Being a teenager can be a complicated and stressful time. As a parent, you want to be there for your child when they are going through a rough time. Although mental health can often be overwhelming, there are many things you can do to help your teenager through any mental health issues they may be experiencing.
Here Are Some Ways to Help Your Teenager with Their Mental Health:
Work on Creating a Safe Space
Feeling safe and secure is one of the basic needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This shows the importance of maintaining a safe and inclusive environment where your teen feels comfortable to bring any issues they may be experiencing to your attention.
When issues are brought to you, make sure to listen to your teen. Pay attention and hear out their grievances no matter how small they may seem. This line of communication is important to note things your teen may be struggling with and to be there for them when they need you.
One of the ways we can do this is by trying to separate school issues and home issues. I can not urge you enough to try to get the school to deal with the issues on their side, so you can keep home as their safe base. Yes, you may need reflection time but by helping your teen understand home is a safe and non-judgmental place they will continue to open up to you.
Work Through Conflicts as a Family
Mental health can often make your teen feel alone and isolated. Working through conflicts and issues as a family can help them feel more included and part of a bigger family unit. This is a great way to remind them of the support that is there for them whenever they may need it.
Avoid power struggles and quick reactions. When dealing with conflict, always be honest and transparent. Give yourself and everyone in the home time to reflect and talk to each other calmly to find the best possible solution.
Use the Betaris box to support you with these open and honest conversations and do not underestimate using an empathic response to get your teen to open up more.
Remember there is scientific evidence and research stating there are significant changes happening within your teen’s brain so they are more likely to take risks and not fully understand the consequences.
Teach your teen to learn about their gut feeling (following their instincts when situations just don’t feel right) and practice assertiveness skills to help them come away from difficult situations.
Helping them learn that it is ok to say “No” and having some good distraction techniques such as they need to go to meet a friend etc. will help your teenager feel more confident and in control.
Establish Healthy Routines
Healthy routines are a great way to make your family feel more organised and less stressed. Introducing a healthy routine can help protect your child’s mental health and help them live a happy, healthy life.
When deciding on a routine, including set times for homework, meals, physical activity, and regular sleep routines. This may also include limiting time spent on their electronic devices but can help guide your teen towards a healthy lifestyle.
Remember, teenagers need more sleep on average. They need between 8-10 hours a night as there are major hormonal changes taking place so sometimes they are not just being lazy.
Research tells us there is a biological shift in circadian (the body clock). During puberty, the normal sleep patterns shift to later and this may be why your teen wants to stay up later and sleep more in the day.
Helping them stick to a healthy bedtime sleep routine is essential for their health and wellbeing.
Make Physical Health a Priority
Mental and physical health are deeply connected. When your teenager is suffering from depression, stress, or anxiety, not doing enough physical activity can make these issues worse. This also leads to many unhealthy habits like staying up late on their devices and eating junk food.
Including physical activity in your family’s daily routine is a great way to keep your teen active. Limiting their time on devices can also help them engage in more group activities and get the right amount of sleep they need. Lastly, good nutrition is essential for brain health. Make sure that your teen is eating correctly and getting the proper nutrition throughout the day.
Remember you are what you eat and you can sell this to your teenager by saying this will help with skin, hair, and nails as all teenagers want to look their best.
Do Not Forget to Take Care of Yourself
As a parent, you want to make sure that your child is always healthy and happy. When your teen is going through a tough time, you can easily find yourself spending all your time and energy on them without paying any attention to your own needs or the needs of the rest of your family.
Maintaining a steady support system for yourself can help you stay in the right mindset while helping your teenager. This helps to prevent you from bottling up any emotions and be more open with the rest of the family about what is going on. It is important to keep the entire family in the loop so that other siblings never feel neglected during this time.
A good way of remembering this is to always put YOUR oxygen mask on first then you are in a regulated state of being to then support your teen and other family members.
If you’re not in a good place and calm, no one will be!
Take time for yourself and remember you are only human. You will make mistakes but you can go back and repair them with messages that you love them and can see they have a good heart and it’s their behaviour you are helping them to work on but you still love them unconditionally.
This approach will help your teen stay connected with you as you are letting them know you care and want to work with them, not against them.
Know When to Seek Professional Help
Even though you want to make all your child’s problems disappear, sometimes you need a little help. When your teen is not responding well, you should always consider bringing in a mental health professional to help.
The last thing you want is for your child to feel overwhelmed or ambushed. This is why it is important to let them know that you care and are reaching out for their own benefit. A great way to get the support of your child is to allow them to be involved in choosing the treatment they want to receive. Even the smallest of inclusions like deciding on a specific therapist to talk to can help keep them invested for the best possible results.
There are so many great support networks out there for young people. Please check them out on the resources section of our website.
Teach your teen positive self-talk. We all have our self-doubts at times and make mistakes, but by teaching them that this is normal you can then help them to learn skills on how to put things right instead of beating themselves up.
Teach them that it really is ok to ask for help and not to expect to be perfect as there are always ways of moving forward after making mistakes. This will help your teen learn to be more resilient and bounce back from mistakes.
The celebrity clip featured on our website will help show your teen that everyone can have their struggles at times and by using exercise, journaling, and learning about who they are as a person will help them to learn positive strategies for managing their own mental health and wellbeing.
Encourage them to notice what their likes and dislikes are as well as who makes them feel good about themselves and who they enjoy being around (healthy relationships).
Helping them to identify what makes them personally feel safe in their bodies e.g smells, tastes, music, a cost dressing gown etc. is also very good for helping your teen learn self-regulation and where and who to go to if they need help can also be very useful.
Summary
As a parent, you want to make sure your child is always healthy and happy. As illustrated by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, creating a safe and loving environment for your teen can establish good communication between everyone in the family. This can help make your child feel included and remind them of the support system they have.
Establishing healthy routines that include physical activity can help improve their physical and mental health. Although you may want to be the one to help your child when they need it, sometimes you may need a bit of help. Mental health professionals are skilled and experienced in helping teenagers manage their mental health to live happy and healthy lives.