{"id":657581,"date":"2026-05-22T01:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/657581\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T01:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:59:13","slug":"girls-inc-of-sioux-city-uses-activities-stategies-and-conversations-to-teach-mental-health-wellness-to-young-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/657581\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls Inc of Sioux City uses activities, stategies and conversations to teach mental health wellness to young girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – For most kids, talking about mental health can feel scary.<\/p>\n

Girls Inc. says <\/a>one in five teens reports suffering from a mental illness, and many do not feel comfortable asking for help because of societal stigma.<\/p>\n

Girls Inc. of Sioux City is teaching young girls that mental health matters, that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. It\u2019s all through conversations, activities, and peer discussions. <\/p>\n

What these girls are learning could change how your family talks about mental health.<\/p>\n

Eight-year-old Rosie Escobedo said journaling helps her express her feelings to other people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could like write like in our like journals, like whatever we want,\u201d Rosie said.<\/p>\n

Writing is one of the coping skills Girls Inc. uses to help build mental strength in young participants. The organization\u2019s mission is to help all girls become strong, smart, and bold.<\/p>\n

Program Director Olivia Ray said the program teaches girls to recognize appropriate emotional responses.<\/p>\n

\"GirlsGirls Inc.’s mission is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.(KTIV)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the appropriate emotional response, how they handle stressful situations, and what\u2019s the best way to react?\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n

One activity uses strips of paper and four different categories around the room to help girls work on recognizing coping skills. Participants practice responses like taking five deep breaths, taking a break, talking to a teacher, and helping a friend who is upset.<\/p>\n

Rosie said the program taught her that she can talk to staff when something feels wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat I\u2019m strong, smart, and bold, and that whenever I feel like something\u2019s wrong, I can just talk to them about it,\u201d Rosie said. \u201cI\u2019m not afraid to ask about people, for people helping me. And my second thing is, I\u2019m not afraid to ask questions to other people.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ray said she wants participants to understand that mental health is as important as physical health.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis activity at Girls Inc., using strips of paper and 4 different categories around the room, helps girls work on recognizing coping skills.(KTIV)<\/p>\n

\u201cI want girls like Rosie to know that your mental health is important. It\u2019s just as important as your doctor\u2019s appointment, your dentist\u2019s appointment. If you\u2019re experiencing challenges, you should reach out, seek help,\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n

Rosie said she can now teach other children her age about mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople my age would probably be like, \u2018What does mental health mean?\u2019 But I could teach them about it because I know what it means. And I can tell them,\u201d Rosie said.<\/p>\n

One way they are building a new generation of strong, smart, and bold leaders in Siouxland is through Girls Inc. summer programming. <\/p>\n

Girls Inc.\u2019s summer program is an intentional 9\u2011week experience. It\u2019s starting on Monday, June 1. Learn more about the program by following this link.<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to get the latest news and weather from Siouxland\u2019s News Source? Follow these links to download our KTIV News app<\/a> and our First Alert Weather app<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KTIV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – For most kids, talking about mental health can feel scary. Girls Inc. says one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":["post-657581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}