Mental Well-Being

Cooperative Extension

Here to help Delawareans actualize Mental Wellness

Mental Well-Being - The effective functioning in daily activities, relationships, and ability to adapt to change and cope with adversity.

University of Delaware Cooperative Extension: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Delawareans by helping them with self-soothing techniques, mapping their support systems, differentiating between thoughts and emotions, emotional language development, coping skills, building healthy relationships, maintaining/developing a healthy marriage, healthy communication skills, developing empathy for their traumatized brains, developing compassion for others, intellectual and cognitive functioning, building resilience, self-awareness skills, and identifying local resources that support mental health. (Your mental well-being is essential!)

149,000 adult Delawareans have a mental health condition. 42,000 have a severe mental health condition, and 9,000 Delaware youth between the ages of 12-17 have been diagnosed with depression. 32.8% of Delaware adults reported having symptoms of anxiety and depression that were exacerbated by the effects of Covid-19. 45.5% of Delaware youth ages 12-17 who have depression did not receive any healthcare to address this problem, nor did 38.6% of adults due to mental healthcare costs.

One-Time Presentations

Speaker Bureau topics are below- Approximately 1 to 1.5 hours

The Physiology of Love: How our brains and body respond to human connections. (Elevate)
Building Empathy & Loving Kindness (Mind Matters)
Communication Challenge: How to raise issues effectively (Love Notes)
Effective Coping (Resilience X)
Coping with Loss (New)

Wits Workout

Wits Workout is a peer-reviewed, pilot-tested brain health resource tool developed to assist leaders who provides programs for older adults in community settings.

Research shows that intellectual challenge and social connectedness are several factors that contribute to brain health throughout life. Wits Workout provides purposeful opportunities for older adults to engage intellectually and increase their socialization through ongoing group participation.

This is a fun-filled and challenging 1-hour program for 6-weeks. Run as a competition with intellectual challenges; participants can expect to compete in groups, partners, as individuals. This program is excellent for seniors ages 60+.

Activities address:

Short-term memory
Long-term memory
Immediate recalling
Aging as it relates to brain health
Diet as it relates to brain health
Socialization
Exercise
Stress management
Sensory memory

Woman assisting another woman over age 60

Two participants writing and collaborating

A participant waiting to hear instructions

A participant writing and collaborating with others

The leader reading instructions for the activity

A close view of the roman numerals activity on paper

a close view of a participant writing her answers on the paper

Mind Matters

This is the perfect 6-week, evidence-based curriculum to reach school-aged youth. Youth learn skills to self-regulate, learn to respond instead of react, and how to overcome adversity.

Mind Matters teaches how to overcome adversity and build resilience. Participants learn to address their physical, relational, and mental health needs by taking charge of themselves and their responses. This program has been run in partnership with the school’s guidance department for youth in 7th grade to 12th.

Topics Covered:

Lesson 1
focuses on self-soothing techniques to dial down the reactive response of our body's central nervous system.

Lesson 2
Focuses on discovering emotions -which teaches us to value, identify, and understand what our bodies and brains tell us through emotions, as well as developing the language to communicate our internal experiences.

Lesson 3
Focuses on learning the difference between emotions and thoughts, participants will practice a tool to develop an "observing self"...when a person confuses emotions with thoughts, they treat emotions as facts, and we want to make sure they can differentiate between the two.

Lesson 4
Focuses on developing Empathy; this skill is necessary for healthy relationships.

Lesson 5
Focuses on having compassion for the hijacked brain...we discuss how trauma affects the brain, which in turn affects our behavior; in this lesson, we concentrate on how to overcome the effects of trauma.

Lesson 6
Focuses on Trauma containment & rhythm - this lesson aims to provide two methods to heal from harmful experiences...this involves music -which should be fun for participants.

Jennifer Seabrook-Scott interacting with the class

A view of the paper packet each child received.

Image of the words Mind Matters with a group of diverse teens

Adults Only: Resilience X

Resilience X is a course that educates individuals on boosting their resiliency by focusing on factors within a person’s control and developing coping skills to address current and future challenges.

This 6-week, 1.5-hour-a-week program is run as a group style class; program participants learn skills for coping with stress, disappointment, challenges, and adversity; how to tap into resilience when unsuspecting situations arise; and learn to identify the things they can change. Great for those: Reentering society, in recovery, experiencing mental health challenges, or facing new adventures

A collage of photos taken from a class showing the leader and three participants.

Resilience X Secondary Image of a female with eyes closed meditating

Topics Covered:

Session 1 – The Sailboat Metaphor an example of resilience

Session 2 – Mastering Attention: Participants learn the significance of attention, the bias towards negativity, and the power of a positive focus

Session 3 – The Power of Thoughts: Participants explore the connection between thoughts and resilience and develop the skills to cultivate more helpful thoughts that foster resilience.

Session 4 – Motivation to Push Forward: Participants explore the motivation to push forward during challenging times and discuss how motivation relates to dealing with stress and resilience. Participants also learn about the power of values and their role in staying motivated.

Session 5 – Effective Coping: Provide participants with insights and strategies to navigate difficult circumstances by focusing on effective coping.

Session 6 – The Resilience Plan: Participants reflect on their journey and evaluate their transformation as captains throughout the training.

Love Notes

Love Notes: Modified version for ages 13-17, full version ages 18-24.

Love Notes is an evidence-based curriculum used to help reduce teenage pregnancy. This curriculum teaches how to make wise choices about relationships and how to be and select a good partner, all of which can influence your mental health. This curriculum is for ages 13 -24. This is a sexuality and gender-neutral curriculum

This evidence-based curriculum can be modified for youth in grades 7th and above. This program runs for six weeks for 1 hour (modified for schools as needed). It covers the importance of self-awareness, navigating relationships in the age of technology, focused decision-making, dating while parenting, and principles and characteristics of an intelligent, healthy relationship.

Love Notes Featured Image with two teens sitting together, and a cell phone image

Topics Covered:

Lesson 1
Discusses what relationships are like in the technology age, as well as defining a vision for your relationship and activities that involve youth talking to a trusted adult in their life.

Lesson 2
Discusses the importance of knowing yourself because a healthy relationship starts with you; they learn about their personality type and delve into family origins.

Lesson 3
Encourages participants to examine their expectations for their future and the power that expectations can have on their lives.

Lesson 4
We discuss the biological chemistry of attraction and what happens in the brain when attracted to someone.

Lesson 5
Focuses on the principles of an intelligent relationship, which moves the focus from emotions to scrutinizing behaviors in relationships and being able to tell whether a relationship is healthy.

Lesson 6
Focuses on developing skills for decision-making and communication in healthy relationships.

Relationships - Parenting

Relationships- Parenting It gets Emotional: Mental health program.

The “Parenting It Gets Emotional” series takes parents through the many emotions experienced while parenting through the child’s life cycle. Created to remove the shame and isolation many parents experience, this series provides space for group sharing about experiences, successes, and challenges while simultaneously learning coping skills and where to access community support. Depending on the needs of the group, this program runs from 6 to 10 weeks for 1.5 hours.

In a judgment-free space, parents learn to ground their emotions and thoughts in positive feelings while confronting emotional challenges with parenting. Parents can learn coping and self-regulating skills, how to communicate their needs with their partner and support system, where to find resources in their community for support, the importance of self-care, what to expect at certain stages of brain development in their child, and to evaluate how they have parented influences how they parent. Classes are available in person, online, and in hybrid form.

Topics Covered

Lesson 1:
Expecting to Labor & Delivery: Anchoring in Love, confronting fear, mentally preparing for childbirth.

Lesson 2:
Parenting ages Birth to 3: Anchoring in Peace, addressing postpartum depression, dealing with parental exhaustion, addressing feelings of exclusion.

Lesson 3:
Parenting ages 4 to 7: Anchoring in Love, primary caregiving-love, social isolation & loneliness, dealing with embarrassment, their independence makes me feel useless.

Lesson 4:
Parenting ages 8 to 12: Anchoring in Joy, feeling rejected, supporting your child’s mental health, parenting while bitter.

Lesson 5:
Parenting ages 13 to 19: Anchoring in Authentic Pride, coping with frustration, disliking your kids, confronting empty nest syndrome

Parenting: It Gets Emotional Series Featured Image with mother and kids

Elevate - For Couples

Elevate is a research-informed curriculum for couples. This couples education curriculum blends practical skills with an understanding of the physiology of human interaction to enhance knowledge and skills of healthy relationships. Healthy couple relationships lead to family stability that benefits adults and children's emotional, social, and physical well-being. This is a sexuality-neutral curriculum, and LGBTQ+ couples are welcome.

This program runs for six weeks for 2hrs per week. This curriculum engages couples in learning and practicing the seven core principles/skills essential to maintaining healthy and stable relationships

Image of a man and woman smiling together

Topics covered are:

Lesson 1
Helps couples establish clear goals and expectations for what each partner hopes to come away with from this program.

Lesson 2
Empower yourself: How to manage stress in your marriage

Lesson 3
Lay the foundation: Identify choices and strategies that lay a strong foundation for a safe, stable, and satisfying relationship.

Lesson 4
Enlighten: Identify what individuals and couples need to learn about themselves and each other and what they each bring to the relationship.

Lesson 5
Value: Understand how showing kindness, understanding, respect, and caring can help couples create and maintain stable, healthy relationships.

Lesson 6
Attach: Identify strategies to create meaningful couple time that fosters friendship

Lesson 7
Tame: Identify strategies for regulating emotions and managing stress and conflict.

Lesson 8
Engage: Couples learn to Identify sources of personal and community resources (e.g., family, friends, faith groups) and share meaning (e.g., rituals, spirituality, values) that support healthy couple relationships.

Mental Wellness and Prevention (ROTA) >

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Related Fact Sheets

All Results

ACHIEVING EMOTIONAL WELLNESS

The area to understand and cope with feelings and emotions through a positive attitude and strong sense of self. This may include having a sense of fun and laughter, expressing yourself and feelings appropriately and constructively, having a sense of control in your life and being able to adapt to change.
ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL WELLNESS

Environmental Wellness means taking care of both the global environment as well as your immediate personal environment through sustainable practices and organization skills. This may include recycling plastic, glass and paper products when possible, maintaining a clean and organized home and/or room, and spending time outdoors.
ACHIEVING INTELLECTUAL WELLNESS

Intellectual Wellness is being open to new experiences and ideas by creatively, curiously and critically thinking and seeking out new challenges. This may include having goals to learn a new skill or study a particular topic, being a lifelong learner, committing time and energy to professional and self-development.
ACHIEVING PHYSICAL WELLNESS

Maintaining a healthy body through smart diet and activity choices. This may include eating a balanced nutritional diet, exercising regularly, at least 60 minutes per day for youth or 2.5 hours per week for adults, and being generally free from common illness.
ACHIEVING SPIRITUAL WELLNESS

Spiritual wellness is where we establish peace and harmony in our lives by demonstrating an individual purpose and reflecting your values and beliefs in your actions. This may include having a sense of meaning and purpose in life, trusting yourself and others and being able to forgive and let go, having principles, ethics, and morals that provide guides for your life.
ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR

Physical restlessness, fidgeting, arguments with parents over rules, neatness, time management.
Boosting Emotional IQ

Children need help to deal with their emotions. This means teaching them how to respond when feelings arise.
Dealing with Grief

Adults sometimes think that children do not experience feelings of grief, but even babies feel loss and show signs of grief. Children experience many losses—such as losing a favorite toy, being separated from a parent, losing a family member to death, moving to a new home or school.
HIV/AIDS: What Parents Need to Know

Although children learn about AIDS in school and from their friends, parents have a very important job in helping their children really understand AIDS and how not to get it.
Healthy Familes, Healthy Teens

When you bring up the subject of teenagers in a room full of parents, there’s usually a group groan. People roll their eyes and laugh nervously. Almost everyone thinks about this stage with fear and trepidation.
Making the Best of the School Year

Children who are given the basics — love, healthy food, enough sleep, clothing, a safe and healthy home — have a natural head start at school.
PROFESSIONAL WELLNESS

Professionally, you should have fulfillment in your job. There is also a balance between work and leisure. This may include beliefs and values surrounding money/education are harmonious with behavior, having a balance between work/school and other areas of life, having financial/educational plans for the future.
Prevention Pays

What are the characteristics of youth who are most and least at-risk of becoming involved with drugs and other risky activities? What can parents do to help their kids stay on a good path?
Raising a Non-Violent Child

If we want our children to be non-violent, we can not use violence to discipline them. Discipline means “to teach.” When we discipline our children we are turning their misbehavior into an opportunity to teach them how we want them to behave.
SELF-ESTEEM GROWS WITH REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

When expectations are realistic, it is easy for a child to experience success and feel personally valuable. On the other hand, when expectations are too high or too rigid, parents often express disappointment in their child’s actions.
SOCIAL WELLNESS

Social wellness is how we relate and connect to others by engaging in the community and building and being a part of supportive social networks. This may include: being aware of others feelings and responding in an appropriate manner, having people with whom you have a trusting relationship, and being able to set and respect your own and others’ boundaries.
Setting Limits

Youth who stay away from risky behaviors tend to have parents who set clear limits for behavior. These parents usually have rules about homework, television use, curfew, drugs and alcohol.
Steps to Building Self-Esteem

At one time or another most parents ask themselves: "What can I do to help my child feel better about himself...to feel more confident...to view life positively?"
Stress is Gonna Get You if You Don't Watch Out

Is stress getting to you? Here are some clues research gives us about stress and the characteristics of good stress managers.
Surviving a Family Crisis

A family crisis occurs when a family has to change. It is a turning point: things will either get better, or they will get worse. Sometimes, day-to-day hassles can pile up and cause a stress overload.
TEEN SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

There are five major social and emotional issues that teens deal with during their adolescent years. These include: Establishing an identity. This has been called one of the most important tasks of adolescents.
Understanding Teens

It’s not easy being a parent! As children grow into their teens, every family goes through stress and conflict. It’s a normal part of growing up. Understanding the changes your child is going through makes it easier to be a positive parent.
WHEN A FAMILY BREAKS UP: DIVORCE AND SEPARATION

Deciding to divorce or separate is a difficult decision for parents. Although you may hear that people divorce too easily, most parents do not come to the decision to separate or divorce easily. When people choose to marry they are committing to a life together and most never think they will separate or divorce.