Authors :

Dr Frédéric Benoit, psychiatrist and Catherine Malboeuf Hurtubise, PH. D., psychologist and teacher

Finding inner calm, taking stock of their emotions, listening to their body and thoughts, and even being aware of what others are thinking, can all help teens to nurture their mental health on a daily basis. Below are a few techniques that you can share with them, and perhaps use in your own everyday life as well.

Mindfulness: a valuable resource 🤝 for young people

Practicing mindfulness consists of focusing wholly on the present, on what is going on both inside and outside of yourself. When thoughts and emotions get to be a bit heavy, mindfulness techniques can help young people take a break and reflect upon their here and now, and their needs.³.

Teens can use mindfulness to:

• Better handle conflict;
• Stay calm when dealing with complex emotions;
• Manage stress on a daily basis,^2,4 leaving them better equipped to face life’s challenges.

Mindfulness to the rescue at home 🏡

Adopting a daily mindfulness practice at home can help teens in a number of ways:

– It lowers depression and anxiety symptoms;
– It reduces aggressiveness;
– It helps them take on a positive outlook;
– It promotes increased self-awareness and fosters the development of social skills⁵.

Regular and prolonged practice of mindfulness meditation, which stimulates areas of the brain dedicated to thinking and planning, has been proven to have positive, lasting effects on behaviour. And practicing mindfulness is an effective way to tackle teen anxiety.

The how-tos of mindfulness meditation

Are you a parent interested in mindfulness meditation? We have created for you a mini-guide that walks you step by step in carrying out mindfulness meditations at home. You also have access to podcasts to introduce teens to mindfulness meditation at home.

Listen to the podcasts (only available in french for now):

And to increase your odds of winning them over, make sure to take a look at how you can introduce young people to meditation and help them reap the full benefits of a good practice.

How to adopt an attitude based on mentalization?

For many teens, social interaction can be a source of anxiety or negative thoughts. When the teen in your life is faced with a difficult situation, you can invite them to take stock of the situation and take a moment to observe their thoughts, feelings and any physical sensations these may bring about.

They can ask themselves things like this:

• What am I feeling right now? Can I put a name to my emotions?
• How is my body responding to these emotions?
• Why am I reacting this way?

They can then look inside themselves 🧐 to find out why the other person acted or reacted the way they did, doing some real detective 🕵 work to come up with various possibilities.