Webinars on Teen Mental Health
Understanding Teen Depression
When adults are trained to recognize teen depression and intervene with effective techniques, teens with depression tend to have better outcomes. This webinar provides an overview of what teen depression is; communication strategies for teens and parents; treatment options; where to get help; and what to do if help is refused. If you are worried about a teen, new to the topic, proactively seeking education, or in need of a refresher on teen depression, this webinar is for you.
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Teen Depression Fact Sheet
Hoja informativa: La depresión en los adolescentes
Ficha informativa: Depressão adolescente
My Teen Won’t Talk With Me! Strategies for Building Trust and Communicating Effectively
Have you ever asked a teen how they are doing, only to be met with a one-word reply? What does it mean when they say, “Fine”? Talking with teens can be hard. Depression makes it harder. As a parent or caring adult, you want to make sure you are connecting with the teen in your life and aware of their needs, but that’s tricky to do if conversations don’t feel welcome. While it may feel impossible, there are ways you can build trust with your teen and have impactful conversations.
In this webinar, therapist Rebekah Gibbons, LICSW, discusses how parents and caring adults can build trusting relationships that help teens feel safe, communicate about depression using age-appropriate terminology, and manage difficult conversations.
Pandemic Parenting: Supporting Teen Mental Health
Parenting teens through the years 2020 and 2021 has brought challenges we couldn’t have imagined in 2019. Families have experienced the contradiction of isolation and excessive time together; loss of income and higher levels of food- and housing-insecurity; drastically reduced access to school resources; increased rates of mental health distress and crisis; and ongoing fear for what the future holds. For most of us, the stressors have been layering on top of one another without relief.
There are actions you can take to support yourself and the teens in your life. We can start by ensuring that you and other parents, guardians, and caring adults get the education needed to help teens and young adults feel more secure for their future. And while your own stress may be sky-high, there are practical ways adults can support the entire family’s mental health and well-being.
In this webinar, Dr. Archana Basu discusses how the pandemic is affecting teen, parent, and family mental health. Dr. Basu provides practical evidence-based ways to manage parental stress and shares tips for communicating with and supporting teens and young adults.
Recognizing and Managing Teen Anxiety
Nearly one in three adolescents meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder by the age of 18. Sadly, 80% of youth diagnosed with anxiety are not getting the treatment they need. Caring adults can make a difference by learning to recognize the signs and intervening before anxiety takes over a teen’s life or leads to depression.
Navigating Teen Depression and Substance Use as a Family
The relationship between depression and substance use is complicated, and even teenagers get caught in the tangle. Whether an adolescent turned to substances to self-medicate or use of substances led to developing symptoms of depression, we know that the combination increases the risk for both self-harm and suicide attempts. When a teen you love is dealing with both, what can you do?
This isn’t an isolated issue: approximately 30-45% of adolescents with mental health disorders have a co-occurring substance use disorder, and nearly two-thirds of adolescents with a substance use disorder have an underlying mental health condition. Fortunately, adults can utilize preventive strategies and learn how to effectively recognize and treat depression and substance use to improve overall health.
In this webinar, presenters David Blair, LCSW, CACIII, AAMFT, and Jamie Blair Echevarria, LCSW, LMFT, CACIII, cover how caring adults can fully engage in the process of prevention and treatment for adolescent substance use and depression, identify when a teen requires professional intervention, and communicate effectively about substance use and misuse.
Teen Self-Injury: Working Toward Healthy Coping Skills
Many adults recoil at the thought of self-injury, but it’s a fact among young people: approximately 18% of teens and upwards of 35% of college students report having self-injured in some way. And the connection with depression is strong, with between 40% and 70% of teens treated for self-injury having a depression diagnosis.
Self-injury is an unhealthy coping mechanism that can lead to an increased risk of suicide. Although this data is alarming, there is good news. Adults can intervene effectively by understanding the function of self-injury, recognizing the signs, and helping adolescents develop healthy coping mechanisms to manage their pain.
GeneSight
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
CHNA 17
George Harrington Trust
Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation
Rebecca Pomroy Foundation
Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation
Adelaide Breed Bayrd Foundation
John Donnelly Trust