Outline
Laying the Groundwork
Avoid clinical missteps and establish connection
Assessing Adolescent Mental Health
Typical teen angst vs mental health issue...and does it matter?
Addressing Teen Turmoil
Help teens who are struggling with one or more of the tasks of adolescence:
Clinical Approaches for Teen Mental Health Issues
Interventions for anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm and high-risk behaviors
Clinical Considerations
Navigating ethics and legalities
Avoid clinical missteps and establish connection
- Who to meet first: Teen or caregiver?
- Top 5 strategies to build an alliance in the first session
- Dos and don’ts to avoid blunders with teens
- How to support teens who don't want help
- The family: Determine where they fit into counseling
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Assessing Adolescent Mental Health
Typical teen angst vs mental health issue...and does it matter?
- Recognizing and responding to crisis
- Tools for identifying grounds for concern
- TikTok diagnosis? Handling teens’ preconceived notions
- Assessment tips for hard-to-engage teens
- Caregivers’ role in the assessment process
- When parent and teen perspectives differ on level of concern
Addressing Teen Turmoil
Help teens who are struggling with one or more of the tasks of adolescence:
- Parting with childhood
- Making and maintaining friendships
- Harnessing intense emotions
- Contending with adult authority
- Planning for the future
- Embarking on a healthy love life
- Caring effectively for themselves
Ready-to-Use Resources: Clinician handouts and client materials
Clinical Approaches for Teen Mental Health Issues
Interventions for anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm and high-risk behaviors
- Myth-busting: Emotions are not the enemy
- Persistently sad, numb, or “snarky”: Top techniques to treat depression in teens
- Early intervention strategies for eating disorders
- Interventions for unhealthy coping:
- problematic social media use and gaming
- eating disorders
- avoidance
- self-harm
- substance misuse
Hands-on Experience: Interactive clinician and client exercises
Clinical Considerations
Navigating ethics and legalities
- Working with teens from deeply troubled families
- Ethical guidelines for collaboration with teachers, coaches, and others
- Managing questions of safety and confidentiality
- Youth-specific cultural and ethical considerations
- Upholding appropriate clinical boundaries
Objectives
- Identify strategies for building an alliance with teens and avoiding clinical missteps.
- Determine the role of family in the counseling process to support teens who are reluctant to seek help.
- Differentiate between typical teen angst and mental health concerns to recognize and respond to crisis.
- Apply a developmental framework to evaluate overall health and identify areas of concern.
- Choose interventions for anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, and high-risk behaviors.
- Examine an ethical decision-making framework for involving parents and caregivers and upholding appropriate clinical boundaries.
