teen mental health

How to Spot Teenage Anxiety and Support Your Teen

teenage anxiety that causes serious physical side effects

It took me a while before I actually went to the hospital, and I almost died How to deal with stress and anxiety in a teenager Are you worried about a teenager with anxiety? I’ve been thinking a lot about anxiety recently. I’ve had episodes of anxiety throughout my life, and I’ve tried to pin it on one or other lifestage. But in reality I think I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. I have no idea where it began for me, but I’ve always chewed my nails, from a young age. I have very early memories …

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Has your child been groomed?

Emma describes how she was groomed from the age of 12, and the impact it had on her adult life

*Trigger warning – episode contains references to sexual abuse. The crazy thing… was that I felt really guilty  Has your teenager been groomed? Or are you a young person experiencing grooming? In this episode Emma Cantrell talks about her experience of grooming from the age of 12 over a number of years. What does grooming mean? The NSPCC defines grooming as follows: Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked. Anybody can …

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Teenage Kicks: How Ryan Coped With Losing a Parent as a Teenager

Coping with the death of a parent as a teenager

Losing his Dad as a teenager was a shock for Ryan   Losing a parent as a child is always a difficult experience, but for Ryan Gallagher, a firefighter from Burlington in Canada, it was a huge shock. When he was just 16, Ryan’s father died as Ryan himself was performing CPR. Ryan talks to me about how he never really ‘coped’ with what happened, just getting on with his teenage life, doing his usual things.   Using unhealthy coping strategies As a teenager, grieving the loss of his father was just something Ryan compartmentalised so he could cope. It …

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Teenage Kicks: Coping With a Stammer in Your Teens

Growing up with a stammer

How Callum overcame teenage stammering At 18 I said my own name for the first time without stammering Callum Schofield said his own name for the first time at the age of 18 without stuttering. He spent his childhood and teenage years without a voice, and he says his teenage stammering had a massive impact on his mental health. Callum is now a podcast host, motivational speaker and stammering activist raising awareness of the needs of children (and adults) with a stammer. He also advocates for male mental health on his blog and YouTube channel. As a parent it was …

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Teen Mental Health – How to Get Your Teen to Open Up and Talk

It's hard to talk to moody teens about mental health

Advertorial:  I have been paid for my time in creating this post for Compass Fostering. All writing is my own Have you ever tried to get your child to talk to you about something that’s worrying them? It’s like a bizzare (and much less enjoyable) game of 20 Questions, isn’t it? Try it with a teenager and you won’t even get Yes/No answers; you’re more likely to be on the receiving end of a couple of grunts, followed by a growl (or shriek) of outrage, and a door in your face. Am I right?  During the pandemic I think teenagers …

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