Health Department Releases Fourth Video Focusing on Wellbeing

Health Department Releases Fourth Video Focusing on Wellbeing

Published on September 29, 2025

6 Pillars series designed to support youth emotional health

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and partners today released the fourth video "Relational Connectedness" in the "6 Pillars for Emotional Wellbeing - A Parent's Guide" video series. The series is designed to help families build healthy rhythms and routines into everyday life that support youth emotional health.

"Emotional wellbeing involves lifelong skill building that needs daily rhythms and routines. The 6 Pillars series is about giving families a framework they can use today to support emotional health development and help their children thrive," said Kerry Kernen, Health Director. "Relational connectedness is one of the most powerful buffers against mental health challenges and we're proud to bring this message to the community."

Dr. Ismatt Niazi, co-founder of a1 Family Psychiatry in Lincoln said, "In my work with children and families, I've seen how critical strong, supportive relationships are to a young person's emotional development. Relational connectedness not only helps build resilience, but it also protects against anxiety, depression, and social isolation. In fact, I would say that it isn't just part of the human experience. It is the human experience."

The "6 Pillars for Emotional Wellbeing" video series is a resource created by the community for the community. The 6 Pillars feature local and national health experts, partners and also parents. The videos contain three sections - the Problem, the Causes and the Skills - and can be found at lincoln.ne.gov/6Pillars.

The series focuses on six elements that are core emotional wellbeing including:

• Sleep - Sleep is a skill and learning what makes it good is important to your emotional health.

• Physical Activity -The skill of physical activity can be driven by your passions and interests, but a lack of it will impede your ability to be emotionally healthy.

• Nutrition and Hydration - A lack of fuel can affect how you are able to cope with emotional challenges in every part of your day. Good fuel that includes hydration is a part of growing your emotional resiliency and is a part of what drives your emotional health.

• Relational Connectedness - It is possible to form a genuine connection to a peer, mentor, or guardian, in a short period of time.

• Mastery - When you master something that interests you, your emotional wellbeing grows. Mastery can be something as simple as word problems, or as complicated as chess, cello, or running.

• Quieting - Your emotional wellbeing is connected to your ability to quiet your mind through rhythms like mindfulness, spiritual practice, connecting with nature, and more. The practice of mindfulness or spiritual exercise is growing a set of skills as well as your personal identity.

Videos on sleep, physical activity and nutrition and hydration were released over the summer. A new video will follow each month through November.

The video series is one of the results of the 2022 Community Health Improvement Plan in which youth behavioral health was identified as a priority. The plan is an action-oriented process where the community determines a set of shared priorities and aligns efforts to make the greatest impact.

The Health Department worked in partnership with Bryan Health and CHI Health St. Elizabeth and numerous partners to better understand emotional wellbeing in children and how to provide information and resources that address a critical need of local families.

The Health Department and partners also released CredibleMind, another wellbeing resource. It's an online platform designed to support mental wellbeing and provides evidence-based mental health resources that can be personalized to fit your needs. CredibleMind offers assessments and resources related to each of the 6 Pillars.

Visit myhealthymind.crediblemind.com. It's free, confidential and available 24/7.