Our tweens and teens are a vital part of our active community. Today we want to recognize the struggles that teens face in these digitally charged days. For World TEEN Mental Wellness Day we want to share a few tips and resources that we hope will be useful to your family now or in the future.

• Limit Screen/Social Media Time. We don’t have to tell you that there are tons of research demonstrating the ill effects of prolonged use of social media and young people. Tip: If you’re an Apple user you can control your child’s screentime from your phone.
• Lead by example and practice family meditation. Check out the @calm app for endless ideas, celebrities reading peaceful thoughts or even specially remixed songs to relax to…(Hint* sessions range from 5-10 minutes up to 45, work up to longer sessions to build your meditation stamina).
• Globally 1 in 7 (10-19-year-olds) experience a mental disorder. The WHO also reports that half of all mental health issues start by the time a child is 14. Knowing stats may make it more acceptable AND recognizable that your child may need extra help or treatment options.
• Healthy habits include: developing good sleep habits, eating a well-balanced diet throughout the week, proper hydration from water, exercising regularly, developing coping strategies and “tools” for when moments in life are particularly hard or stressful. Modeling these behaviors at a young age will help set up your child for the long run (i.e. no phones at the dinner table, no phones in the bedroom for better sleep, eating together when possible to discuss each other’s day, etc)
• Is your child stressed? Have they experienced trauma? Please reach out to the office to discuss this with your MVP provider. They can offer you suggestions in the interim and help you to determine if they need to see a specialist.

Resources:

The first stop is your MVP provider. We also encourage you to add key life-saving phone numbers saved on your phone and your teen/child’s device. Here are a few phone numbers we suggest as well as local and national resources for you to explore as a family.

Suicide Prevention Hotline is 800-273-8255

NYC, Crisis Services: 888-NYC-WELL

The Trevor Project for LGBTQ+ youth at 866-488-7386

The WHO Adolescent Mental Health Page