About Janine Monico

Janine Monico is a digital marketing consultant who has managed the Healthy Minds Philly initiative website since 2015.

Period Poverty: What is and how it harms us

What is period poverty? Period poverty is the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products, sanitation facilities, toilets, handwashing areas, and education around menstruation. Period poverty can mean that people are unable to afford pads and tampons and may be forced to use other materials to manage their periods such as cardboard, rags, toilet paper, and leaves. This can cause harm to someone's physical, emotional, and mental health. Who is most impacted by period poverty? In the United States, period poverty disproportionately impacts menstruators who are low-income, experiencing housing insecurity, [...]

2023-05-03T09:39:28-04:00May 22nd, 2023|Awareness, Women's Health|

Tips for Helping AAPI Parents Talk About Mental Health

*Content warning: Contains disclosure of behaviors of self-harm.  “You are too much! And you talk too much!” was what I was told as a child when I expressed my feelings. My parents emigrated from the Philippines and wanted the best for their six children: rigorous education, fine clothing, and a spacious home. They were advised by the pediatrician not to teach us their native language, warning it would cause confusion. I pinpoint this advice as the cause for our home’s emotional deficiency. It created a dynamic of tense silences, suspicion, [...]

2023-04-30T09:53:17-04:00May 15th, 2023|Mental Health, Racial Equity|

Social Media in Small Doses

WARNING: Consume Responsibly  Let’s face it…we’re in the age of social media. If you’re reading this as the parent of a teen, chances are this is very different from how you grew up. Nowadays, 90 percent of adolescents between ages 13 and 17 use at least one type of social media. So it seems the question is: What are the effects of social media on younger generations? The Upside When it comes to social media, it’s a double-edged sword. During the peak of COVID-19, social connection was needed, and social [...]

2023-04-18T21:35:57-04:00May 8th, 2023|Family & Youth, Mental Health|

People Can Pull Us Through It: Secondary Traumatic Stress

Overheard at a party: What do you do for a living? Oh, social work? That’s so hard.” Conversation ends. The stories social workers (and other caregivers) have can be buzzkills at parties. Our work is tough, and most folks don’t want to hear about it. This isn’t to paint us all as saints. We knew it was tough when we chose our line of work. But it can be very lonely to sit with our experiences, especially when you get secondary traumatic stress (STS). STS is the Post Traumatic Stress [...]

2023-04-18T12:05:59-04:00May 1st, 2023|Mental Health, Stress, Trauma|
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