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Youth for Hope Organization, Bardnersville, Monrovia (2026)

28/12/2024

Hi guys,
Today (Saturday, December 28, 2024), we had our year-end retreat under the theme” LEADING BY example.”
Indeed, it was a wonderful experience with our two speakers in person of S. Suah who spoke on a lecture series ‘’TEAM BUILDING and LEADERSHIP‘’ and Vah, who also drilled us through "The MODEL MAN:" (Building, leading, taking responsibility, accountability, and productive leadership). Below is a video done by our media and communication coordinator, Miss Jean Angel Roberts, enlightening us on those things that were discussed by our speakers. Do well to watch the video to the end and if you have any inquiry or want to be a part of our organization, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on our page through this link: https://facebook.com/100076182066943 or you can call these numbers: +231 88 645 6387 or +231 88 652 1468.

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas to every members, fans and family of this noble organization(YHO) ... We are wishing you all the best as you celebrate christ birth and let's remember it's a sign that all Christians are new today because in christ a man is a new creation..

FOR HOPE ORGANIZATION SAYS MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A GREAT NEW YEAR AWAITING... CELEBRATE IN THE HOLINESS OF OUR NEW BORNE KING.

13/12/2024

Why Is Christmas in December?

The origins of the holiday and its December date lie in the ancient Greco-Roman world, as commemorations probably began sometime in the 2nd century. There are at least three possible origins for the December date. The Roman Christian historian Sextus Julius Africanus dated Jesus’ conception to March 25 (the same date upon which he held that the world was created), which, after nine months in his mother’s womb, would result in a December 25 birth.
Christmas, the holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, is celebrated by a majority of Christians on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar. But early Christians did not celebrate his birth, and no one knows on which date Jesus was actually born (some scholars believe that the actual date was in the early spring, placing it closer to Easter, the holiday commemorating his Resurrection).The church in Rome began formally celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336, during the reign of the emperor Constantine. As Constantine had made Christianity the effective religion of the empire, some have speculated that choosing this date had the political motive of weakening the established pagan celebrations. The date was not widely accepted in the Eastern Empire, where January 6 had been favored, for another half-century, and Christmas did not become a major Christian festival until the 9th century.
Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus's birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem. The earliest Christians did not celebrate his birth.

11/12/2024

Facts about Christmas
1) Christmas is a Christian festival that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe was the son of God. For most people, it takes place every year on 25 December – the day that the Roman Catholic Church chose to mark Jesus’ birthday. But, in fact, no one actually knows the exact date Jesus was born!
The name ‘Christmas’ comes from the old English phrase Cristes maesse, which means ‘Christ’s mass’. But what about ‘Xmas’? Lots of people think this is just a modern-day abbreviation – but it actually dates back to the 16th century! The ‘X’ is said to represent the Greek letter ‘Chi’– the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, Χριστός (pronounced ‘Christos’).

02/12/2024

Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder is characterised by extreme mood changes that disrupt daily life. Symptoms of manic episodes include:

extremely high energy in speech and activity
agitation
reduced need for sleep
finding it hard to focus
Symptoms of depressive episodes are similar to those of major depression. People who have bipolar disorder can also experience episodes of psychosis (hallucinations, delusions and/or paranoia).

26/11/2024

Can depression be prevented?

Even if you are more vulnerable to depression, there is plenty you can do to keep symptoms away.

Some proven strategies to help you stay well include:

exercising
avoiding harmful levels of alcohol and other substance use
getting adequate sleep
reducing anxiety, such as through relaxation techniques
staying sociable, so you avoid becoming isolated

25/11/2024

What are the symptoms of depression?

Symptoms of depression involve the way a person feels, thinks and behaves. There are also physical signs of depression.

People with depression may feel:

sad or teary
overwhelmed
guilty
restless or angry
lacking in confidence
hopeless or disappointed
People with depression may have recurring negative thoughts, such as:

'I’m no good.'
'It’s all my fault.'
'Life’s not worth living.'
'People would be better off without me.'
People with depression may also have altered behaviours, such as:

not taking part in activities and hobbies they used to enjoy
staying in, rather than going out socially
being less productive at school or work
drinking more alcohol
losing interest in s*x
People with depression may also experience these physical symptoms:

sleep problems: difficulty sleeping and/or feeling tired during the day
changed appetite with or without weight loss or gain
feeling run down or sick
headaches
muscle pain
churning stomach
While people with depression can experience any symptom, males and females will often experience and report symptoms differently. Males are more likely to talk about the physical symptoms of depression such as feeling tired, and feelings such as irritability or anger, rather than saying they feel low.

20/11/2024

What are the different types of depressive disorder?

There are several types of depression. While they are all characterised by intense low mood, there are also important differences.

Major depression
Major depression is also known as major depressive disorder. The most recognised symptom is low mood and loss of interest in activities that you once considered pleasurable.

These symptoms can be mild, moderate or severe, but usually interfere with your daily life and relationships. The low mood persists for at least 2 weeks, and will be experienced on most days. Sub-types of major depression include:

melancholic depression, a severe form of depression that includes physical as well as emotional symptoms
psychotic depression, which includes hallucinations (hearing or seeing people or things that aren't there); delusions (false beliefs that other people don’t experience or agree with); or paranoia (feeling suspicious of other people or feeling that everyone is against them)

19/11/2024

What are the possible causes of depression?

✔️ Every person with depression is different, and everyone with depression has a unique set of circumstances. Usually, a combination of factors will contribute to your mood. While you often can't pinpoint the cause of the depression, understanding the circumstances can sometimes help you understand how to best manage it.

External factors
Life events associated with depression include:

long-term unemployment
living in an abusive or uncaring relationship
long-term isolation or loneliness
constant work stress
Recent life events such as losing your job, illness, an accident, or the death of someone close to you can trigger depression — particularly if you are already at risk.

Many Australians have been affected by events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters such as bushfires. Events like this can sometimes trigger symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Internal factors
Personal factors that may leave you more vulnerable to depression include:

family history
certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, low self-esteem and a tendency to worry
drug and alcohol use can leave you more vulnerable to depression
People with a family history of depression are at greater risk, possibly because of genetic factors. However not everyone who has a parent or sibling with depression will develop it themselves.

Drug and alcohol use can be both the cause and a consequence of depression. Reducing alcohol consumption can be very helpful for people with depression. You can get help from the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline.

Complex chemical changes occur in the body, particularly in the brain, when people have depression. Medical conditions can affect the way your brain regulates your moods. Many of the medicines used to treat depression work on these chemical aspects of depression.

18/11/2024

Discussing types of mental illness..............
What is depression?

Depression is one of the most common of all mental health conditions and impacts many Australians every day.

While we all get sad, feel low or lacking in energy at times, people with depression experience these feelings more intensely and for longer. They can find it difficult to carry on with regular daily tasks during periods of depression.

15/11/2024

What are the types of mental illness?

There are many different types of mental illness. Some of the main groups of mental health disorders are:

mood disorders (such as depression or bipolar disorder)
anxiety disorders
personality disorders
psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia)
eating disorders
trauma-related disorders (such as post-traumatic stress disorder)
substance abuse disorders

14/11/2024

It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
Tomorrow let's find out the varieties of thing 'that results us into mental health issues.. I
Keep foll for more

11/11/2024

MENTAL HEALTH CARE AND TREATMENT!!!!

In the context of national efforts to strengthen mental health, it is vital to not only protect and promote the mental well-being of all, but also to address the needs of people with mental health conditions.

This should be done through community-based mental health care, which is more accessible and acceptable than institutional care, helps prevent human rights violations and delivers better recovery outcomes for people with mental health conditions. Community-based mental health care should be provided through a network of interrelated services that comprise:

mental health services that are integrated in general health care, typically in general hospitals and through task-sharing with non-specialist care providers in primary health care;
community mental health services that may involve community mental health centers and teams, psychosocial rehabilitation, peer support services and supported living services; and
services that deliver mental health care in social services and non-health settings, such as child protection, school health services, and prisons.
The vast care gap for common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety means countries must also find innovative ways to diversify and scale up care for these conditions, for example through non-specialist psychological counselling or digital self-help.

08/11/2024

Mental health promotion and prevention!!!

✔️ Promoting child and adolescent mental health is another priority and can be achieved by policies and laws that promote and protect mental health, supporting caregivers to provide nurturing care, implementing school-based programmes and improving the quality of community and online environments. School-based social and emotional learning programmes are among the most effective promotion strategies for countries at all income levels.

✔️ Promoting and protecting mental health at work is a growing area of interest and can be supported through legislation and regulation, organizational strategies, manager training and interventions for workers.

07/11/2024

MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION AND PREVENTION!!

Promotion and prevention interventions work by identifying the individual, social and structural determinants of mental health, and then intervening to reduce risks, build resilience and establish supportive environments for mental health. Interventions can be designed for individuals, specific groups or whole populations.

Reshaping the determinants of mental health often requires action beyond the health sector and so promotion and prevention programmes should involve the education, labour, justice, transport, environment, housing, and welfare sectors. The health sector can contribute significantly by embedding promotion and prevention efforts within health services; and by advocating, initiating and, where appropriate, facilitating multisectoral collaboration and coordination.

Su***de prevention is a global priority and included in the Sustainable Development Goals. Much progress can be achieved by limiting access to means, responsible media reporting, social and emotional learning for adolescents and early intervention. Banning highly hazardous pesticides is a particularly inexpensive and cost–effective intervention for reducing su***de rates.

06/11/2024

THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO MENTAL HEALTH!!!

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
According to the National Institute of Health Curriculum Supplement Series book, most scientists believe that changes in neurotransmitters can cause mental illnesses. In the section "The Biology of Mental Illnesses" the issue is explained in detail, "...there may be disruptions in the neurotransmitters dopamine, glutamate, and norepinephrine in individuals who have schizophrenia".

UNEMPLOYMENT - has been shown to hurt an individual's emotional well-being, self-esteem, and more broadly their mental health. Increasing unemployment has been shown to have a significant impact on mental health, predominantly depressive disorders.
This is an important consideration when reviewing the triggers for mental health disorders in any population survey. According to a 2009 meta-analysis by Paul and Moser, countries with high income inequality and poor unemployment protections experience worse mental health outcomes among the unemployed.

05/11/2024

THINGS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO MENTAL HEALTH!!!!!!

There are many things that can contribute to mental health problems, including biological factors, genetic factors, life experiences (such as psychological trauma or abuse), and a family history of mental health problems.

Demographic factors!!
Gender, age, ethnicity, life expectancy, longevity, population density, and community diversity are all demographic characteristics that can increase the risk and severity of mental disorders. Existing evidence demonstrates that the female gender is connected with an elevated risk of depression at differerent phases of life, commencing in adolescence in different contexts. Females, for example, have a higher risk of anxietyand eating disorders, whereas males have a higher chance of substance abuse and behavioural and developmental issues.This does not imply that women are less likely to suffer from developmental disorders such autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, or early-onset schizophrenia. Ethnicity and ethnic heterogeneity have also been identified as risk factors for the prevalence of mental disorders, with minority groups being at a higher risk due to discrimination and exclusion.

04/11/2024

EXERCISES TO KEEP YOU MENTALLY HEALTHY!!!

Physical activity is a great way to keep you physically healthy as well as improving your mental wellbeing. Research shows that doing exercise releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins in the brain. Even a short burst of 10 minutes brisk walking can improve your mental alertness, energy and mood.

Whether you’re tending your garden or running a marathon, exercise can significantly improve your quality of life. Finding an activity you enjoy can make you feel less stressed, more focused, and give you a sense of purpose. For more tips on ways to get started, read our guide on how to look after your mental health using exercise.

Eat well
Eating well can improve your wellbeing and your mood. A balanced diet is one that includes healthy amounts of proteins, essential fats, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water. The food we eat can influence the development, management and prevention of numerous mental health conditions including depression and dementia.

Stop smoking
Smoking has a negative impact on both mental and physical health. Many people with mental health problems believe that smoking relieves their symptoms, but these effects are only short-term. It’s never too late to quit, and there is now a lot of support available to help you give up.

Make an appointment with your GP
If you’re worried about your physical health, or you’ve been invited for a routine check or screening, make an appointment to see your GP. Waiting times will be different at different GP surgeries: ask for an emergency appointment if you need to see someone urgently.

If you find it hard to talk to healthcare professionals or are worried you won’t be listened to, you could bring someone to help you assert yourself. This could be a friend, relative or professional advocate. Mind has more information on finding an advocate.

01/11/2024

How does my mental health affect my physical health?

✔️ Research shows that people with a mental health problem are more likely to have a preventable physical health condition such as heart disease.

This can be for a variety of reasons, including:

genetics – the genes that make it more likely that you will develop a mental health problem may also play a part in physical health problems
low motivation – some mental health problems or medications can affect your energy or motivation to take care of yourself
difficulty with concentration and planning – you may find it hard to arrange or attend medical appointments if your mental health problem affects your concentration
lack of support to change unhealthy behaviour – healthcare professionals may assume you’re not capable of making changes, so won’t offer any support to cut down on drinking or give up smoking, for example
being less likely to receive medical help – healthcare professionals may assume your physical symptoms are part of your mental illness and not investigate them further. People with a mental illness are less likely to receive routine checks (like blood pressure, weight and cholesterol) that might detect symptoms of physical health conditions earlier.
As well as this, mental health problems can come with physical symptoms. Our bodies and minds are not separate, so it’s not surprising that mental ill health can affect your body. Depression can come with headaches, fatigue and digestive problems, and anxiety can create an upset stomach, for example. Other symptoms can include insomnia, restlessness and difficulty concentrating.

31/10/2024

DETERMINANTS OF MENTAL HEALTH!!!

Throughout our lives, multiple individual, social and structural determinants may combine to protect or undermine our mental health and shift our position on the mental health continuum.

Individual psychological and biological factors such as emotional skills, substance use and genetics can make people more vulnerable to mental health problems.

Exposure to unfavourable social, economic, geopolitical and environmental circumstances – including poverty, violence, inequality and environmental deprivation – also increases people’s risk of experiencing mental health conditions.

Risks can manifest themselves at all stages of life, but those that occur during developmentally sensitive periods, especially early childhood, are particularly detrimental. For example, harsh parenting and physical punishment is known to undermine child health and bullying is a leading risk factor for mental health conditions.

Protective factors similarly occur throughout our lives and serve to strengthen resilience. They include our individual social and emotional skills and attributes as well as positive social interactions, quality education, decent work, safe neighbourhoods and community cohesion, among others.

Mental health risks and protective factors can be found in society at different scales. Local threats heighten risk for individuals, families and communities. Global threats heighten risk for whole populations and include economic downturns, disease outbreaks, humanitarian emergencies and forced displacement and the growing climate crisis.

Each single risk and protective factor has only limited predictive strength. Most people do not develop a mental health condition despite exposure to a risk factor and many people with no known risk factor still develop a mental health condition. Nonetheless, the interacting determinants of mental health serve to enhance or undermine mental health

29/10/2024

CONCEPTS IN MENTAL HEALTH!!!

Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in. Mental health is a basic human right. And it is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development.

Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders. It exists on a complex continuum, which is experienced differently from one person to the next, with varying degrees of difficulty and distress and potentially very different social and clinical outcomes.

Mental health conditions include mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities as well as other mental states associated with significant distress, impairment in functioning, or risk of self-harm. People with mental health conditions are more likely to experience lower levels of mental well-being, but this is not always or necessarily the case

28/10/2024

WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH??

✔️ Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is a "state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to his or her community". It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making.Mental health includes subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others.

25/10/2024

The best is yet to come, Believe you can and you’re halfway there. Every day is a new beginning. You are stronger than you think, Positive thoughts create positive things. Choose to be optimistic, it feels better, Happiness is not by chance, but by choice. Start each day with a grateful heart, Dream it, Wish it, Do it. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. Stay positive, work hard, make it happenThe best view comes after the hardest climb.
positive quotes Don’t watch the clock; do what it does, Keep going, Your potential is endless

18/10/2024

CONCLUSION AND EMOTIONAL REGULATIONS IN ADOLESCENTS!!

Emotion regulation is defined broadly as the capacity to manage one’s own emotional responses. This includes strategies to increase, maintain, or decrease the intensity, duration, and trajectory of positive and negative emotions. Learning to regulate emotions is a key socio-emotional skill that allows flexibility in emotionally-evocative situations. There are clear developmental shifts in how we manage emotional responses. In early childhood, emotions are frequently expressed and external support is sought (e.g., from a caregiver). In adolescence, there is typically a decreased reliance on parental support and limited efficacy of adaptive internal emotion regulation. As individuals mature into adulthood, emotional experiences are increasingly effectively managed through internal regulatory strategies. Disruptions to emotion regulation capacities in adulthood are central to theories of how anxiety and depressive disorders manifest and are maintained. These theories suggest that reduced capacities to downregulate heightened negative affect are common to both anxiety and depression, whereas reduced ability to regulate positive affect may be more specific to depressive disorders. Many psychological interventions for anxiety and depression include cognitive or behavioral strategies that aim to improve abilities to regulate emotion.

16/10/2024

Emotional Dysregulation in Adolescents: Implications for the Development of Severe Psychiatric Disorders, Substance Abuse, and Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors
Abstract
Emotion regulation skills develop substantially across adolescence, a period characterized by emotional challenges and developing regulatory neural circuitry. Adolescence is also a risk period for the new onset of anxiety and depressive disorders, psychopathologies which have long been associated with disruptions in regulation of positive and negative emotions. This paper reviews the current understanding of the role of disrupted emotion regulation in adolescent anxiety and depression, describing findings from self-report, behavioral, peripheral psychophysiological, and neural measures. Self-report studies robustly identified associations between emotion dysregulation and adolescent anxiety and depression. Findings from behavioral and psychophysiological studies are mixed, with some suggestion of specific impairments in reappraisal in anxiety. Results from neuroimaging studies broadly implicate altered functioning of amygdala-prefrontal cortical circuitries, although again, findings are mixed regarding specific patterns of altered neural functioning. Future work may benefit from focusing on designs that contrast effects of specific regulatory strategies, and isolate changes in emotional regulation from emotional reactivity. Approaches to improve treatments based on empirical evidence of disrupted emotion regulation in adolescents are also discussed. Future intervention studies might consider training and measurement of specific strategies in adolescents to better understand the role of emotion regulation as a treatment mechanism.

15/10/2024

THE BRAIN CONTRIBUTION TO EMOTIONAL REGULATION IN ADOLESCENTS!!!!

✔️ Brain development in the second decade of life also increases other cognitive abilities, including our capability to navigate our emotions, plan for the future to achieve a goal, and solve problems. Our brains are quickly forming and strengthening neural connections based on our experiences, and eliminating connections we no longer use, enabling us to process and react more quickly and to think more flexibly and abstractly than earlier in life.

By the time we transition to adulthood, we have the cognitive and emotional abilities to consider the needs and perspectives of others and to assess complex issues. Many of us as adolescents are capable of reasoning as well as adults when we make decisions with the time and space to deliberately weigh different options.
Learning to make good decisions and manage strong emotions in a positive way are fundamental tasks of the adolescent years, and ones that we’re developmentally primed to tackle during this period.

Throughout adolescence, our cognitive and emotional abilities mature in ways that help us more deeply consider the needs and perspectives of others, think abstractly, and analyze more complex issues compared to when we’re children. These changes prepare us to develop the skills we need to make good decisions and navigate our emotions. And like every skill, these require opportunities to practice in real-world situations and to make and learn from mistakes.

14/10/2024

What the research tells us about decision making and navigating strong emotions during adolescence:

We’re more sensitive to social feedback during adolescence, which helps us adapt to social situations but can also make rejection and exclusion feel particularly painful during these years. We’re also experiencing strong emotions like falling in love or heartbreak for the first time.

Our sensitivity to peer acceptance can make us more likely to make risky decisions when our emotions are high–including positive decisions like advocating for a cause or sticking up for a friend.

Our abilities to think abstractly and understand the perspectives of others increase rapidly throughout adolescence. These help us solve problems and reason as well as (and sometimes better than) adults when we have the time and space to consider our options.

Adults can help youth learn to manage emotions and make good decisions by modeling positive coping skills and providing real-world practice to make decisions and experience the outcomes.

10/10/2024

ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR DECISIONS???

Learning to make good decisions and manage strong emotions in a positive way are fundamental tasks of the adolescent years, and ones that we’re developmentally primed to tackle during this period.

Throughout adolescence, our cognitive and emotional abilities mature in ways that help us more deeply consider the needs and perspectives of others, think abstractly, and analyze more complex issues compared to when we’re children. These changes prepare us to develop the skills we need to make good decisions and navigate our emotions. And like every skill, these require opportunities to practice in real-world situations and to make and learn from mistakes.
Adolescence is a key window for developing the skills to manage our emotions, control our behavior, and make good decisions. To help young people learn and refine these skills, adults can model healthy expressions of emotions and communication and teach positive coping skills for navigating strong emotions. Adults also need to provide real-world opportunities for youth to practice decision making and to learn from the outcomes, such as assuming responsibility in the family, taking leadership roles at school or in the community, and making choices about personal aspects of our lives.