Health Department Launches Second Video Focusing on Wellbeing

Published on July 22, 2025

6 Pillars series designed to support youth emotional health

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and partners today launched the second video “Physical Activity” in the new series designed to help families build healthy rhythms and routines into everyday life that support youth emotional health.

“We’re excited to share another video in our “6 Pillars for Emotional Wellbeing – A Parent’s Guide” series. Physical activity benefits children’s physical health, but it’s good for their brain too. It helps improve their emotional wellbeing and strengthens social connections, and it’s something families can choose to do together,” said Kerry Kernen, Health Director.

“It’s hard to find an area of health physical activity doesn’t affect. In general, kids are less physically active than they used to be and that has so many downstream health consequences. Probably the biggest risk factor for poor physical and mental health is not having enough physical activity” said Dr. Bob Rauner, President, Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln. “When they’ve been active, kids are better with their emotional regulation. They behave better. They learn better. They sleep better, just about everything goes better with physical activity."

The ”6 Pillars for Emotional Wellbeing” video series features local and national health experts, partners and also parents and contains three sections – the Problem, the Causes and the Skills – and can be found at lincoln.ne.gov/6Pillars. The first video on the importance of sleep was released earlier in July. A new video will now follow each month through November 2025.

The series focuses on six core elements that include:

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/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.

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 result is a resource created by the community for the community.

Organizations that participated in the 6 Pillars series include: Behavioral Pediatric and Family Therapy Program, Bryan Health, CHI Health St. Elizabeth, Centerpointe, Community Health Endowment, The Hub, Lincoln Public Schools, School Community Intervention and Prevention or SCIP, Malone Center, El Centro de las Americas, Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, Lancaster County Medical Society, and Arias Neuropsychology.

Community Conversation on Physical Activity

The Health Department and the Community Health Endowment of Lincoln are hosting a Community Conversation from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22 about how physical activity improves the mental wellness of young people. Join virtually via Zoom. Register at bit.ly/UnplugPlay. A recording will also be posted at www.chelincoln.org for those who miss the event.