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The Teen Mental Health Crisis: Understanding the Struggles and the Path Forward

  • Writer: Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
    Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
  • Mar 3

The teen mental health crisis has reached alarming levels, with more adolescents struggling with anxiety, depression, and isolation than ever before. Addressing this crisis requires a collective effort to provide better resources, support, and open conversations about mental well-being.

The Teen Mental Health Crisis: Understanding the Struggles and the Path Forward

In recent years, the mental health crisis among teenagers has reached alarming levels. What was once an isolated issue has now become a widespread epidemic affecting millions of adolescents across the globe. The statistics are staggering: studies show that mental health issues in teens, such as anxiety, depression, and self-harm, have seen a significant rise, with one in three teens reporting feelings of sadness or hopelessness. As parents, educators, and society at large, we must ask ourselves: Why is this happening, and how can we help our teens navigate this turbulent time in their lives?


The Scope of the Crisis


It’s not just the numbers that are concerning; it's the intensity and frequency with which mental health challenges are surfacing. The pressures of modern life—academic expectations, social media, the fear of missing out (FOMO), and economic instability—are taking a toll on young minds. For many teens, their world has become increasingly difficult to navigate. They are facing unprecedented pressures and stresses that previous generations never had to contend with.


Social Media: One of the most significant contributors to this crisis is the rise of social media. While it can offer connection and a sense of belonging, it has also created an environment where teens feel constant pressure to compare themselves to others. The curated, filtered nature of social media presents unrealistic standards of beauty, success, and happiness, leading to feelings of inadequacy and isolation. Research has shown that increased screen time is directly correlated with higher rates of depression and anxiety among teens.



Academic Pressure: The pressure to excel academically is another major stressor. In an increasingly competitive world, students are pushed to perform at higher levels than ever before. Many teens feel overwhelmed by the constant pressure to maintain high grades, get into prestigious colleges, and secure their futures at a young age. This pressure, combined with the fear of failure, can lead to anxiety, burnout, and depression.



The Pandemic Effect: The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the mental health crisis. Forced isolation, the closure of schools, and the disruption of routines took a massive toll on teen well-being. For many, the social isolation during the pandemic led to feelings of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Though restrictions have eased, the long-term effects are still being felt, with many teens struggling to return to normalcy.


Recognizing the Signs


Understanding the signs of mental health struggles in teens is essential for parents, teachers, and caregivers. Unlike younger children, teens are often better at hiding their emotions, and their struggles can manifest in subtle ways. Changes in behavior, mood swings, withdrawal from social activities, and academic decline are some of the common signs that a teen might be struggling.


However, mental health issues in teens can sometimes go unnoticed, especially when they are masked by the pressures of daily life. A teen might seem irritable or withdrawn, but this can be dismissed as a "phase" or typical adolescent behavior. It is important for adults to stay vigilant, ask open-ended questions, and encourage teens to talk about their feelings.


The Path Forward: What Can We Do?


The mental health crisis facing teens cannot be solved with a one-size-fits-all solution. However, there are several steps that can help address this issue and support teens in managing their mental health:


  1. Normalize Mental Health Conversations: One of the first steps in breaking the stigma surrounding mental health is to normalize the conversation. Encourage open discussions about mental health at home and in schools. When teens feel safe talking about their struggles, they are more likely to seek help when needed.


  2. Limit Social Media Exposure: While it’s impossible to avoid social media entirely, setting boundaries around screen time and encouraging breaks from social media can help mitigate its negative impact on mental health. Teens should be encouraged to engage in real-life connections and activities that promote well-being, such as sports, art, or outdoor activities.


  3. Encourage Healthy Coping Mechanisms: Teaching teens how to manage stress and cope with difficult emotions in healthy ways is critical. Mindfulness, deep breathing exercises, journaling, and physical activities like yoga or walking can be beneficial tools for managing stress.


  4. Promote Academic Balance: The pressure to succeed academically is immense, but it’s important to remind teens that their worth isn’t defined by their grades or their academic achievements. Encouraging a balanced approach to learning, with a focus on well-being over perfection, can help reduce anxiety and pressure.


  5. Provide Access to Mental Health Resources: It’s vital that teens have access to mental health services and resources. Therapy, counseling, and peer support groups can provide teens with the tools they need to cope with stress, depression, and anxiety. Schools, communities, and parents should work together to ensure that teens have access to these services.


  6. Foster Strong Support Systems: Strong, supportive relationships are key to a teen’s mental health. Encourage positive friendships, and foster an environment of trust and openness within the family. When teens feel supported, they are more likely to reach out for help when they need it.


Conclusion: A Call to Action


The mental health crisis among teens is a challenge we cannot ignore. It requires a collective effort from families, schools, communities, and society as a whole to address the root causes and provide the necessary support. By fostering open conversations, setting healthy boundaries, and providing accessible resources, we can empower teens to navigate their emotional struggles and build the mental resilience they need to thrive.


Eye-Opening Question:


What can we, as a society, do to create an environment where teens feel safe and supported in managing their mental health, and how can we break the stigma surrounding mental health struggles to ensure that help is always within reach?


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Raising a Mentally Strong Toddler: How to Promote Healthy Emotion Regulation from the Start

  • Writer: Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
    Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
  • Mar 2

As a parent, it's essential to promote healthy emotion regulation by modeling calm responses and teaching coping strategies. By creating a safe and supportive environment, you can help your child develop the emotional resilience needed to navigate life’s challenges.

Raising a Mentally Strong Toddler: How to Promote Healthy Emotion Regulation from the Start

Parenting a toddler is no small feat. The unpredictable tantrums, the sudden outbursts of joy, and the overwhelming emotions that seem to emerge out of nowhere can leave any parent feeling exhausted and uncertain. But beyond these everyday challenges lies an opportunity — the chance to foster mental strength and emotional resilience in your child from a young age. By helping your toddler regulate their emotions, you're setting the foundation for a lifetime of mental well-being.


Understanding Emotion Regulation in Toddlers


Emotion regulation refers to the ability to manage and respond to emotional experiences in a healthy, balanced way. In toddlers, this skill is still in development. At this age, children are often overwhelmed by their emotions, and their ability to self-soothe or control their reactions is limited. This is why tantrums and meltdowns are a common part of toddlerhood — it's their way of expressing feelings they don’t fully understand or know how to process.


As a parent, your role is to help your child understand and manage these emotions. But how exactly can you promote healthy emotion regulation and support your toddler in becoming mentally strong?


1. Model Emotional Regulation


Children learn best by watching and imitating the adults around them. As a parent, one of the most powerful things you can do is model healthy emotional responses in your own behavior. When you face stress, frustration, or anger, demonstrate how you cope with those emotions. Take deep breaths, express your feelings calmly, or remove yourself from the situation to regroup. Your toddler will notice these strategies and, over time, start mimicking them.


For example, if your child sees you handling a stressful situation with calmness and patience, they are more likely to start using similar techniques to deal with their own emotions.


2. Acknowledge and Label Emotions


Even though toddlers may not have the vocabulary to express their emotions, they feel them intensely. By acknowledging your child's feelings and labeling their emotions, you can help them understand what they’re experiencing. Simple phrases like, "I can see you’re really frustrated," or "It seems like you’re feeling sad," validate their feelings and give them the language to identify and articulate their emotions.


As they grow, you can start introducing more complex emotional vocabulary — such as happy, sad, frustrated, excited, or even embarrassed — to help them build a broader emotional toolkit. This not only promotes emotional awareness but also helps them regulate their reactions in the future.


3. Teach Coping Skills Early


Even toddlers can begin learning basic coping skills that will help them handle big feelings. A good way to introduce these skills is through simple techniques like deep breathing, counting to ten, or taking a moment to calm down in a designated "calm space."


For example, when your toddler begins to get upset, you can guide them through a simple breathing exercise: "Let’s take a deep breath in… and breathe out slowly." Practicing these techniques together can help your child learn to self-soothe when they feel overwhelmed. Over time, these coping skills can become second nature for your toddler, giving them tools to manage emotions independently.


4. Create a Secure and Predictable Environment


Toddlers thrive on routine. A predictable environment and consistent boundaries provide a sense of security, which can help reduce anxiety and emotional outbursts. When children know what to expect, they are better able to regulate their emotions.


For instance, having a consistent bedtime routine can help your child feel calm and secure before sleep, while predictable meal and playtimes can make your child feel safe and in control of their daily schedule. When emotions are high, these routines can act as anchors that bring calmness and stability.


5. Encourage Expressing Emotions Creatively


Toddlers may not always be able to articulate their feelings verbally, but they can often express themselves creatively. Encourage activities like drawing, play-acting, or singing, where your toddler can explore their emotions through different mediums. For example, when your toddler is upset, instead of just trying to calm them down, you could offer them crayons and ask them to draw how they're feeling. This gives them an outlet for their emotions and promotes self-expression, which is a key part of emotional regulation.


6. Set and Maintain Boundaries with Empathy


Boundaries are essential for emotional regulation. While toddlers need room to express their emotions, they also need to learn that certain behaviors are unacceptable, such as hitting or screaming. Setting clear and consistent boundaries helps your toddler understand what is appropriate behavior, and when they push limits, calmly reinforcing the boundaries can help them learn self-control.


The key is to approach discipline with empathy. Instead of shaming or punishing, try to help your toddler understand why their behavior isn’t acceptable and offer a more appropriate way to express their feelings. For example, if your toddler hits another child out of frustration, you might say, "I can see you’re really angry, but hitting isn’t okay. Let’s use our words to tell them how we feel."


7. Give Them Time to Process Emotions


It’s important to allow your toddler time to process their emotions. Sometimes, they may need a few minutes to calm down before they’re ready to move on or discuss the issue. Avoid rushing the emotional recovery process or forcing your child to "snap out of it." Instead, allow them the space to experience their emotions fully, knowing that it’s a natural part of growing up.


8. Praise Effort, Not Perfection


Finally, it's important to acknowledge and praise your toddler's efforts, not just their achievements. If your child attempts to use a coping strategy or shows signs of self-regulation, praise them for their effort. Encouraging them to keep trying, even when they don't always succeed, builds emotional resilience and self-confidence.


Raising a Mentally Strong Toddler


By promoting healthy emotional regulation, you’re not just teaching your toddler to manage their emotions — you're also helping them build the mental strength they need to navigate life’s challenges. Emotional resilience is a lifelong skill, and fostering it in early childhood creates a strong foundation for emotional well-being as your child grows.


Eye-Opening Question:


How can we, as parents and caregivers, create more supportive environments where toddlers can safely express and manage their emotions, setting them up for a lifetime of emotional health and resilience?


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How Parents Can Support Foster Children Struggling with Binge Eating and Overeating

  • Writer: Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
    Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
  • Mar 1

Supporting foster children struggling with binge eating requires understanding the emotional trauma they’ve experienced and offering compassionate guidance. Foster parents can play a vital role by creating a safe, stable environment and helping children develop healthier coping mechanisms for emotional stress.

Navigating Gender Dysphoria: When Is Help Needed, and How Can We Support Our Teens?

Foster care children often face emotional and physical challenges that many of us can't even imagine. Among these struggles, binge eating and overeating can be a hidden yet significant issue affecting children in foster care. The trauma of abuse, neglect, and instability can manifest in complex ways, and overeating is sometimes the way these children cope with the emotional scars left by their past. As a foster parent, understanding the connection between foster care experiences and unhealthy eating habits is key to providing the right support and care.


The Impact of Foster Care on Mental Health


Children entering foster care often come from situations where they experienced neglect, instability, or abuse. These traumatic experiences can deeply affect their emotional and mental well-being. When a child has faced situations beyond their control, such as unpredictable meals, food scarcity, or emotional neglect, food can quickly become a means of finding comfort or control.


Binge eating and overeating are common coping mechanisms for many children dealing with emotional trauma. Food becomes a source of comfort in an otherwise chaotic world, but this pattern can quickly spiral into unhealthy eating habits. For some foster children, overeating becomes an escape from overwhelming emotions they don’t know how to process. It’s a way to fill the emotional void that their trauma has created, but it often leads to physical and mental health issues down the road.


Recognizing the Signs of Binge Eating and Overeating


As a foster parent, being able to recognize the signs of binge eating or overeating is critical for offering timely support. These behaviors might not be immediately obvious, especially if the child is good at hiding their actions or feelings. Here are some common signs to look out for:


  • Eating Large Quantities of Food in One Sitting: This can happen even when the child isn't physically hungry.

  • Secretive Eating: The child may eat in secret or attempt to hide food wrappers or leftovers, which can be an indication of binge eating episodes.

  • Repeated Overeating Despite Feeling Full: Your child might continue eating even after they've had enough, or may constantly talk about food.

  • Frequent Emotional Overeating: Turning to food as a way to cope with stress, anxiety, or sadness is often a sign of overeating due to emotional triggers.

  • Social Withdrawal and Shame: The child may express shame or embarrassment about eating habits and could avoid social situations involving food.


These behaviors often arise as a means of self-soothing, but they can also serve as a way for children to regain a sense of control when other aspects of their life feel unpredictable or out of their hands.


How Foster Parents Can Help


Supporting a foster child with binge eating or overeating requires a delicate and compassionate approach. Here are some ways you can help:


  1. Create a Safe and Predictable Environment: Stability and routine are incredibly important for foster children who have experienced trauma. A predictable routine around mealtimes can give children a sense of security, which might reduce the need to overeat as a means of control. Keep mealtimes consistent, calm, and free of pressure.


  2. Address Emotional Needs: Often, overeating is a response to unmet emotional needs. Help your child identify their feelings by providing a safe space for them to express their emotions. Encourage open conversations about their experiences and feelings, letting them know it’s okay to talk about difficult topics.


  3. Focus on Health, Not Weight: Instead of focusing on weight or appearance, create conversations about healthy eating habits. Encourage positive conversations about nourishing the body and treating it with respect, rather than tying food to emotions like shame, guilt, or punishment.


  4. Limit Emotional Eating Triggers: Help your child find healthy outlets for stress or emotional pain, such as art, physical activity, or journaling. When they feel overwhelmed, teach them other coping mechanisms that don’t involve food, like breathing exercises, mindfulness, or talking through their feelings.


  5. Encourage Professional Support: Binge eating and overeating can be symptoms of deeper emotional trauma, and professional therapy or counseling can be incredibly helpful. A therapist specializing in trauma or eating disorders can help your child learn to identify and manage emotional triggers, as well as develop healthier coping mechanisms.


  6. Model Healthy Behavior: Children learn a lot from what they see. Model healthy eating habits, self-care routines, and healthy relationships with food. Your example can go a long way in helping your child learn to treat food as nourishment, not a way to cope with feelings.


  7. Celebrate Small Wins: Recovery from overeating or binge eating is a gradual process. Celebrate small milestones, like choosing a healthy snack or discussing emotions openly. These moments can help your child feel empowered and motivated to continue on their journey to emotional and physical healing.


A Lifeline in Times of Struggle


As a foster parent, you hold a pivotal role in supporting children with binge eating or overeating behaviors. Your compassion and commitment can help guide them toward healthier eating habits and, more importantly, emotional healing. Your home can be a place where they find security, support, and the tools to cope with their trauma in healthy ways.


Eye-Opening Question:


How can we, as a society, better equip foster parents with the tools and resources needed to help children struggling with emotional eating and binge eating disorders?


By understanding the root causes of these behaviors and providing the right support, we can create a future where every child in foster care has the opportunity to heal, grow, and develop healthy relationships with food and themselves.


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