Teen Mental Health
A Special Note...
It’s almost that time of year already – Giving Tuesday and the year-end season are coming up very soon! As you may know, we rely heavily on ministry partners. This year, our annual appeal focuses on the difference your investment makes in the lives of our growing number of volunteers. In each email during the next few weeks, I’ll highlight a short testimony from one of them. Would you please consider how you might partner with us through a financial gift as we approach 2024?
Thank you!
Worth Your Time!
Resource Recommendations to Help You Parent and Mentor Most Effectively
This Week's Recommendation:
"We're Talking to Teens the Wrong Way About Their Mental Health"
Flusterclux With Lynn Lyons
Jan. 20, 2023: S5 E21
Listen here or on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Etc.
Length: 48 Minutes
Why It Matters:
This is one of the best podcasts I’ve heard! The whole episode is a “MUST-LISTEN” for anyone connected with youth.
When adults talk about this generation of teens, and when teens talk about themselves, perhaps the most-used descriptors are “anxious,” “depressed,” and “stressed.” Everything Lynn Lyons addresses in this podcast matches what I’ve frequently seen and heard working with students in Christian schools and at camps – in the journals they write to us, in the anonymous questions they ask in Q&A, and in conversations. It’s often clear from the words and phrases they use that they’re repeating what they’ve heard from others (either from adults in their own lives or online). Most of it is well-intentioned but not necessarily helpful or realistic. Lyons offers a fresh perspective and a badly needed paradigm shift in how we think about and address these topics.
Would you like something more than just my own recommendation? I originally saw this podcast posted on a former Christian school student’s Instagram. Now in his early 20s, he suffered from severe anxiety as a teen, despite having solid family relationships and both academic and athletic success (he even captained his public school basketball team to a state championship during his senior year). In his Instagram post, he strongly recommended that everyone who deals with youth should listen to it, clearly implying it may have helped him if he had heard this message earlier in his life. He’s also proof that any teen can struggle with issues like anxiety – he’s not someone you’d normally expect to struggle with it.
How to Use It
LISTEN TO IT! :) I can’t recommend that enough. She does provide some helpful tips, but perhaps more importantly she presents a shift in thinking for many people.
The podcast is not Christian, but you can integrate it in many ways. It could be a launching pad to study emotions in the Psalms, to discuss what defines us, to examine our hope in Christ and the change he can bring, etc.
Please note: I think it’s clear she’s speaking generally about the broad population of students and not referring to students with chemical imbalances, special needs, etc.