Mental Health Support For Teens: An important resource.
I saw this great opportunity and wanted to share it because it is SUCH a good idea and SO wonderful (via a CNBC article by Megan Sauer / attached below).
It is from LAURIE SANTOS, a psychology professor at Yale University who recently launched a FREE six-week version of a course designed for teenagers to address the rising rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide experienced during high school.
Named THE SCIENCE OF WELL-BEING FOR TEENS, the course is intended to make teenagers, and the rest of the world, feel happier.
– – – Always a good thing!
From The CNBC Article (bold emphasis is mine):
The timing of the teen-specific course, which already has at least 17,000 enrollees (actually 30,000 now) is notable. More than a third of teens self-report experiencing poor mental health, and nearly half feel persistent sadness or hopelessness during the pandemic, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey that surveyed participants through mid-2021.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, those numbers had already increased by 40% from 2009 to 2019, the CDC noted. The agency’s survey also found that 20% of teens had seriously considered, and 9% had attempted, suicide.
Lesson No. 1, she preaches in one of the course’s pre-recorded lectures: Our brains lie to us about what makes us happy.
“For adults, this may mean pursuing money or success at work, and for teens this might mean focusing on the perfect grades and getting into the best colleges,” Santos tells CNBC Make It. “The problem isn’t that we’re not putting work into feeling better — it’s that we’re doing the wrong things, prioritizing the wrong behaviors.”
Instead of focusing on reaching a financial milestone or perfect GPA, aim to program your brain with thoughts and behaviors that make you feel better, Santos recommends. Regularly connecting with friends, taking care of your health and learning how to accept negative emotions all contribute more significantly to your wellbeing than having the right job, car or relationships, she adds in a course lecture.
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I think what Laurie has done is extraordinary and wonderful, because MANY teens need all the mental and emotional support they can get today, unfortunately.
They have it tough for many reasons, including increased academic pressure, cyber bullying, negative effects of social media, peer pressure, often a lack of financial resources, obesity, and just getting through those four years of high school (!)
… Remember those?
Those days were challenging enough for many of us Baby Boomers – and they have only gotten worse since then.
Mental Health Support For Teens: Please share and utilize as needed.
Yes, I’m old, but not quite that old! 🙂
So, it was a great idea on Laurie’s part to adjust the course for teens, put it online, and make it free.
Even if you don’t have kids, or yours are older, please remember that this mental health support option is available to anyone for free today.
It’s a wonderful thing.
Great job, Laurie! (And thank you for reporting it, Megan).
Marc
PS: You might be asking yourself how Laurie’s course is related to life story writing. It is and it isn’t. Our mission is to make life story memoir book writing easy – to inspire, empower, and improve lives. So, Laurie’s intention – to make teenagers, and everyone feel happier – is what we are all about also – – – and why we love this new opportunity!
Here is a link to the Yale Course. The CNBC article is below it.
Try The Life Writer App with a 30 day guarantee here:
https://www.thelifewriter.com/product/the-life-writer-app/
Do you need a gift certificate? This is what they look like:
