Minding the Children – 3. What Can I Do?

“What Can I Do?” This question is being asked by parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors, and medical health professionals all over America and beyond.  Each of them play a role in one of the greatest challenges of our age—stewarding the health of children and young adults.  Health professionals across our nation report a desperate need for an effective approach to stem the tide of poor mental health outcomes and suicides.  In fact, addressing mental health is one of the top three health concerns in all medical centers nationally.

We thank many of you who have already read the first two articles entitled “Minding the Children.”  If you are now asking even more strongly, “What Can I Do?”, we thank God for your compassion and concern.  It is just like our Creator to love and care about “our neighbor,” especially “these little ones” as Jesus called them (Matthew 18: 1-6).  Compassion and restoration is the motivation of Robb and MaryEllen Fogg, directors of the Community Health Initiative, and co-authors of this article.

We have presented a complicated issue with lots of moving parts in both defining the problem and in offering a path to restoration.  So, this final part of our series will simply serve a sort of GPS to everyone who is asking, “What Can I Do?”  We hope it will lead you or someone you care about to begin the good journey toward restoration.  You will be guided through a series of stops along the journey starting with identification of the problem faced by so many children, adolescents, and even adults—hormonal dysregulation and resultant emotional dysfunction.  Then, we will expose the real roots of the problem and point you to a series of online videos and other resources needed for overcoming the dysfunction.

As you navigate through the links below and become more informed of the problem and the program’s path toward restoration, try to identify characteristics and behaviors you have observed in yourself or your family and friends. If you are a person of faith in God, pray for a mind of understanding and a heart of love and compassion.  None of us have reached a perfect physical and emotional state.  But we are called to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6: 2).  For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5: 14).”   

We hope the resources below will equip you and/or loved ones with the understanding and practical tools that will bring flourishing where there has been dysfunction, frustration, fatigue, and despair.  The “Acorns to Oaks” program itself is available online free to enrollees, and comes from people who understand from their own experience what hormonal dysfunction is and have a passion to be of help. 

INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM • “Minding the Children   1.  What Can I Do?” A brief holistic view of childhood education starting in the womb and including the necessities for proper childhood development.  We explain the influence of childhood trauma (Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACE’s, on mental, emotional, and physical health.	Go HERE
EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM • “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health across a Lifetime” [VIDEO of a TED Talk by Nadine Burke Harris, MD Pediatrician]	Go HERE
HPA-Dysfunction  • "Animated Tour of the Brain Showing Dysfunction" [VIDEO Animation] • "Negative Effects of HPA-Dysfunction,"  by Robb Fogg [Technical Paper] • Dysregulations That Come with "Fight or Flight" [VIDEO by Robb Fogg] • Brief Explanation of How to Turn Off "Fight or Flight" [VIDEO by Robb Fogg]	Go HERE Go HERE Go HERE Go HERE
INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM • “Minding the Children” 2.  Path to Restoration” Robb and MaryEllen Fogg share their personal testimony and explain their free online program called “Acorns to Oaks.”  This program allows children and parents to cooperate in an interactive manner to assess the current health status of their child or adolescent.  Users of the program who give disciplined attention to improving their health scores on each of five biological baselines (Hydration, Nutrition, Sleep, Breath, and Play) will progress in improving their physical, mental, and social well-being.	Go HERE
ENROLLMENT IN THE PROGRAM • This link allows children and adolescents, supervised as necessary by parents, to enroll in “Acorns to Oaks.” Each enrollee in invited to complete the Daily Health Survey which will generate a score for each of five biological baselines: Hydration, Nutrition, Sleep, Breath, and Play.  Each enrollee is then given access to the unique Interactive Tracker which reports scores for each of the baselines.  As enrollees make progress in improving their baselines, they will be able to see their scores with color coding on their own personal Life Fuel Dashboard accessed through their “Acorns to Oaks” phone app.	Go HERE
INCENTIVES FOR ACHIEVEMENT One incentive is the gift of "getting one's life back" and the experience of "living in the present" rather than bearing the weight of past adversities and being anxious about the future.  Plus, achievers will be afforded a "Nature Imersion Experience" in a beautiful outdoor setting where personal disciplines and biological baselines can be further enhanced.

Now, the Readers' Turn:
We have discussed the alarming prevalence and consequences of adverse childhood experiences among adolescents, young adults, and parents.  Robb Fogg has launched a multi-faceted program to address HPA Dysfunction and to bring freedom and restoration to those locked in a cycle of cognitive, emotional, and spiritual turmoil.   If you or someone you know appears to be struggling under the effects of dysfunction and wants to find help, we urge you to avail yourself of "Acorns to Oaks" using the appropriate links above.

Finally, we hope you sense that we have a personal interest in helping those who are struggling.  We urge you to share your experiences, questions, and ideas using the “Comment” link below.  Your insights and experiences that will further add to the value of this discussion.  You may also e-mail us at silviusj@gmail.com . To contact or offer financial support or expertise to Robb and MaryEllen Fogg, directors of the Community Health Initiative, please contact them at robb@10000atoms.com