❗Surgeon General: Parents Are at Wits’ End. We Can Do Better. ❗

Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General, released an advisory this morning on the mental health and wellbeing of parents. The Advisory highlights the stressors that impact the mental health and wellbeing of parents, the critical link between parental mental health and children's long-term wellbeing, and the urgent need to better support parents. The full advisory report can be found here.

Some stats highlighted in the Advisory:
-48% of parents say that most days their stress is completely overwhelming compared to 26% among other adults
-65% of parents, and 77% of single parents in particular, experienced loneliness, compared to 55% of non-parents

Yes. I hear from my fellow scientist mothers every day about the overwhelm, the impossible competing demands on our time, and how it can feel like we are screaming into the void.

Among Dr. Murthy's🚨calls for action🚨 to better support the mental health and wellbeing of parents:

🏛 Employers:
-Expand policies and programs that support the wellbeing of parents in the workplace
-Actively include parents in leadership roles, which can put them in a position to support the overall wellbeing of other parents in the workplace and illustrate that career advancement and parenting roles can coexist (duh 😉)

👩‍👧‍👦 Parents:
-Nurture connections with other parents and caregivers

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~Amery