{"id":9205,"date":"2018-03-09T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T09:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/2018\/03\/09\/championing-teens-with-anxiety\/"},"modified":"2018-03-09T09:00:06","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T09:00:06","slug":"championing-teens-with-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/2018\/03\/09\/championing-teens-with-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Championing Teens with Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By April Huard, Off-Campus Program Advisor<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As a teenager, Solome Tibebu struggled with a debilitating anxiety disorder that affected every area of her life. Although she suffered silently for many years, afraid to share her secret thoughts with even her family, she credits her father for helping her finally manage and overcome her fear and anxiousness. In her\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8PcdRyB8YJY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2015 TEDx Talk<\/a>, Solome offers this guidance to parents of anxious teens: \u201cBe a champion for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This seems easy enough on the surface, but championing someone with anxiety can be a complicated and uncertain process. And studies show that more and more parents are navigating the waters of anxiety with their children\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/adaa.org\/living-with-anxiety\/children\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at least 1 in 8<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So what can the increasing number of families with anxious children do to support and help them? Here are a few ideas:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 40px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<li><strong>Decompression<\/strong>\u2014The beauty of homeschooling is that it uniquely allows for a time of decompression, especially if the anxious student is recovering from the pressures of a traditional school system. Decompressions can be filled with hobbies, relationship building, and journaling. A break from the stress of academics can be a time of personal growth and healing for teens.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Community<\/strong>\u2014When Solome Tibebu was dealing with anxiety as a teen, she realized she needed a community where she could share her struggles and hear others\u2019 stories. Not finding one, she started an online magazine for young adults with anxiety and other mental health challenges. Teens who struggle with anxiety can visit <a href=\"http:\/\/anxietyinteens.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anxiety in Teens<\/a> to connect with others.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mindfulness<\/strong>\u2014According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mindful.org\/what-is-mindfulness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mindful<\/a>, \u201cMindfulness is the\u2026ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we\u2019re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what\u2019s going on around us.\u201d This practice can give teens a sense of control over their anxiety; it can teach them inner resilience and give them a way to control their stress. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headspace.com\/headspace-meditation-app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Headspace meditation app<\/a> teaches mindfulness in just a few minutes a day.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Normalization of Failure<\/strong>\u2014Helping kids fail well is an important part of parenting an anxious teen. Teens who have never experienced, recovered from, or learned from failure can be anxious about the possibility of not always achieving at a high level. Parents can allow kids to fail, help them see the lessons in failure, and emphasize that their love is not dependent on their kids\u2019 successes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Therapies<\/strong>\u2014Some students may benefit from one of the many therapies designed to help kids with deep-seated anxiety. Art therapy, equine therapy, and exposure therapy are just a few of the options that can be explored with a medical professional.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the end, championing a child with anxiety involves a lot of listening, patience, and unconditional love. A parent or guardian can be a safe place for their teens\u2019 fears and uncertainties in a world that often feels pressurized and intimidating.<\/p>\n<h3>Further Reading<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 40px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/10\/11\/magazine\/why-are-more-american-teenagers-than-ever-suffering-from-severe-anxiety.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering from Extreme Anxiety?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Do you have a teen struggling with anxiety? What strategies are helping them cope and thrive?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By April Huard, Off-Campus Program Advisor As a teenager, Solome Tibebu struggled with a debilitating anxiety disorder that affected every area of her life. Although she suffered silently for many years, afraid to share her secret thoughts with even her family, she credits her father for helping her finally manage and overcome her fear and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learning-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}