Helping your anxious teen using free Apps.

Following on from my last post, today I will continue on January’s theme on anxiety and stress, but today I will focus on teenagers and what you and anxiety Apps can do to help. Yes, some technology can help.

The teen years are a time of heightened sensitivity to stress due to the neuronal changes in the brain. We can’t protect them from stress, but we can give them some tools to deal with it. Teens show their anxiety in less obvious ways than younger children. Sometimes we get so fed up with them; we sometimes miss that they are stressed; you know the signs, yes? In order you don’t miss the signs, here are several examples:

They may be:

• Isolating themselves
• Overreacting to minor problems
• Have problems sleeping
• Self Harming
• Are picking pulling out their hair or picking their skin
• They may be concerned about their appearance and become fixated on the part of their body.

They may try to control their eating or may overeat.

• They may be using drugs and alcohol more than just routine adolescent experimentation.

How to help your teenager

Your teenager may not always be open to talking to you and may not seek your help; how you do with your anxiety and stress will provide a mirror to them on how they deal with theirs. It’s hard when they moan, are angry and push it, but if you can, try to maintain your relationship with them. Any positive influence will depend on your relationship with them. Even if it is challenging, do ensure that you have time you can share family meals and activities they like doing. Say you want to spend more time with them. Car trips were a good time for me to ask chat and say something I needed to say.

You can join me on my new webinar, how to parent your child with anxiety on Events.

If that fails, or try apps, we all know they are keen on our phones. Technology is here to stay, these are all free Apps that can help your child with anxiety, worry, and low mood, but that should not replace treatment.

 Jackson Tempra’s What’s Up? – (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/whats-up-a-mental-health-app/id968251160?mt=8)

A Mental Health App, this is a free app utilizing some of the best CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) methods to help you cope with Depression, Anxiety, Anger, Stress and more! With a beautiful, modern design, simple heading and easy-to-follow techniques, you can get to what helps you the most in seconds! ( please note I have no affiliation to any of these Apps, young people who I have worked with find these helpful),

The SAM App was developed in Bristol by the University of the West of England.

SAM is an application to help you understand and manage anxiety. The app has been developed in collaboration with a research team from UWE, Bristol

https://youtu.be/3DUm4asMasY

The app is developed for Stem4 Mental Health  Charity by Dr Krause, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, using ideas from an evidence-based therapy called DBT. The focus is to help you learn to identify and manage your ’emotional’ mind with a positive impact. The app enables you to track your progress. Please note that the app is an aid in treatment but does not replace it.

I hope you find these helpful, so write and let me and others know what you have found useful.

Make a choice today to do one action to be the parent you want to be and help your teenager to feel safe, loved and secure.

With Love Catherine

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