skills to youth in our summer camps, supporting our staff, guiding people to achieve their best physical health or helping newcomer immigrants access services. This type of non-clinical support is called “community care” and includes:
- Understanding mental health as something we all have—it is how we think, feel, and act.
- Applying positive self-care practices routinely.
- Understanding and applying trauma-informed guiding principles when interacting with others.
- Understanding the impact of social determinants of health, systemic racism, discrimination and marginalization on mental health.
- Modeling emotion regulation, co-regulation, and effective coping skills.
- Recognizing signs that someone may be struggling.
- Connecting individuals to primary and specialty support when needed.
- Providing initial response in crisis situations.
- Initiating dialogue and collaborating with others to embed mental health informal care support throughout the community.
Secure Attachment in Children
When it comes to children, secure attachment is critical for children in their relationship with their parent or caregiver and for their mental health. This is where a child feels safe, secured, and nurtured. Check out this video about secure attachment featuring Dartmouth Health Children’s Holly Gaspar, Med, MPH and then continue reading below about ways to strengthen the bond with your child.
Here are some practical tips to help promote secure attachment:
- Engage in conversations in a genuine way, with empathy and the intent of building meaningful relationships.
- Be emotionally available for them and to listen creating a nurturing environment.
- Find the time to sit with your child and to actively listen.
Learn a bit more about secure attachment and other ways to support your children’s mental health through Dartmouth Health Children’s Heads Up: Foundations for Youth Mental Health.
Caring For Yourself & Others
Here’s how you can identify simple ways to care for yourself and others, such as:
- Using your powers of observation to notice when someone may be struggling with a hard day, moment or situation.
- Intentionally asking “how are you?” and encouraging honest answers so others can share and feel heard.
- Bringing empathy, compassion and kindness to your daily interactions.
- When you notice someone struggling, connecting them to mental health resources like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255 or suicidepreventionlifeline.org).
Through this work, we can reduce the risk and impact of mental illness, provide early intervention, and support the process of healing and recovery. We also provide a critical bridge to formal mental health care providers when needed. Everyone can play a role in mental health community care. Learn more about what our Y provides in terms of mental health community care: Mental Health Awareness Month.
About the "Tiny Tips" Series
The Granite YMCA and Dartmouth Health Children’s partnership is dedicated to enhancing youth and family well-being. Through our "Tiny Tips" series, we’re able to provide parents and caregivers with tips from Dartmouth Health Children’s doctors and care teams. "Tiny Tips" cover topics from mental health to tummy troubles and everything in between. Together, we’re extending our impact by delivering health-related information that focuses on youth development and healthy living.
