For the ones who don’t know Give Us The Floor, the non-profit serving the emotional and social needs of teenagers, it is a community of teens, mostly in distress, who help each other. The teens provide this help via supportive group chats on Snapchats and share their struggles on YouTube and Instagram for a larger youth audience. The result is that teens understand they are not alone, that peers are facing the same challenges and struggles as they do, and that there is a supportive community of teens that they can belong to.
Last week, we posted on YouTube the…
It is urgent for us to invest in youth. People intuitively know this to be true. This is also the conclusion of a study published by The Center for Strategic & International Studies in 2014 in partnership with the International Youth Foundation: The Global Youth Wellbeing Index. The well-being of today’s youth will impact the future of its country.
In other words, the future of our Country depends on the well-being of today’s youth. …
Almost half of teenagers feel some anxiety or worry during the holidays
Teens will tell you the holiday season is awesome.
This is not quite the truth. Almost half of teenagers feel some anxiety or worry during the holidays. They may just be putting a mask on.
Why?
- The “obligation” to be happy, to create nice memories
- The family is getting together and with it, some tensions too.
- If you don’t have a family that comes together, then there is the feeling of not belonging, not being like the others. The weight of missing out can be heavy.
- For those who have lost loved ones, the grief strikes deeper.
- It is the…
Half of Americans will deal with a mental health disorder
Half of Americans will meet the criteria for a DSM-IV disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in their life. 50% of them start by age 14 and 75% by age 24 (Kessler RC & al, 2005)
Depressive disorder and social anxiety disorder are chronic disorders that follow these rules.
There is good news and bad news:
- Good news: Parents have the power, sometimes, to help prevent their teen’s depression and social anxiety disorder.
- Bad news: It is hard to not feel guilty when you know this and your…
Could helping others prevent mental illness?
Helping others can address the feeling of not belonging, which is one of the biggest pains for adolescents nowadays. Dr. Maria Pagano, expert in the application of quantitative methods to study how mutual-help processes change over time among youth and adults in addiction recovery, conducted studies that lead to this conclusion.
For more than 10 years, the studies that she conducted have shown that a supportive network, reduces isolation, decreases social anxiety, and — especially — helping others can increase the chances of staying sober by up to 50 percent. (The studies where focusing on alcohol addiction).
Most addicts have…
As parents, it is very hard to witness your teen suffer. Your reflex is either to build a shield around them or give them the solution.
Think twice before letting your instinct take over. Wouldn’t it be better for your teenager to learn by himself/herself how to cope with life’s adversities?
It is very difficult to let your children make their own mistakes. Any parent wants to smooth over their kid’s tough situations. Not trying to make it easier means you don’t care. …
Valerie Grison-Alsop
Founder & Executive Director of Give Us The Foor, non-profit For Teens — By Teens — more to read on valeriegrisonblog.com
