[Milo904]

I am a Girl Scout leader and one of our girls is having some problems with mental health. She was abused as a child and that has apparently come back to haunt her. She also has a lot of siblings so her home life is a bit chaotic.

My coleader and I want to talk to her and try to help her or at the very least make sure she knows she can come to us for help. We’ve know her since she was 6 and she’s 12 now. We’ve watched theses girls grow up and care about them.

Just looking for some advice on how to talk to her.

[healingme4me]

Maybe say that your door is always open if she wants to talk?

[Skeezyks]

Hello Milo: I see this is your first post here on PC. So... welcome to PsychCentral. There is a forum, here on PC, dedicated to the subject: survivors of abuse. Perhaps reading through some of the posts in that forum might help you to gain some perspective with regard to what people who grow up in abusive homes face. Here's a link to that forum:

https://forums.psychcentral.com/survivors-of-abuse/

And then here are links to a baker's dozen articles, from PsychCentral's archives, that may be of some interest. These articles aren't going to address the specific situation you describe I'm afraid. But perhaps they can be helpful with figuing out how to proceed:

Explaining Mental Illness to Children: Part 1 | Resilient Youth

Explaining Mental Illness to Children: Part 2 | Resilient Youth

The Challenge of Children with Special Needs

Preventing Mental Disorders in Children and Teens | Bonding Time

Teaching Kids to Identify and Cope with Their Emotions

https://psychcentral.com/blog/techni...dium=popular17

https://psychcentral.com/blog/5-tips...dium=popular17

https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to...ion-is-waning/

https://blogs.psychcentral.com/child...-it-look-like/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/5-tips...ns-self-worth/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/5-more...dium=popular17

https://psychcentral.com/blog/4-tips...dium=popular17

https://psychcentral.com/lib/ptsd-an...dium=popular17

I hope you find PC to be of benefit.

[Milo904]

Thank you!