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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

By Test User / December 18, 2024

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

half the things that felt like the end of the worl

half the things that felt like the end of the world at fifteen, you can’t even remember now. imagine being handed that perspective back then. share it with the teenager who needs to hear it while it still feels that big.

- save this.

- send it to a teen who’s in it right now.
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#teenmentalhealth #raisingteens #parentingteens #teencounseling #teencounseling

Party season is here. Read this before it happens

Party season is here. Read this before it happens in your house.

It’s 11:53pm.

You’ve been trying to reach her since 10. She’s just walked in the door. You can smell it before she’s said a word.

Your body’s already had its reaction. Something between panic and rage. That’s normal. Feel it. Don’t move from it yet.

Here’s what I’ve watched work in every family I’ve sat with over the years

Do NOT interrogate her tonight.

I know that’s the hardest ask in the world. Every instinct is screaming at you to demand who, where, why, and how much. Please don’t. She’s not going to give you the truth version tonight. She’s going to give you the version her brain can find at 11:53pm after her first time drunk. It’ll be defensive. It’ll be wrong. It’ll turn into a fight… and she’ll wake up tomorrow with a story about how mum lost it. Not a story about the choice she made

Instead tonight, you say this…

“I love you. We’ll talk tomorrow. Let’s get you into bed with a big glass of water.”

That’s the whole play for tonight

Then tomorrow when she’s shaky and sorry and dreading whatever’s coming, you say this..

“I’m not angry at you. I’m worried about you. I want to understand what happened not to punish you but so I know how to help you if you’re ever in that situation again.”

Now she can tell you. Now she will

🫶🏽

- Send this to a parent about to say something they’ll regret tonight

- Save this for the next time your teen makes a choice that scares you

I’m building a library of word-for-word scripts for moments like this. Comment SCRIPTS to join the interest list and hear first 🤍

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#parentingteens #raisingteens #teenmentalhealth #adolescents

Sometimes the healthiest thing isn’t forcing schoo

Sometimes the healthiest thing isn’t forcing school. It’s helping your teen find a different path.

Psychology tells us teens grow when three needs are met…

Autonomy…feeling some control over their life

Competence… feeling good at something

Connection… feeling they belong somewhere

For some teens, school meets none of those. Every morning becomes a battle, and the message they hear is “you’re failing”. That message sticks around long after school ends.
Many of the most resilient, creative adults I know struggled at school. Their confidence didn’t come from a report card. It came from finding something they were good at and someone who believed in them while they found it.

But first ask why. If your teen is avoiding school because of anxiety, bullying, a learning difficulty or neurodivergence, leaving won’t fix that. Avoidance can make anxiety grow. Get support first… a GP, a counsellor, the school’s wellbeing team.

If you’ve truly tried everything, then stop pushing uphill and start building a bridge…

- an apprenticeship or traineeship
- TAFE or a short course
- a job that teaches real skills
- a mentor in something they love

School is one path. Your job is to make sure they have a path, and that they know you’re on their side while they find it. 🫶🏽

Did you or your teen leave school early? How did it turn out? Tell me below
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#parentingteens #teenmentalhealth #teenager #schoolrefusal #leavingschool

Word🫶🏽 . . . #resilience #teenmentalhealth #parent

Word🫶🏽
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#resilience #teenmentalhealth #parentingteens #teen #raisingteens

The first thing most parents think when they find

The first thing most parents think when they find out their teenager is self-harming is… why would they do this to themselves

The second thing is usually… is this for attention

I want to answer that second one. Because it shapes everything about how you respond.

It is almost never for attention.

Self-harm is most commonly a form of emotion regulation.

When emotional pain becomes unbearable…,and a teenager doesn’t have another way to manage it… physical pain can temporarily override it. The brain gets relief. That relief is real. And it reinforces the behaviour

Research shows that physical pain reduces activity in the part of the brain that processes raw overwhelming emotion. For a teenager who is flooded and has no other tools, that reduction feels like the only way to breathe.
Some teenagers self-harm to feel something. Trauma and chronic emotional pain can cause a kind of numbness where nothing feels real…. It can be a way of coming back into the body…. Of checking they still exist.

Some do it to release tension that has been building with nowhere to go. Not because they are dramatic. Because they are full and they don’t know how to empty.

Some do it to punish themselves. Because they have internalised the belief that they are bad, wrong, too much… and the harm feels deserved.
It is almost never one single reason. And it is almost never about you.

These teenagers don’t want to suffer. They are using the only coping tool they have found that works. The goal of intervention is never shame… it is to give them something else that works too.

If you find out your teenager is self-harming… stay calm. Your reaction in that moment will determine whether they ever tell you anything again.

Just say: “I’m so glad you told me. I’m not angry. I want to understand.”

Then get support for them and for you.
- Save this
- Share with a parent who needs to understand this

This content is educational, not therapy. If your teen is self-harming or in crisis, seek professional help.

#TeenMentalHealth #TeenTherapist #ParentingTeens #AtRiskYouth #RaisingTeens

It’s 8:47am. The school has asked you to come in a

It’s 8:47am. The school has asked you to come in about your teen’s attendance

You’ve barely slept. You’ve already tried everything you can think of and now you’ve got to sit across the table from staff and somehow explain all of it.l

You’re not a bad parent. You’re a tired one who’s trying really hard.

Here’s what to get ready before you walk in.

1. A timeline. When it started, what’s changed and what you’ve already tried. When you’re stressed, your brain goes blank, so let the page remember for you

2. A letter from their doctor, counsellor or psychologist. Not just “symptoms of depression”. Ask for how it’s affecting them at school and what would actually help. If there is a diagnosis letter take that in with you.

3. A support person. A partner, a friend, or someone like me. You can’t listen, take notes and hold it together all at once.
This is part of what I do. If you’re in Sydney, I can come to the meeting with you. If you’re not, or you’d rather go on your own, we can have a phone chat beforehand and I’ll give you recommendations for your teen’s situation.

Got a meeting coming up? Send me a message that says MEETING.

Send this to a parent who needs it. 🤍

#schoolrefusal #school #parentingteens #teenmentalhealth #parentsupport

Counselling for a brighter tomorrow.

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