An Important Conversation about Youth Mental Health with Rev. Dr. Justin Hannemann
On March 21, 2024, Rev. Dr. Justin Hannemann addressed parents, educators, church workers, and community members at Sioux Falls Lutheran School about Childhood and Youth Mental Health, with specific focus on Anti-Fragility, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and Best Practices.
Dr. Hannemann is a researcher-extraordinaire and an attentive student of all that’s contributing to a generation of “fragile” children. It is his life goal to apply that research to counsel and teach families, children, teachers, and anyone who will listen, about best practices for building resilience.
The SFLS leadership team is beginning discussions on how best to implement Dr. Hannemann’s well-researched best practices for developing resilience here at school, and we highly encourage you all to take a short hour to watch his presentation, so you can be meaningfully involved in the discussions as well. For those of you who were unable to join us on March 21, Dr. Hannemann’s presentation can be viewed on our youtube page:
For even more on this timely topic, Dr. Hannemann highly recommends a hot off the press book by Jonathan Haidt, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.” It arrived on bookstore shelves just last week and is available to order.
From our School Counselor
Addressing Technology Expectations with Your Child
As a parent, it is difficult to know how to establish routines for technology use. The good news is there are a variety of resources designed to help parents make decisions for their families.
One idea is to establish expectations and agreements ahead of time. Safe practices suggest the following:
Sit down with your child before they receive their first device to outline safety rules you both agree upon. Child advocates are recommending waiting until later to purchase your child a smartphone (ex. later middle school or high school).
Set up parental controls on the device (iPad, tablet, gaming system, cell phone, etc).
Make sure to set the rules together.
For inspiration, you can view a sample parent/child cell phone contract here.
Experts also recommend introducing the concept of “non-negotiable rules” and “flexible rules” to children. Non-negotiable rules are typically related to safety, while flexible rules tend to be more family-specific and unrelated to safety.
Examples of non-negotiable rules include:
your ability, as a parent, to review your child’s device(s) to see what sites they are visiting and who they are communicating with
devices stay out of the bedroom, especially overnight
strict no-texting-while-driving rule
Examples of flexible rules include:
when and how long screens are allowed after school
whether cell phones are allowed at the family dinner table
what types of video games are age-appropriate
Research encourages parents to help their children learn how to manage screen time independently. Similar to learning to ride a bike, children don’t innately have the skills necessary to safely navigate their screen time and online presence. Those skills must be learned with careful guidance from parents and other trusted adults.
Additional resources to help establish technology agreements with your children:
Introducing Technology Contracts to your Family | Center for Online Safety
About Rev. Dr. Justin Hannemann
Justin, his wife Katherine, and their four children live in Seward, Nebraska. Justin is the Cofounder and CEO of GracePoint Institute for Relational Health. GracePoint is a counseling and consultation ministry with offices in Lincoln, Omaha and Columbus. He is also Executive Assistant to the Nebraska District-LCMS President, with a special emphasis on Ministerial Health. He is a Licensed Independent Mental Health Practitioner and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of Nebraska. Justin has a passion for helping people develop and maintain healthy relationships in the name of Christ. You can learn more about Justin and GracePoint at www.relationalhealth.org.
About Sioux Falls Lutheran School
Sioux Falls Lutheran School is a family community committed to developing capable Christian servant-leaders in a complex world who are World Ready and Faith Secure. We are passionate about giving our students the tools they need to be successful academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. We strive to accomplish this goal by maintaining high academic standards, employing excellent teachers, and upholding a Christian worldview drawn from Scripture. Ultimately, our vision is to partner with families in preparing children, as led by the Holy Spirit, for faithful and bold use of their God-given gifts to navigate and serve a complex world with the love of Christ.