Imagine you, or someone you know, are in a sticky situation: you need a ride home, you’re scared where you are, you are in need of someone to lend an ear… now what if that person is your child?
Imagine that with a few clicks of your phone your chosen circle of your 6 most trusted people can know where you are and what you need.
Trigger Warning: Self Harm
I recently found this article called 8 Brutally Honest Reasons I’ve Stopped Self-Harming and I found it to be very interesting and honest. Self Harm is something that many adolescents struggle with daily and it’s not easy to overcome.
One way to change the behavior is to turn it into something else, one suggestion I saw was to use a sharpie or a washable marker to draw or doodle on your body instead of cutting, which could turn into drawing in a special notepad. Both of which are safer and healthier than cutting.
Did you read the article? What are your thoughts? Has your adolescent self-harmed? What other coping strategies could you use or suggest to someone struggling with this? How do you support your child when they are in crisis?
If you or someone you know needs help, please visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741-741. Head here for a list of crisis centers around the world.
How do you think about stress? This video has some surprising information that we found to be really interesting! It’s 14 minutes long, but fun and interesting!
What do you think?
The Self Evaluator tool is a Project of the Jed Foundation and was developed for ULifeline by Duke University School of Medicine.
It screens for thirteen of the most common mental health conditions that college students face. This screening does not provide a diagnosis, but identifies problems that could be impacting thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The screening process also provides information on these conditions and how to reach out for help.
This tool was created for college students and we think it is super useful!
In it your adolescent can…
Then …
There is also an Ask the Experts Tab with FAQ about certain topics – simply use the drop down menu to choose a topic area.
Do you think this screening tool is useful? Do you think that being able to get a sense of what might be happening with your child and what to expect would be good? How do you think a tool like this may impact the well being of adolescents?
Have you heard of “worry stones” before? A worry stone is a stone that you can carry in your pocket (or anywhere on you) that can be useful in helping to relieve anxiety or other negative feelings. Worry stones are also know as palm stones or thumb stones and are smooth, polished gemstones, usually in the shape of an oval with a thumb-sized indentation. They usually are about the size of a 1/2 dollar coin and can be easily hidden in your hand.
They are often used by holding the stone between your fingers and thumb and gently rubbing your thumb back and forth across the stone. This action can be very grounding and comforting. Also the act of self-soothing can be quite empowering. It is often the smallest objects and actions that have the most powerful effects!
Worry stones come in many colors and can be found from many sources. There are gemstone stores and Etsy sells worry stones for under $5.
Do you think a worry stone may help you or your adolescent? Do you know anyone who uses a worry stone? Do you or your child know or participate in a similar coping mechanism? Tell us about your experiences or if you’d add this coping mechanism to your tool box!
This video was based off of a TED talk by Dr. Brené Brown. She is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent more than a decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame.
Have you been on both side of the hole? Have you ever climbed down in the hole to be with you child? Has it helped?
How did this video make you feel? Did it make you want to make some changes in your life? Or remind you of something you or your child went through? Please share below.
We spoke to Dr. Jessica Levenson who works at the Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Jessica is a clinical psychologist who is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT). She is currently specializing in psychotherapy for sleep which is focused on specific treatments that help with a variety of sleep problems like insomnia or nightmares. We interviewed Dr. Jessica to learn more about what to expect out of therapy.Dr. Jessica says that, “People usually meet once a week or once every few weeks for about an hour at a time and it is talking, but it is very purposeful talking. It’s talking about things that are related to concerns that a person is having and trying to develop a plan for problem solving or improving those areas.” Continue reading What is therapy? An interview with Dr. Levenson
I recently found an article on Amy Pohler’s Smart Girls website about journaling and I thought it would be great to share here.
One of the things I really liked about the article was this:
According to a post on PsychCenteral, University of Texas at Austin psychologist and researcher James Pennebaker believes that, “Writing about stressful events helps you come to terms with them, thus reducing the impact of these stressors on your physical health.” A study from BJPsych Advances also found that expressive writing had a powerful impact on both the mind and body, linking journaling to “improved immune system functioning” and “improved working memory,” among other beneficial things.
Do you think keeping a journal could help your adolescent?
We recently found this article on WikiHow about how to cultivate a really supportive friends list on your social media accounts – Facebook is specifically mentioned, but this could be used for any Social Media outlet. The steps they list are all detailed on the website but we’ve included the main points of them here:
Continue reading Being Discerning with your Facebook Friends
Depression is not a “visible” health issue. It doesn’t announce itself to the world with a cast, or stitches, or vomiting. Depression is sneaky. It can be hard to talk about. Hard to define. It’s easy to say “I fell out of a tree and broke my arm,” there’s a cause and effect. Depression sometimes just happens – a chemical imbalance in your brain that may happen suddenly or over time. You may not even notice a sudden change in your adolescent, it could happen over years.
Remember that just because it isn’t visible doesn’t mean that it isn’t real. It’s important to remind ourselves and our adolescent that they are worthy of treatment and of living a happy, fulfilling life.
