5 Ways to Support Your Teenager Understand what worries them Nurture resilience Help them to manage stress and anxiety Promote a healthy lifestyle Connect with your teenager by listening, talking and setting boundaries Aims: To show how parents can support teenage wellbeing To offer ideas that parents can implement

Understand The Teenage Brain We now know that the brain is continuing to develop during the teenage years and into their early 20’s. The last area of the brain to go through this process is Pre-Frontal Cortex, which is where: planning, decision making, impulse control, strategic thinking, and weighing up consequences all take place. Synapses that normally go through the prefrontal cortex go through the amygdala – the emotional centre of the brain. So things are experienced in a much more sensitive way Teenagers find it harder to make decisions, plan and weigh up the consequences. They are also more emotional.

Understand What Worries Your Teenager Friendships Identity Reduced Family Time School & Exams Social Media Body Changes Peer Pressure What worries your child? Talk through each concern

Nurture Resilience If a parent is worried about their child's resilience they can talk to us and request support via a resilience programme “Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say ‘so what’ ”. Andy Warhol

Nurture Resilience Gently help your child to shift their reliance on support from others (I have the resources) Help your child to use their internal skills ( I can do/try this) Nurture Resilience Build positive attitudes and feelings about themselves (I am good/I am able/ I am kind)

Encourage A Growth Mindset Having a growth mindset supports resilience – Help them to see the benefits of failing fleas in a jar.mpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Dn2KEjPuc

Failing is how we learn

G R A D U T E I C - N V S H X O L P Engaging in activities that help them to have a growth mind-set and feel good about themselves

Managing Stress and Anxiety A degree of pressure and stress is not only inevitable, it can be a helpful way of motivating people to perform at their best and achieve more. It is when that stress become excessive that it can create a state of anxiety and ‘flight, fright or freeze’. Stress is not all bad

Managing Stress and Anxiety Practice 7/11 with your child

HOW TO GROUND YOURSELF · Bring your attention down to your feet on the ground · Breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth · Slowly look around you and find….. · 5 things you can see · 4 things you can touch · 3 things you can hear · 2 things you can smell (or 2 smells you like) · 1 emotion you feel   This is called GROUNDING – it can help when you are overthinking and feel anxious. This will calm you and connect you to your senses and surroundings Page 12 of planner to help with stress and anxiety

Promote a Healthy Lifestyle Time to sleep – without technology Time in - to eat healthily with the family, to share your day and to offer support and set boundaries Time to focus - to do school work Time to exercise – to be happy and healthy Downtime - to listen to music, relax Time to connect – with friends, family and loved ones Talk about each one

Free Apps ReachOut WorryTime Self-help for Anxiety Management MindShift CBT Thought Diary Catch It – Make sense of moods Headspace: Guided Meditation Stop, Breathe & Think Calm Harm

www.youngminds.org.uk www.healthmatters.clch.nhs.uk On-line counselling Contacts for support and page 11 of planner