Oakland Family Services sees hope in 2020 on Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

Each year, May 7 is set aside as Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, a day dedicated to children’s mental health and its impact on childhood development. In the midst of the coronavirus, it is now even more critical to pay attention to children’s mental health and make sure children feel supported in the absence of their usual routines, activities and social connections.

This year, Oakland Family Services’ Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day theme was “See Hope in 2020.” We focused on ways to help children find positivity in difficult times and look forward to the future. We asked our staff to wear green and share messages of hope to help children See Hope in 2020 — check out their photos in the gallery below!

Happy Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day from our Early Childhood leadership team!

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” — Desmond Tutu

"You are the author of your own story. At any given moment you have the power to say, 'This is not how my story is going to end.'“

“Keep small victories front and center, take everything one step at a time.”

"Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start." — Nido Qubein

“Go GREEN in honor of Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day!!!”

“When I think of the word ‘hope,’ I think of growth. I think of looking ahead to better days and holding on to knowing there is more out there. We all start somewhere, and it is never too late to bloom!”

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but there is still much that is fair, and through in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps all the greater.” — JRR Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring”

“Hope is a force of nature. Don’t let anyone tell you different.” — Jim Butcher

“Inner peace is where I find the strength to shine.”

"The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope." — Barack Obama