Knowing different ways of calming anxiety in children can be helpful for parents and caregivers.

In this series of mental health tips, one common question from parents and caregivers was how can I calm my teen when they worry a lot and how can I calm my children when they are stressed.

In this blog, I will be providing some easy tips around calming anxiety in your children. However, keep in mind that the tips provided in this blog can be helpful for both young and older adults.

1). 54321 Grounding Exercise as a Way of Calming Anxiety in Children

This 54321 grounding exercise is a common and popular exercise as a way of calming anxiety in children but in most cases is not used as they are supposed to be used. This 54321 grounding exercise for calming anxiety in children involves uses the five senses to help children remind them of the present. This is a 54321 grounding exercise can help calm anxiety in children and get through stressful or hard situations.

2). Paper, Pencil, and Crayon

Having paper, pencil, and crayon have been effective in my practice in calming anxiety in children. Coloring has the potential to calm anxiety in children, reduce anxiety, build skills, create focus, healthy ways of managing emotions, and bring about more mindfulness.

3). Puzzles as a Way of Calming Anxiety in Children

Puzzles can serve as a great tools to calm anxiety in children because they can have an instant calming effect in children who are stressed, overexcited, anxious, or having a tantrum. Using puzzles as a calming strategies in children can help in concentration, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, self-esteem, memory, problem solving skills, and spatial awareness (where the child is aware of them in a space and how the objects relates to each other and them).

4). Fidget Toys for Calming Anxiety in Children

Parents/Caregivers keep fidget toys handy for children or even adults (hahahaha) and yes, you heard me right to hold in their hands to calm an anxious or stressed child. Fidget toys help with the child, teen, or adult focus and pay attention.

5). Imagining a Favourite Place or Activity

Asking the child or teen to imagine a favourite place or favourite activity can help to reduce anxiety in children. Asking the child or teen to say the place loud, describe it, and the feelings they are experiencing has a way to calm down an anxious or stressful child.

6). Stress Balls for Calming Anxiety in Children

Stress Balls are tools that I have laying in my office all the time. Like the fidget toys it helps the child or teen and sometimes the parents and caregivers focus and pay attention because of the feel in their hands.

7). Trampoline for Calming Anxiety in Children

Trampolines are great for movement in reducing anxiety in children and also a great tool calm an overexcited child or teen. You can go wrong with this tool.

8). Using Floppy Teddy Bear or Toys

Using floppy teddy bear or toys is a great tool to calm stress or anxiety in children. When using this strategy asks the child or teen to describe the color, feel, how they smell, and so on can help in calming the child and also create focus and attention.

Emem Iniobong, CCC is a Canadian Certified Counsellor in Brandon, Manitoba. She specializes in working with children and adolescents through various mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges.  Passionate about helping children and teens find their unique strengths, she develop skills so they can overcome whatever challenges they face and bravely navigate the world around them. Emem owns Bliss Counselling and Wellness Centre whose mission is to help you find your bliss and live confidently.

Connecting with your teen as a parent is very vital in your relationship with your teen. However, as simple as it sounds or appears parents find it is difficult to connect with their teens. One of the questions I got asked by parents is how do I connect with my teen.

The teenage years are an intriguing one that is full of changes for both the teen and the parent. The changes in teens include physical, emotional, changes in their brain that influences their emotions, judgments, and decision-making, and at the same time becoming independent and developing their identity. With all the changes happening with the teen, they sometimes can come across as rude, emotional, angry, snobbish, and so on. They will sometimes push your bush as a parent and might appear to have higher regards for their friends than you and your family. They may also not want to talk with you or listen to you which can be frustrating and challenging as a parent.

Take a deep breath!

In this blog, I will be providing some tips on how to connect with your teen.

1). Do not use words like “let’s talk” when Connecting Your Teen.

When connecting with your teen, parents avoid questions like let’s talk because it sends the wrong alert to their brain, “what have I do or what did I not do” which makes them defensive and on edge. Instead, look for moments to strike up conversations in a relaxed manner.

2). Timing is very Important when Connecting with Teen.

When connecting your teen pay attention to if that is the right time and space to connect with your teen. As parent, you know your teen better than anyone and as such, knowing when to best approach your teen is very important and vital when trying to connect with your teen.

3). Do not take it personally.

Like, I mentioned early in this write-up, teen can come up as been rude, angry, and so on, and so like their attitude and some things they say. When trying to connect with your teen do not take things personal, and I know you might say really? Yes, a lot of things might be going on for your teen and sometimes when you get talking then you realize there were not trying to be rude, but just expressing their attitude or behaviour in a wrong way.

4). Listen when Connecting with Your Teen.

Listen, Listen, Listen. As much as it sounds easy especially when you are not interested but in other to connect with your teen, parent you need to genuinely listen and be interested in what your teen is saying because this stage of their life a lot of things are happening that they don’t have answer for and as such it is important to listen and follow your teen lead in other to connect with your teen.

5). Just Connect.

When connecting with your teen do things that your teen care about, interested, and loves doing. These activities could include but not limited to playing video games, going for walks, doing chores together, go for a trip, or watching their show with them, going on dates. Look for ways to connect with your teens.

Hopefully, these tips will provide a launching pad for you in connecting with your teen, especially in this their critical stage of life. Let me know what work, did not work, and some other things you are doing that is not on this list.

Emem Iniobong, CCC-Q is a Canadian Certified Counsellor in Brandon, Manitoba. She specializes in working with children and adolescents through various mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges.  Passionate about helping children and teens find their unique strengths, she develop skills so they can overcome whatever challenges they face and bravely navigate the world around them. Bliss Counselling and Wellness Centre helps you find your bliss.

Teen Suicide can be preventable if the risk factors, warning signs, and steps to protect your teen are known. Is your teen at risk for suicide? Are you worried and overwhelmed about your teen or anyone else? Then have that sincere conversation with your teen or reach out to professional in your community. Brandon here has a lot of resources that you can reach out to.

What Makes a Teen Vulnerable for Suicide?

Hmm, with all the changes happening in your teen at this stage of their lives, there are a lot of things that can make a teen vulnerable for suicide. Mental health conditions such as poor coping with the daily stressors of being a teen, relationship issues, rejection, family issues, failure, and breakup are something that can make teen vulnerable as they do not see the bigger picture and just thinking of a permanent response.

What Makes a Teen at Risk for Suicide?

As mentioned above, a teen can be at risk for suicide because of the circumstance in their life. Things that could increase the risk of suicide for teen includes;

• Teen who have mental health disorder such as depression and alcohol and drug use may be at risk for suicide.
• Teens that are feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness that is associated with depression may be at risk for suicide.
• Teen that are been bullied may be at risk for suicide.
• Teen that has the history of sexual abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse may be at risk for suicide.
• Teen has attempted suicide in the past.
• Teen who struggles with gender identity and/or sexuality orientation with no supportive family or community may be at risk for suicide.
• Teens with family history of depression and suicide may be at risk for suicide.
• Teen who lack support networks, poor relationships with parents or peers, and feelings of social isolation may be at risk for suicide.

What are Warning Signs that Your Teen is Suicidal?

Some warning signs that your teen is suicidal may include;

• Teen is talking about suicide or writing suicidal note of not wanting to be around anymore.
• Teen is talking about feeling hopelessness and trapped in a situation.
• Teen is withdrawing from family or friends.
• Teen has loss their desire to favorites things they had loved doing before
• Teen has increased their alcohol or drug used.
• Teen giving their possession or belongings away.
• Changes in teen’s sleeping and eating habit
• Changes in teen’s mood
• Teen engages in self-destructive behaviour

What Can I do As a Parent or Caregiver?

• Watch and Listen to what your teen is saying. Do not assume you know what your teen is saying. Listen, be patient, and observe what your teen is saying and not saying.
• Ask your teen questions. Use open-ended question instead of using closed-ended question that results in a ‘yes or no’
• Ask for Help. Reach out to family, religious leader, friends, your family doctor, or a mental health professional for help. Please, reach out.

Emem Iniobong, CCC-Q is a Canadian Certified Counsellor in Brandon, Manitoba. She specializes in working with children and adolescents through various mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges.  Passionate about helping children and teens find their unique strengths, she develop skills so they can overcome whatever challenges they face and bravely navigate the world around them. Emem owns Bliss Counselling and Wellness Centre whose mission is to help you find your bliss and live confidently.

Self-harm and teen will be our focus for this blog as we continue in our series of how I know my teen needs counselling or what are some signs that I need to access counselling for teen. When you have a teen that self-harm it can be overwhelming and sometimes even scary, so here are so things to know about self-harm and teen;

What is Self-Harm?

As explained in one of blog, when your teen tries to hurt themselves on purpose with no intention of committing suicide or when your teen involves in risky behaviours that hurt them without any feeling the pain.

What is the Cause of Self-Harm in Teens?

Self-harm can be a way your teen is coping with stress, managing difficult emotions, express internal feeling through cutting, as a form of distractions from painful emotions, punished for perceived faults, a way of communicating their pain to others, or as a way to feel something especially if they feel empty or norm.

What are the Signs that your Teen is Self-Harming?

Some signs that your teen may be self-harming may include surface cutting or scratches, hitting or banging their heads or something punching themselves, burnt (cigarettes), abusing their medication but not to the point of suicide, or picking their skins with sharp objects and so on.

Who is at Risk for Self-Harm?

The research shows that self-harming are common between teenagers and young adult. The research also indicates that self-harm is common in girls and young women than males. Some reason why a teen may be at risk to self-harming includes; mental health issues (ex. Anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, and so on.), traumatic events (such as sexual abuse), alcohol or drug use, peers that self-harm, and so on.

What can I do as a Parent to help my Teen and Self-Harm?

• Be clam and talk with your teen about self-harm. Really? I just remain calm and how is that possible? I know it can be overwhelming and scaring when you know your teen is self-harming. However, remaining calm and engaging in an open-ended question without judgment about how they are feeling and the behaviours they have noticed that leads to their actions. Let you teen know you care about them, acknowledge their feelings and let them know they are listened too and it can build trust.

• Get Professional Help with self-harm and your teen. Get professional help for your teen that is self-harming is importance because you as a parent can learn to understand why your teen is self-harming, how to support your teen, and your teen will learn how to cope using healthy way and heal.

• Provide Emotional Support for your teen. Providing emotional support to your teen during this process is very vital. Be involved as parent in the process; spend time with your teen, be patient with your teen and understand that treatment takes time, help your teen come up with a plan of things that triggers, places, things, and people they can call when they feel overwhelmed.

Emem Iniobong is a Brandon MB, Canadian Certified Counsellor that helps children, teens, young adults, parents, and families in dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, parenting support to live a more fulfilled and bliss-ful life.

7 tips to get your teen to sleep more is vital for the teen’s health. One common issue with teens I see is lack of sleep or sleep deprivation and as parent know it is really difficult to get a tired teen out of bed. According to the Canadian Pediatric Society the recommend hours of sleep for 13- to 18-year-olds is 8 to 10 hours per night. However, statistics shows that more than half of Canadian teens get much less, about 6.5 to 7.5 hours per night and that is not surprising given the teens that I see and how many hours of sleep they disclose. As noted in one of my blog post, sleep deprivation has been linked to mood swings; drop in school performance, poor eating habits, reduced cognitive function, and difficulties concentrating. As such, it’s important to pay attention to your teen’s schedule.

Nonetheless, changes in hormones, technology, schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and so on could cause sleep deprivation in teen. And as such parent needs to pay attention.

Some ways that parents and caregivers can help their teen get more sleep includes;

Tip 1: Make it a priority and take a stand.

Set clear limits with regards to study and sleep and make it a priority so your teen understand and know how to manage their time. Keep in mind that they may not like the decision but in the long run it will pay off.

Tip 2: Be Consistent to Get Your Teen more Sleep.

Parents and caregivers be consistent and encourage consistency with your teens. Stick to the routine and the sleep schedule but weekdays and weekends. In sticking to the routine and schedule on the weekends you could be flexible.

Tip 3: Avoid Napping to Get Your Teen more Sleep.

Discourage your teen from taking a nap at any time of the day as that could hinder them from sleeping on time.

Tip 4: Limit Screen Time to Get Your Teen more Sleep.

One hour minimum before bedtime all screened should be turned off. However, if a teen have a homework that needs the internet then I would suggest they do it early on in the day and not close to bedtime.

Tip 5: Bed for Sleep Only

Make bed for sleep only and not for eating or watching TV because then it will be associated with sleeping rather than eating or watch TV as suggested by experts.

Tip 6: Discourage Food/Snacks/Drinks

Discourage your teen from eating big meals, snacking, and drinking drinks with caffeine before bedtime as this could hinder your teen from sleeping and could be harmful.

Tip 7: Professional Consult

Seek professional consultation if your teen continues to struggle with sleep and it is impacting their functioning. One of the most common sleep problems with teens is insomnia, which is chronic difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep and can interrupts the teens functioning. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (or CBT-I) is the most effective treatment for insomnia.

Emem Iniobong, CCC-Q is a Canadian Certified Counsellor in Brandon, Manitoba. She specializes in working with children and adolescents through various mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges.  Passionate about helping children and teens find their unique strengths, she develop skills so they can overcome whatever challenges they face and bravely navigate the world around them. Bliss Counselling and Wellness Centre mission is to help you find your bliss and live confidently.

Here are 10 tips in dealing with your teens behaviours because dealing with your teen’s behaviours can be tiring and challenging, as parents and caregivers have expressed to me as a counsellor. And as such, parents and caregivers often look for a quick fix to their teen’s behaviours. In this blog series of when do I know my teen need counselling, I am providing ten tips on dealing with your teen’s behaviours as part two of our series.

Something to keep in mind, as a parent is that teen can be moody and that could be as a result of how their brain develops and changes. Changes in teen’s mood and behaviours can lead to the teen appearing rude or disrespectful but behaving like this normal aspect for teen’s growth and development.

So here are 10 tips for dealing with your teen’s behaviours as a parent or caregiver;

1). Listen to your teen when dealingwith their behaviour.

Dealing with your teen’s behaviour can be challenging if you do not listen to them no matter if you think their input does not make sense. Your teen wants and needs to be heard by you.

2). Set clear rules for your teen when dealing with their behaviour.

Make the rules at home to be clear and not unclear. Let your teen know what is expected and make them be part of making those rules at home. An example will be having a family meeting to coming up with the family rules with regards to communication and behaviours.

3). Be Firm and Consistent when dealing with your Teen behaviour.

Be firm and consistent when dealing with your teen’s behaviours so they know what to expect from you as a parent. Do not set unrealistic expectation and consequences for your teen and be consistent with following up. Because that creates confusion for your teen as they do not know what to expect.

4). Positive Role Model.

Act and behave the way you want your teen to behave when you are with or around them. Remember the golden rule “do unto others what you want them to do unto you”.

5). Choose your Battle when dealing with your teen behaviour.

I hear a parent/caregiver asking how is this possible when al the teen does is to act and behave rude and disrespectful but you don’t have to take the bait as a parent. Teens will defiantly push those buttons to get you angry, so pick your battles.

6). Praise your Teen.

Be descriptive when praising your teen so they know what behaviour you are praising them for.

7). Respect Your Teen Privacy.

Do not barge into your teen’s room because you own the house. Be respectful of their privacy and knock on the door and ask for permission to come into their room.

8). Plan ahead for difficult conversations when dealing with your teen behaviour.

Prepare ahead for a difficult conversation. Choose a time and place where you can have that difficult conversation with your teen.

9). Spend Time with your Teen when dealing with their behaviour.

Sometimes in dealing with your teen’s behaviour it can be challenging spending time with them, as it could be exhausting. However, looking for every opportunity to spend quality time with your teen can be very rewarding. It does not have to be planned using every opportunity you see or get.

10). Keep Your Promise to your Teen in dealing their behaviour.

Do not make promises to your teens that you cannot keep all in the bid of trying to deal with their emotion. Make your promise realistic and keep to your promise as it breeds trust for you.

Nonetheless, if your teen or child’s behaviour does not change towards you as a parent or caregiver then you need to sort professional help or support. Subscribe for our newsletter and future blogs.

Other Mental Health Services at Bliss counselling and Wellness Centre, our goal is simple: Counselling services in Brandon City, MB, designed to help you build confidence, gain insight, developing coping skills, and finding your bliss. We specialize in working with children and adolescent, parenting and families. I also help young adults and facilitate groups.

Dealing with your teens emotions can be overwhelming and challenging for parents/caregivers and as well as for the teens. In one of my blog post, five signs that your teen needs counselling, I shared one common question that I often get from parents or caregiver, was when do I know my teens needs counselling and one of the signs I wrote about was if the your teen was having difficulties in managing their emotions, then that could be a sign that they needed to reach out to a professional. Today, I will be providing five tips for dealing with your teens emotions as a parent/caregiver.

1). Give your teen space to deal with their emotions

I know giving your teen space to deal with their emotions can be challenging for parents because all you want to do is to get in the face of your teen and tell them what to do, what not to do, and how to do it. However, everyone needs space and teens need more space because they are trying to discover themselves and that could appear or show up in different ways. Giving your teen space to deal with their emotion and come back to you when they are calm and ready will reduce stress and any form of confrontation. More so, it increases confidence in your teen that you trust them to deal with their emotions.

2). Understand the emotions your teen is dealing with

Parent needs to understand that sometime anger could be making other emotions in their teen and as a results anger shows up and parent may assume that their teen is rebellious. Anger could be masking shame, sadness, fear, and hurt and when the emotions are too much your teen may lash out, but if the emotional outbreak becomes an occurrences in your teen then you need to reach out to a professional.

3). Remain Calm

Really? I can hear a parent/caregiver ask me that question. Yes, remain calm and I know that can be challenging especially when you see your teen slamming the doors or breaking stuff. Remain clam can decrease any form of escalation. More remember you cannot control how your teen deals with their emotions but you can control how you respond to them.

4). Provide an Outlet for your teen to deal with their emotions.

As parents/caregiver you can help provide your teen an outlet to release their emotions in different ways. They could include providing a calming space, engaging them in exercise, cooking, baking, artwork, mindfulness breathing exercise to release stress associated with their emotions.

5) Consider Therapy

As, I mentioned in one of my blogs, parent second themselves most times. If you feel that your teen needs to speak to a professional, have that open conversation with your teen and connect them to a professional to support your teen. Ask yourself this question, what is the worst thing that can happen if I reach out to a professional, I guess you know the answer “nothing”.

Remember, parenting can be challenging and as such incorporating these techniques to your parenting style can help lessen the stress.

Emem Iniobong is a Brandon MB, Canadian Certified Counsellor that helps children, teens, young adults, parents, and families in dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, parenting support to live a more fulfilled and bliss-ful life.

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6 Benefits of online counselling for teens will be discussed in this blog. In the last couple of months, online counselling has seen a growing wave and that has also been as a result of the pandemic. It’s really been crazy to see how things moved very fast including business moving and using the online platform more often. It has really been a lot of learning curves for some counsellors as they have adjusted to doing counselling online as to still serve their client. For me, my practice has also adjusted and incorporated online counselling for children and teens since in person counselling at the moment is not happening. Some benefits for online counselling for teens include but not limited to;

1). Accessible Online Counselling for Teens.

Online counselling is beneficial for teens because it is accessible now and can be done from and anywhere. Living in a small community where you may not have qualified counsellors in that community, online counselling makes it accessible for teens to access counselling. Teens do not have to travel to another community to access counselling they can contact any counsellor and have access.

2). Convenient/Flexibility to Online Counselling for Teens.

Online counselling for teens is convenient because you can access counselling from anywhere and any place. Parents/Caregivers don’t have to pay for baby sitters, drive through hectic traffic, no travelling, or even miss work in other to schedule an appointment. Teens can get access to online counselling without having to miss school because of their appointment because of the flexibility to schedule around what works for their schedule.

3). Comfortable with Online Counselling for Teens.

Teens are comfortable with chatting online and also making friendship online, so this not uncomfortable for teens because they are already engaging in the online forum. In this pandemic period where it seems, that everything is going or going online, teens are already comfortable building relationships online and making it comfortable for teens to get access to online counselling and comfortable with it. Another benefit is that it reduces the feeling of being comfortable and anxious about face-to-face session and can also cut no-show for counsellors.

4). Different Options to Online Counselling for Teens.

With the different options available to teens, they can can benefit and have access online counselling through video, live chat, texting, and phone. The amazing thing is that the teens can decide with of this options works best for them.

5). No Stigma to Online Counselling for Teens.

No need for a teen to worry if someone will see him/her entering that office for counselling. Online counselling reduces that stigma because no one can see you access counselling from your home and no one can know where and when you are accessing online counselling.

6). Secure/Confidential to Online Counselling and Teens.

Online counselling for teens is secure and confidential because Canadian Certified Counsellors must follow licensing regulations and HIPAA regulations that ensure security and confidentiality.

Other Mental Health Services at Bliss counselling and Wellness Centre, our goal is simple: Counselling services in Brandon City, MB, designed to help you build confidence, gain insight, developing coping skills, and finding your bliss. We specialize in working with children and adolescent, parenting and families. I also help young adults.

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Mental health is common with children and teens as it is common with adults, and the experiences are same, yet, many children and teens go undiagnosed and untreated.

One minute, there were kids and the next minutes they are teens and then adults. Kids and teen are constantly growing and hormones are changing. From one energetic toddler to a teen that sleep till noon. Mental health illness can have huge impact on teen’s development.

Mental health illnesses, if not treated early, can disrupt a teen normal development which can affect them for the rest of their lives. Some common mental illnesses that affect children and teens include;

1).DEPRESSION AS A COMMON MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS IN TEENS

Depression can show up during teenage years and can affect a child or teen’s attitudes and emotions, making them feel unusually sad, crying, or irritated for more than two weeks at a time. The good thing is that depression is usually quite treatable. Sometimes therapy alone is helpful, and sometimes a combination of therapy and medication can offer the best symptom relief. But if left untreated, depression can get worse. 

2). ANIXETY AS A COMMON MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS IN TEENS

Anxiety is very a common mental health illness that affects children and teens.  Anxiety disorders can cause teens to be extremely afraid of, worry a lot, and fearful things or situations that it affects with daily life. It can also affect with a teen’s ability to go out with friends, education, relationship, etc.  Talk therapy is usually the preferred form of treatment for anxiety. Teens may benefit from learning skills to manage their symptoms and face their fears.

3). ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVE DISORDER AS A COMMON MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS IN TEENS

ADHD makes it difficult for children and teen to focus their attention. Symptoms of ADHD may become obvious by age 4 but sometimes those symptoms don’t become problematic until the teen years. Teens may experience academic problems when the work is difficult or during high school years. Some teen with this mental health illness may struggle to complete a project, lack focus, and get easily distracted. ADHD is frequently treated with both therapy and medication. Also, parent training may also be part of treatment to help the family manage symptoms in the home.

4). OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER AS A COMMON MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS IN TEENS

Oppositional defiant disorder leads to a teens being verbal and physical aggressive to people and sometimes could be destructive. Teen with ODD tend to struggle to maintain healthy relationships and often their behavior interferes with their education. Treatment for ODD may include parent training programs and therapy.

5). EATING DISORDER AS A COMMON MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS IN TEENS

Eating disorders can take a serious toll on a teen’s physical health. Eating disorders involve a distorted body image along with really harmful behaviours to manage food and weight, making it difficult to nourish oneself properly. Treatment often requires both physical health monitoring and intensive therapy.

Nonetheless, there are other mental health illnesses that are not on this list. If you observe any of this problem in your child or teen reach out and seek professional help.

Emem Iniobong, CCC-Q is a Canadian Certified Counsellor in Brandon, Manitoba. She specializes in working with children and adolescents through various mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges.  Passionate about helping children and teens find their unique strengths, she develop skills so they can overcome whatever challenges they face and bravely navigate the world around them. Emem owns Bliss Counselling and Wellness Centre whose mission is to help you find your bliss and live confidently.

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FIVE SIGNS THAT YOUR TEEN NEEDS COUNSELLING – One common questions I have been asked as a counsellor by parents and caregivers is when do I know that my teen is asking for help or when is the right time to seek therapy or start counselling for teen, and what signs do I need to look out for. Parents will second guess themselves, torn between wanting to help and support and wanting to give their teen room to grow and manage life on their own.

These are all great questions. However, when it comes to teens related questions, you will agree with me is always complicated. Teens face daily struggles with mood swings, stress, sadness, shame, bullying, guilt, relationships drama, self-esteem, self-image, identity issues, feeling overwhelmed about their future, and etc. It can be challenging to know if your teen is dealing with some these issues in a healthy way or when they need expert help.

Remember, parents you are the expert of your teen! Even though some days may appear as if you are not doing well enough as a parent, this is your child and you know them best. Trust your instincts.

Here are five signs that can suggest that it may be time to seek therapy for your teen:

1). Difficulty managing their emotions may mean your teen needs counselling

Change in teen emotions could be seen as normal as teen grow up but if your in teen is extremely anxious, low mood, crying all the time, emotion preventing them from functioning, under more stress than usual, emotions impacting their relationships, your teen more irritable and quicker to anger than they used to be, or behaving and engaging in ways they will normally not do because they are not able to manage their emotions.

2). Change in teen behaviour may mean your they need counselling

Change in your teen behaviour may not mean anything but if your teen behaviours has changed drastically, school performance has been, skipping school, teen no longer hanging out with friends or have they changed friend groups completely, no friends, angry at all of their friends, and they avoiding all social functions recently.

3). Change in teen Sleep Habit may mean your they need counselling

Change in your teen sleeping habit can suggest they need counselling such as, is your teen always tired, sleeping too much or too less, choosing to sleep in the middle of the day or continuously needing a nap, or sleeping instead of doing things that were usually more fun and important to them. Parent keep in mind that sleep deprivation has been linked to mood swings; drop in school performance, poor eating habits, reduced cognitive function, and difficulties concentrating.

4). Self-Harm or destructive behaviours may mean your teen needs counselling

If your teen self-harm or engage in self-destructive behaviors such as hair-pulling or skin-picking, cutting, drugs, drinking, do not seem to feel pain, talks about or engages in any kind of self-harm or risk taking is a sign that they need counselling and you need to reach out.

5). Suicidal Ideation/thinking of death may mean your teen needs counselling

If your teen is making comments like “I wish I weren’t here,” or “Nobody would care if I ran away,” If your teen talks obsessively about suicide. Is he/she talking about or thinking about hurting himself or someone else? If so, call for help immediately.

If you see all or some of these signs are in your teen then talk to your teen about speaking to someone. Your child may know it is time to speak to someone or may not know they it is an option. Likewise, by asking your teen if they will see a counsellor, you are showing your teen that there is no stigma or shame in seeking counselling.