Teen Help Blog
How to Stop Teen Sibling Conflict
Why Does My Teen Hate Their Sibling? Parents must be able to distinguish between healthy sibling conflict and damaging abuse. Sibling rivalry is a normal, and mostly harmless, part of growing up. Siblings often compete without anyone getting hurt. These...
How to Handle Teen Destructive Behavior
Teen Destructive Behavior Can Break a Family Maybe you removed their smartphone, possibly shut-down the gaming devices -- or told them they couldn't attend a party and suddenly your home becomes a warzone. Parents today feel like they are walking on eggshells...
How to Support Your Teen Battling Depression
Coping with Teen Depression Depression is a serious illness. Those who suffer from it may lose interest in the activities that mattered most to them in the past, experience deep and constant sadness, and find it hard to stay motivated. Unfortunately,...
Why Behavioral Therapy Can Help Your Teen
How Behavioral Therapy Benefits Troubled Teens Behavioral therapy is an umbrella term for types of therapy that treat mental health disorders. This form of therapy looks to identify and help change potentially self-destructive or unhealthy behaviors. It’s based...
Ways to Improve Your Teen’s Mental Health
4 Health and Wellbeing Tips to Help Your Teen's Mental Health It is important that throughout life we take the time to look after both our minds and our bodies. There are many helpful tips and tricks out there that can help maintain your health and well-being...
Smile and Succeed Book for Teens
A Crash Course in Face-to-Face Communication Is your teen prepared for the real world of personal communication? Set your kids up to succeed with the lost art of social and job skills. "Smile & Succeed for Teens is a fantastic resource to help teens...
Why Do Teens Fail in School?
Is Your Smart Teen Failing In School? Finding out your smart teen has failing grades and may not be passing can be extremely stressful and frustrating. Failed classes lead to a lower GPA as well as may delay them graduating from high school on time. If...
How to Prevent Teen Internet Addiction
"My Teen Is Addicted to Their Smartphone" How many parents struggle with their teen's addiction to their cell-phone (internet) and specifically social media platforms? This is a growing concern not only in families, but with educators and therapists. Excess...
ReThink the Internet
How to Make the Digital World a Lot Less Sucky A new book, ReThink the Internet, by Trisha Prabhu is a must have (read) for all tweens and teens! Yes, parents absolutely should read it too! It's time to: Stop hate. Promote Kindness. Be an...
When Your Teen Doesn’t Want To Go To a Boarding School
Will My Teen Hate Me for Sending Them to a Boarding School? Let's face it, if you're reading this it's likely you've been struggling with your teenager for awhile and now considering a therapeutic boarding school. This is not an easy decision to come to -- it...
Where Do Bullies Learn to Be So Mean?
Could Your Teen Be a Bully? Imagine being a fly on the wall in your daughter’s elementary school class. The teacher introduces a new boy who has just moved into town and then asks the kids to welcome him to the class. It’s obvious that he’s uncomfortable. After...
What Is Wilderness Therapy?
Does Your Troubled Teen Need Wilderness Therapy? What is wilderness therapy? Wilderness therapy is an experiential form of therapy that combines outdoor experiences and therapy sessions. If you hired an educational consultant that you paid thousands of dollars...
My Teen Is Refusing Therapy
What to Do If Your Teen Refuses Therapy First understand you are not alone. You can feel powerless when you know your teen needs therapy, yet they refuse to go. Often at this stage, parents have tried everything they can think of to help, yet the teen continues...
How to Learn About Your Teen’s Online Life
Why Parents Must Learn About Their Teen's Online Life The internet is evolving on a daily basis, wait, it's actually changing minute by minute, and it can be a perfect excuse for parents to say -- they simply can't keep up! What they are forgetting is, for...
How to Help Your Teen With Panic Attacks
Panic Attacks for Teens Stem from Anxiety Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder that causes a person’s brain to suddenly go into fight-or-flight mode at any given moment, even though there’s no actual threat or danger. Most teens experience moments of...
Why Group Therapy Benefits Troubled Teens
How Group Therapy Can Help Your Struggling Teen Group therapy has several advantages, especially for young people. Being with others that are feeling at a loss, possibly withdrawn from their family and friends, can help them realize they're not alone in...
What Is a Therapeutic Boarding School?
Does My Teen Need a Therapeutic Boarding School? Has your struggling teen been referred to a therapeutic boarding school? Maybe you have exhausted your local resources -- therapy at home isn't working, you have tried out-patient and even had a short hospital...
Why Horticulture Therapy Benefits a Teen’s Mental Health
How Gardening Can Help Your Troubled Teen Many studies have been made on how gardening can positively influence the physical and mental wellness of gardeners, especially those that are struggling in life. Therapeutic gardening (also know as horticulture...
Do You Suspect Your Teen Is Using Drugs?
"I Think My Teen Is Using Drugs" When safety trumps privacy, it's time to snoop. Let's face it, teenagers can be very sleek at concealing what they are doing. Parents have a difficult task of keeping up with their teen's activities, grades, friends and...
How Music Therapy Heals Troubled Teens
Music Therapy Can Help Teens with Mental Health From stress relief and self-soothing to emotion regulation and physiological benefits, music plays a powerful role in mental health and well-being for many people. For teens, music often takes on an even...
Does My Teen Need Residential Treatment
Is Residential Treatment Right for My Troubled Teen Deciding on residential treatment, a therapeutic boarding school or a teen help program is probably one of the biggest decisions a parent can make for their struggling teenager. It's not a decision that...
How to Handle My College Teen Using Drugs
Do You Suspect Your College Teen is Abusing Drugs? Has your teen (young adult) moved back home from college for the summer? Your family is likely thrilled to have them under your roof again, but may be experiencing a bit of tension, fueled by your...
How to Plan Your Teen’s Surprise Party
Planning the Perfect Surprise Party for Your Teen: A Step-By-Step Guide It’s no secret that raising a teenager can be difficult. They’re in the process of figuring out who they are, and they often push their parents away as they try to establish their...
How Art Therapy Benefits Troubled Teens
Why Art Therapy Helps Mental Health Art therapists are specially trained in both psychological and artistic principles. This training directs them in choosing the materials and focus appropriate to a teens' specific needs. Many residential treatment...
Why Teens Are Secretive About Their Online Lives
My Teen is Secretive About Their Online Life Research shares that two thirds of teens surveyed say they have engaged in at least one risky behavior online and have experienced some form of cyberbullying. Fifteen percent say they have met strangers...
Why Short Talks Build Strong Relationships
How 15 Minutes Talks Can Strengthen Your Teen Relationship Did you know that spending 15 minutes a day listening and talking with your child can help build the foundation for a strong relationship and provide support that he/she can come to you with a...
How to Help My Teen Handle Cyberbullying
5 Ways to Help Your Teen Deal with Cyberbullying Developing digital resilience will help your teen handle online bullying and cruelty. We are facing a time when kids of all ages struggle with thoughts of suicide. According to one study, young people that...
The Troubled Teen Industry Negative Reviews
Finding Teen Help Programs Among Negative Reviews Analyzing Program Online Reviews. It's probably the hardest decision you will make, choosing the right therapeutic boarding school or residential treatment center for your troubled teen. Not only is it a...
The Sleep Deprived Teen
Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, and How Parents and Schools Can Help Them Thrive (Healthy sleep habits, Sleep patterns, Teenage sleep) An Eye-Opening Parenting Guide for Better Teenage Sleep In The Sleep-Deprived Teen, parenting journalist...
Talking To Teens About Tragedy
How to Talk to My Teen About Tragedy Many of us remember Columbine and Sandy Hook as if it was yesterday. Since then the number of shootings, including school tragedies is overwhelming. It never gets easier to hear about, but what's more concerning is the...
How to Help My Teen’s Social Media Addiction
Why Is My Teen Obsessed with Social Media? Is Your Teen Always Checking Their Social Media? Social media addiction is real. For years experts have talked about drug addiction or teens addicted to alcohol -- however in today's digital world we are facing young...
More Teens Are Struggling with Self-Harm and Suicidal Thoughts
Why is My Teen Emotionally Struggling? Mental Health Crisis Among Teens is Climbing The U.S. surgeon general has called it an 'urgent public health crisis' – a devastating decline in the mental health of kids across the country. According to the CDC, the rates...
How to Deal With My Teen Being Arrested
What to Do When My Teen is Facing Legal Troubles A parent’s worst fear is getting that phone call from school or in the middle of the night, notifying you that your teenager has been arrested. Unfortunately, there are circumstances in which this is a...
Why Does My Teen Yell and Scream at Me
How to Deal with Teen Anger and Rage Adolescents are growing and changing. And the hormones that drive puberty can have a big impact on mood. When teens seem like they’re overreacting it’s important to remember that they’re less able to manage big feelings,...
How to Choose a Residential Treatment Center
Deciding on the Right Residential Treatment When considering a therapeutic boarding school (TBS), residential treatment centers (RTC), wilderness therapy or any teen help facility for your teen's mental health is a major emotional and financial decision. ...
Why Is My Teen Hanging With the Wrong Crowd
Is Your Good Teen Changing to A Negative Peer Group? Your teen’s friends and peer group have tremendous influence: they are a major contributor to the behavioral choices your teen makes. Why is my teen gravitating to a less than desirable group of...
How to Deal With Teen Manipulation
Why is My Teen Manipulative? Teenage manipulation is also a form of bullying. Parenting teens is challenging today, dealing with an manipulative teenager can be extremely frustrating and draining. Not only are young people capable of bullying their...
How Much is Too Much Screen Time for Teens
Why is My Teen Spending So Much Time Online? Is Excessive Screen Time Causing Bad Behavior? Common Sense Media reported that screen use for adolescents jumped 17 percent since 2019, a steeper increase than in the prior four years prior the...
How to Help Your Teen Handle Peer Pressure
Why Does My Teen Choose Negative Peer Groups? Ways to Help Your Teen Deal with Peer Pressure Acceptance can be everything to a teenager. Peer pressure can lead your teen in either a good direction or in some cases, making very poor choices. For example if your...
How to Handle Teenage Lying
Why Does My Teen Lie? 5 Ways to Handle Teenage Lying It can be extremely frustrating when our teens lie. Many of us remember being youths ourselves and not being completely honest with our parents, but today we are dealing with so much more -- especially when...
How to Convince Your Teen to Go to Counseling
Is Your Teen Refusing Talk Therapy? This has become a common problem and concern for parents of troubled teens. Although some may teens enjoy going to therapy and opening up about their struggles, most are reluctant to attend and it's an uphill battle for...
What to Do When My Teen is Expelled From School
Is Your Teen About to Be Expelled From School? If you have just been notified your teen is going to be expelled from school it can be extremely upsetting. Although your child may not realize (at the time) the importance of their education, as parents we...
How to Know If My Teen Is Narcissist
Why is My Teen a Narcissist? Teen Narcissism Can Be Normal Teen Behavior The term "narcissist" is usually used to describe someone who is vain, as opposed to someone who has a narcissistic personality disorder—which is a diagnosable mental health condition....
What to Do When Your Teen Hates You
Why Does My Teen Hate Me? When Your Teen Says "I Hate You!" Many of us have been there, especially if you are visiting this site. No matter how great a parent you’ve been, at some point, your teenager will pull away from you. The good news is that this is...
How to Help Your Teen Build Self-Confidence
Why Does My Teen Have Low Self-Esteem? How to Help Your Teen Develop Self-Confidence Confidence is the belief that you’ll be successful or that you’ve made the right choice in a particular situation. There's no doubt that teen's with a positive...
How to Know Your Teen Has Bipolar Disorder
Why is My Teen Moody? Bipolar disorder in Teens is Often Misdiagnosed Since teens' first symptoms are often the same as someone suffering from major depressive disorder, they are often mislabeled as depressed or suffering from anxiety. Many children suffering...
Why Does Residential Treatment Work When Home Therapy Fails?
Why Does Residential Treatment Work for Troubled Teens? Many parents are curious why residential treatment can help their troubled teen when home therapy has failed. Here is why: Has your teen become out-of-control? Destructive in the home? Have...
Raising Humans In A Digital World
Raising Humans In A Digital World Helping Teens Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology Sexting, cyberbullying, revenge porn, online predators… all of these potential threats can tempt parents to snatch the smartphone or tablet right out of their...
How Social Media Is Affecting Your Daughter’s Self-Esteem
Why Is My Daughter's Self-Esteem so Low? Idealized Beauty Advice Online Is Diminishing Girls Self-Esteem New Study provides insights for parents to help their young tweens and teens. Teens in the US are spending increasing amounts of time on social...
Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) In Teens
Why Is My Teen Moody? What is Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) in Teens Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) is a mood disorder that plagues tweens and teens. It is a condition in which adolescents experience ongoing irritability, anger,...