State of Mind: The Missing Link

As helpers in the human services, we wish the best for our clients. Beyond the necessities of life, however, there is a missing piece we sometimes overlook, a piece that means the difference between whether individuals and families deteriorate, survive or thrive in any economic setting. That missing piece is state of mind.

Without hope, resourcefulness, creativity, positive feelings and insight (from within), clients fail to take advantage of services, or fail to “progress” past needing such services. When parents or guardians live in mental states of fear, anxiety, anger and other emotional suffering, children grow up in negative environments. Eventually, they begin to pick up such thoughts and feelings from the adults in their worlds. They can also be subjected to distressed adults’ possible negative and harmful actions.

At the Center for Sustainable Change (CSC), our focus is on state of mind. State of mind is the “lubricant” for all other attempts at increasing family wellness. State of mind—our thoughts and feelings—drive our behaviors. The most distressed children and young people can shift from thoughts of stress, anger and violence, to thoughts of hope, compassion and goodwill. Certainty and clarity about the innate mental health or innate resiliency in all children, parents, educators and caregivers, is what that the CSC imparts to our many audiences.

“Now I can find more calmness within myself, and be open minded about the thoughts of others. A thought is just a thought, and there is a calmness inside myself always … [I will now be able] to find that peace and tap into it.” –youth services trainee