“Nearly half of 17–19-year-olds with a diagnosable mental health disorder has self-harmed or attempted suicide at some point, rising to 52.7% for young women”. – Young Minds Charity
Teenagers dealing with mental health issues has been on the rise for many years now, but we still have a long way to go in order to improve our society.
For World Teen Mental Wellness Day, we want to continue opening up the conversation around teen mental health; and we’ll be sharing some resources from reputable charities and organisations around the UK, so that you can better support your teenager with their mental wellness.
Exams
One area that your teenager may be feeling stressed about is exams. Considering the recent developments the government are thinking of putting in place; by wanting to put a ban on young people who have failed their Maths and English exams to get a loan to study at university, this could place even more pressure on teenagers to achieve grades that may be out of their reach.
So how do we support our youngsters in feeling positive towards their examinations? Well, first of all, what you can do is to sit down with your teenager to put together a timetable where you can organise the days and times for revision of each subject, the day of the exam, and some quality time for rest and relaxation.
Here’s an example of what this could look like:
This is a great tool to use to make it easier to organise your child’s day but still let them have some fun!
Revision techniques
Another way to keep calm about exams and revision is to explore the different options for revision. Normally we’d just stick our heads in a book trying to cram in all the information last minute, but really this isn’t an ideal technique, especially as it encourages children to stay up all night, risking their lack of sleep in favour for trying to get the best grades.
Here are a few unique options for revision:
- Make up your own song relating to the facts (Horrible Histories style)
- Teach your carers or friends about each subject
- Use silly metaphors – e.g., Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain is the sentence you use to remember the colours of the rainbow. Maybe make up a drawing of an event or person you need to remember, or create a sentence that sounds similar to the phrase you need to remember like 8×8=64 could sound like ‘I ate and I ate until I was sick on the floor’. Be creative!
Self-esteem
Another area where your teenager may struggle with their mental health is having self-esteem issues. Being a teenager is where lots of changes are constantly happening in their bodies, and it’s not always comfortable to talk to someone about it. This can increase their worries of not fitting in, or could lead to bullying from their peers.
Here are a few different ways to encourage positivity and build self-esteem:
- Write out an ‘I am’ affirmations list – This can be ‘I am brave’, ‘I am kind’, ‘I am smart’, and so on.
- Write out their star qualities – what makes them stand out? What do they like about themselves?
- Practice changing negative talk into positive talk – e.g., ‘I can’t believe I got that question wrong, I’m so stupid!’ turns into ‘I know I can do better than that, I’m just having a bad day. Once I’m more prepared, I’ll get the answer right’. Think about how you would speak to your friends and family, you wouldn’t be rude to them for getting a question wrong, so why would you be so hard on yourself?
How to talk to your teenager about mental health
Opening up the conversation about mental health is difficult, especially if it’s something you’ve not struggled with yourself before. A great way to start the conversation is by doing an activity with your child, something that relaxes you both enough to start talking. You may already have an activity in mind, but here are a few examples anyway:
- Create something together like a birthday card, knit a woolly jumper, build Lego
- Play a sport you both enjoy
- Share your favourite book/tv series with each other
- Dance to music together
- Cook/bake together
- Have a games night
Now here’s a few ideas of how to get the conversations started:
- How are you feeling?
- What is something that you’ve done today that’s made you proud?
- What was the best/worst part of your day?
- Is there anything you need from me? Space, time to talk or do something fun?
- How can I support you through this?
Despite the fact you are doing their favourite activity and having fun together, they may not be ready to open up, and that’s okay. Just reassure them that you’re always here to listen to them, no matter what concerns they have, even if they don’t want to talk to you but are happy to talk to someone else, that’s okay too. Sometimes young people feel like you might judge them for what they have to say, but may be more comfortable talking to someone they don’t really know well, or a friend.
Additionally, think about the ways your child likes to communicate. Some people prefer talking, whilst others may prefer texting. Even if they prefer talking, they may not want to do it face to face, so perhaps you can encourage your child to send a voice note, or even stand back-to-back so they don’t feel the pressure of telling you to your face.
Hopefully you’ve found some helpful tips in today’s article for World Teen Mental Wellness Day. If so, please feel free to share this article with a friend or relative, and let us know if there are any other tips you’d add to this list!
