Colleen Kennedy, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Prioritize Emotional Wellness
As a parent, you watch your kids grow up and want the very best for them.
You send them to off school,
enroll them in different activities,
and have them participate in those things
that are important to your family.
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The teen years are busy, and by the end of each day, teens are typically exhausted.
And then there is the mountain of homework that is still waiting to be tackled.
Their lives can begin to feel very overwhelming.
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As a mom and a psychologist, I couldn't help but notice
stress, anxiety, and depression
start to develop in many young people as they
made their way through their high school years.
As my kids grew up and transitioned to college, I began to hear more and more about the number of college students on campus who were struggling, most of them silently, with with emotional wellness. It is a very grim reality that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people age 10-34 today. This statistic highlights that there is a real need to build resilience in our children and teach them how to take care of their mental health, just as we teach them to take care of their physical health, so they have a solid foundation for their mental health as they transition to adulthood.
At a time when we as parents are trying to ensure that our kids are well-educated, well-rounded and ready for their future, take a moment to think about how you are making emotional wellness a priority in our family, or how you would like to improve upon this for yourself and your children.
Life gets really busy, and it is easy to put our emotional wellness at the bottom of our priority list. As a parent, I have experienced this struggle first hand.
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Prioritize the mental health of your teen!
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You may notice that your child is feeling stressed out, anxious, doesn't seem to be motivated, and is struggling with self-esteem and social confidence. "Got Stress?" teaches young people how to correctly identify what they are feeling and skills to manage those feelings, such as stress, anxiety and depression. Having a good foundation for emotional wellness can help set them up for both academic and personal success as they transition into adulthood.
Teens completing this program will have many "tools" in their mental health "toolbox" to help them succeed in life. However, just as a screwdriver sitting in a toolbox won't fix your refrigerator, tools in a mental health toolbox won't be helpful unless you pull them out and use them. Throughout the program, I encourage parents to engage their kids in conversations about what they are learning and help them use the new skills they have acquired.
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Learn more about how "Got Stress?" is different from therapy.