Ann

Teen mental health has never in history been such a prime talking point in mainstream media, classrooms, and homes across the globe. So many teens are suffering. And here in the U.S. just like so many other countries, we’ve just not figured out how to help everyone that needs it.

But there’s an amazing non-profit organization, the JED foundation, which was founded here in the U.S. in 2000 by Donna and Phil Satow, who had lost their youngest son, Jed, to suicide a couple of years before.

Their dream was to see a uniform model for preventing suicide throughout the country’s high schools and college campuses. They wanted communities talking about mental health more openly and for people to stop seeing these struggles as shameful or something to keep secret.

Today JED works with schools from pre-K all the way through college, helping them put programs and policies in place that create more of a culture of caring, where kids can seek help and actually get it.

They work in communities to educate and equip people with the tools they need so they can protect kids’ mental health.

And to that end, they regularly conduct research and issue reports to inform this work. Their latest research culminated in a report called Unraveling the Stigma: Exploring Barriers to Mental Health Support Among U.S. Teens.

Stigma has long been assumed to be a stumbling block for people seeking help for their mental health, but no one had really studied this issue as it relates to teens and young adults…until now.

Stay with me to find out how this research can help you, help your kids.

This is Speaking of Teens, the podcast that teaches you the science of parenting adolescents so you can be less stressed and more excited about having a teenager. I’m Ann Coleman, I’m an attorney turned parent educator and I’ve spent years studying the science of teen behavior and I want to help you learn how to parent your teens for the best possible outcome.

Today, I’m talking to Dr. Kamla Modi, Senior Director of Design and Impact at The Jed Foundation about this latest research on adolescents and stigma as a barrier to mental health support.

Dr. Modi has been working in the research and evaluation area for youth nonprofits, schools and colleges, and community-based organizations for 15 years, including the Girl Scouts. She’s very good at breaking down research into actionable information.

 

Kamla Modi

So, part of my job at the Jed Foundation is to conduct original research studies with teens and young adults on topics related to mental health. And so, what we do is we look at various mental health topics. This topic in particular was examining the role of stigma, which is the shame, embarrassment, secrecy associated with mental health and mental illness specifically, and to understand how strong a role stigma is when it comes to seeking help for mental health challenges. So it was assumed by many and many campaigns out there are really focused on strictly on stigma. I think the reason why is because stigma has been around for a long time. Opinions and attitudes about mental health and mental health challenges have been around for a long time.

 

And hopefully these sorts of attitudes and opinions are reducing and decreasing with time among this nation's young people. Unfortunately, many of our campaigns for young people still focus on stigma as the top barrier to seeking help for mental health challenges. So we really explored that. We wanted to know first and foremost, is stigma a major factor in understanding the barriers for why teens, why more teens don't seek help? In the process of this question, we also wanted to understand the breadth of the barriers. We know that there are many, many reasons why teens don't ask for help, don't seek formal help. There are different reasons related to access to care, related to what happens when you get care, what happens when you do reach out, what happens, what the receptivity is when teens do reach out and how that may turn them away from reaching out again in the future.

 

So we explored all of these different barriers. And it was our assumption that stigma was not going to be a top barrier. What we did was we talked to more than 1 ,500 teens across the country using qualitative and quantitative research. So we did in -depth interviews with teens. We also followed that up with a large comprehensive survey and online survey. It was a nationwide sample. So with respect to teens ages 13 to 17 years old, having a good national array of these individuals that we understood what teens across the board were facing. And what we found was that our assumption was really correct, that stigma is not a top barrier to help seeking. In fact, the more important barriers are that they feel that they would be uncomfortable talking about difficult emotions with adults or with their peers, they felt they would not be understood if they spoke out and they felt they would be a burden to others if they spoke out. In addition, teens felt that if they were to reach out to peers about difficult emotions, the peers wouldn't help. If they reached out to adults about difficult emotions, the adults would help but not listen.

 

So it's this kind of quandary that teens feel they're in. If I reach out to this group of people, well, they'll be helpful in some way, but not completely the right way. If I reach out to this group of people, well, they're gonna be helpful in some way, but not completely helpful in another way. So it's really helpful, no pun intended, to have this information. It really speaks to the lack of language that teens have in terms of speaking about mental health.

 

This intention, this great intention that teens have to talk about mental health. So our thesis around understanding stigma and stigma being a barrier was correct. We found that majority of teens, 74 % felt it is a sign of strength to reach out for their mental health. However, intention did not always translate into action. So 48 % said they would only seek professional help as a last resort.

 

42 % of teens say they do not have the words to ask for help. And 33 % of teens say it is hard to find safe moments to talk. So this really showed us that there are some true gaps between this intention, wanting to talk about mental health, really wanting to talk about emotions, that is true for this generation of teens, but the know -how and the ability to actually take that step and reach out is still something that they need work on.

 

Ann

If stigma is not the issue then, what does seem to be the issue preventing teens from seeking help?

 

Kamla Modi

The issue that seems to be preventing teens from seeking help is really this inability to talk about emotions, this discomfort that exists when it comes to talking about sadness or depression or anger, anything really that isn't positive. So coming to grips with these emotions, they're saying it would be uncomfortable talking about it. It just would be, you know, I'm thinking about my son who's seven and anytime it's something that's hard to talk about, he'll kind of clam up. It's just, that's what kids naturally do when it's something that they don't really want to address. So it's uncomfortable talking about it. Perhaps teens are less practiced about talking about emotions, less than, I don't know, because many people are not well-practiced when it comes to talking about emotions. And this idea of feeling like they would be a burden to others, teens are very aware that their parents are busy and stressed and burdened. And, have two jobs or, you know, as a single parent or many of the issues that exist in our society today, teens are aware that it's not so easy to just run up to mom and say, Hey, I'm having this issue. Can we talk? It should be easier for teens to talk, but they feel that it, that sometimes the people in their lives, the adults, the trusted adults are not accessible. So they're feeling that they might be a burden to others. These are young people and they feel like their problems might be a burden to others.

 

We talked to teens that are BIPOC, so those that are teens of color, teens that are immigrants, teens that come from different countries, and they talked about how their parents, you know, they came from a different country. Talking about mental health is not very high on the list of things to be worried about. There are other things like acculturation and financial worries and racism. There are things, real things that, that teens and parents and families are dealing with, and mental health just doesn't seem to rise to the top of that list.

 

Ann

Right. Well, and that is so sad because what I talk about a lot on the podcast is emotion coaching and help in supporting your child in their emotional intelligence and talking about your emotions and modeling, talking about your emotions as much as possible. So, and a big one is listening, listening to what, especially in the teen years, to be able to be a good listener for your teen is what is going to open up conversation and help them come to you because you know they they know most teens know that if they go to their parents with something the parent is going to jump in and try to solve the problem try to fix it or tell them that it's not a problem or you know shoo them away so it it does and i want to talk about that in a little bit but it does fall i think to the parents to prove to their teenagers that they can be trusted they can open up to them and that they will help, that they will listen and support them. So this is such a good lesson for parents. So when, when they, another question, let me throw this in here too, because just recently I saw a, I think it was in the, was it in the New York Times or the Washington Post? Lisa Foulkes, I think it was someone from Oxford university who had done a study about TikTok and teens and, kids who were over identifying with what these influencers were saying about mental health and that so many kids are saying, that's me, that's me, that's me, that sounds like me. I must have anxiety. I must have depression. I must be this or that. And so, and she talks about how that feeds into this, you know, it's kind of a circular kind of a loop where they think they have a problem, they start kind of over identifying with it, they even maybe self-fulfilling prophecy, they develop a problem and then go right back to TikTok to find out more about the problem, which just, so how does that fall in this? What do you think about that?

 

Kamla Modi

Yeah, we are aware of that conversation and that study. So we feel that mental health should be taken very seriously. The suicide rates among teens are on the rise. Mental health challenges are on the rise. There are a lot of things in our world that are affecting teens adversely. Things like safety in schools, things like parents working too many hours, things like financial trouble and inflation and...media and social media being rampant and what you mentioned about tick -tock, the information that they're receiving and that they're engaging with, we don't know if that information is correct or evidence -based. We likely a lot of what they're seeing is influencers talking about different things and they're popular, so they're really cool to watch, but are they presenting the right healthy and safe information?

And it's nearly impossible to screen and to scan all of this information and to put it through a filter and to determine what's correct, what's safe, what's not safe. So there are a lot of influences in teens' lives today that are potentially hazardous for them. And really, you need to, I always think about social media literacy, you know, there may even be a more up-to -date, you know, phrasing for this today, but really just being really analytical about what you're watching and what you're consuming and wondering, is this right? Is this correct? Let me go and look for this somewhere else. Let me do a quick search and see if this is coming up in other places because something, you know, follow your gut. Is this right? Or is there something off here? So there are worries and concerns about kids kind of, you know, over diagnosing or kind of joining the, you know, team, SAD or team.

 

Kamla Modi

you know, to fit in teenage years are really a time for exploring who you are and trying on different personas and trying on different things. Some things fit, some things don't. So that is, you know, we are aware of those kinds of risks, but the stats really speak for themselves. Like I said, the suicide rates are increasing and there are a lot of, a lot of adverse effects on teens today. And we, it's really our job as parents as educators, for the Jed Foundation, who is really devoted to this mission of promoting mental health and preventing suicide, to make sure that teens who need help and need support are given the help and support that they need.

 

Ann

Right, wonderful. Okay, so when you say support, then who are we talking about? Because we talked about adults and parents. I mean, who do teens want to go to for support? Who do they go to for support?

 

Kamla Modi

So teens, first and foremost, go to support from their parents. They seek help from their parents, which is great to hear for parents of teenagers because sometimes we feel, my teen is going to peers or to other people in their lives and I'm starting to lose touch a little bit with my teen. Teens ages 13 to 17 are still going to their parents first and foremost for support. If they're not currently going to their parents, they would like to go to their parents for support.

 

Next in line are peers and friends, which makes sense. But what's really very helpful to know here is that teens do want to go to you for support. They want a specific kind of support. So like you said, Ann, they don't want the parent to swoop in and to solve the problem and to fix for them. They really want parents to listen, to listen in a non -judgmental capacity to let the teens have the floor.

 

It is really the teens' time to talk about their emotions, talk about how they're feeling, talk about how things have changed, talk about what's hard to actually talk about if there aren't words there to describe. If it doesn't go well the first time, try again, set some time to talk about these things.

 

Ann

Well, and I think that the non -judgmental piece is huge because, you know, teens, that's, they always, or not always, but so many kids feel that they are going to be judged by the parent because it's happened so many times before. And so they get used to hearing, my gosh, well, number one, that's not a big deal. You'll not have this problem 10 years from now. You won't even know these people. They're not gonna be in your life anymore or honey, it's not a big deal. Let's just, let's do something else. Let's get your mind off of it. Or I'll take care of that by doing X, Y, and Z.

And so they're used to having the parents either swoop in and solve the problem or tell them that it's not really a problem or say, my God, why would you worry about that? I just put something in the newsletter the other day about parents who say, stop worrying so much about what everybody else thinks about you stop caring about what brand jeans you wear. They cannot stop caring about that. Their job is to care about that. And so they do feel judged when parents jump in and say, you're being silly, you're being ridiculous. So that it's just such an important thing for us to learn that we are not them. And we, it's really hard, I know, for parents to put themselves in their teenagers shoes, but we have to have to try. We have to be more empathetic.

We have to listen without judgment. And, you know, most of us think listening is listen for a couple of seconds and then jump in. And so listening is like listen until they're finished. Ask them if you understand what they just told you and then help them through the process of thinking about their emotions and what emotions they're having and what the issue is. I mean, you're shaking your head yes. So I'm assuming that you've heard this from teenagers or that, you know, there's some evidence to back this up, right?

 

Kamla Modi

That's exactly right. I'm nodding furiously. You know, going back to this thesis of stigma, we really think that the stigma, if it does exist, so also no teens in our study even came up with the word stigma. Stigma is not a teen term. They are related, relating more to things like embarrassment, secrecy, privacy, shame even, they're even not really using those words very often, but certainly stigma is an adult term, it's an academic term, there's no teenager was saying, I'm worried about the stigma associated with mental illness, they're not saying those things. So it's really the parents in this situation need to kind of, we need to get out of our own way. If there is stigma, if the parents are carrying stigma related to mental illness, feeling, you know, I don't want anyone to know that my child is suffering from mental health challenges or dealing with a setback or dealing with really a lot of stress related to school and life. This whole keeping up with the Joneses and this whole like parents really need to release a lot of that stuff or at least pretend to release it in support of their teen at that moment. The teen knows that the parent probably suspects the parent has a little bit of judgment of their own related to mental health and mental illness.

 

We grew up in an era where we weren't talking about mental health, mental illness, anything really, any kinds of negative emotions. It was, I don't know about your household, Anne, but we were not really sitting around the table talking about sadness and depression. It just was not, it was not really top of mind for us. It's a social stigma. So.

 

Ann

Not hardly.

 

Kamla Modi

So we can't assume that that's still an issue for teens. This research is showing us that it's not an issue for teens. We can't carry that assumption over to the next generation of teens.

 

Ann

Right, well, and I think you bring up a really good point. It's the parent to parent stigma that influences, that are influencing the parents. The parents are so worried that someone else is going to know that their kid is struggling or embarrassed that their kid is struggling. And I think one of the main reasons is social media because we parents love to put our kids on social media and to show how wonderful they're doing and all - especially this time of year in particular, all the awards and the ceremonies. And we talk a lot about this in my Facebook group because a lot of parents have kids who are struggling right now and they may be struggling big time or they may be just be struggling with a small issue. But we always feel that no one else is going through that because we never see that side of it. No one talks about it. No one is posting on social media hey, look at my kid, he's having a substance abuse issue or he's suicidal or he's having a really hard time. It's just so sad that I think it's moving. I think the needle is moving a little bit, but I think it's just so sad that kids are absorbing that from us because they see that we only want to project the good stuff, the good things they do, the positive things and that we don't really wanna talk about those negative things because we wish they weren't there, you know, of course we do. We wish our kids were all well and perfect and successful, but I think you're right that this generation of parents has to take that out of the picture. And I don't know if that's even possible with social media. I think that's the huge influence. It's just as much an influence on parents as it is on teens and kids and just you know, that supporting each other, it just seems so hard for parents. It just seems so hard when we want our kids to be doing well and we don't want others to know that they're not. It just makes it 10 times harder, I think.

 

 

Ann

You mentioned schools, that you guys kind of work in conjunction with schools or help schools. So how do you feel about the current state of where our schools are as far as how much support kids get with their mental health at school.

 

Kamla Modi

I feel that overall kids are not getting sufficient support from schools with regard to their mental health, their emotional health. I think lots of improvements have been made over the past decade or so. There are more mental health professionals in schools. There are school psychologists. There are school counselors. There are qualified mental health professionals in schools.

 

Definitely more so than when I was growing up in New York City in a large, very overcrowded public high school. So the staffing has gotten better, but I still believe it is insufficient. Certainly the mental health professional to student ratio definitely varies throughout school districts. The better resource school districts probably have a much healthier staff than the lower resource school districts. And that's, you know,

 

That's just the case of so many other things. If you have a good school district, you're gonna have better support. In my home school district, there is a great partnership with our local health system, which is great. When my child was in pre -K, I saw a notice about a health system partnership with mental health. And I just thought, and I was at the Jed Foundation at the time, and I thought, this is great. This is what we wanna see.

 

But in many places, they don't have that. They don't have many opportunities for kids. You hear this phrase, kids slipping or falling through the cracks. That's still happening. I think teachers are in a really great position to be early identifiers of mental health challenges. They see things that many other, even parents don't see. Teachers spend a lot of time with kids, but...we can't put all the responsibility on teachers. They're so overburdened themselves. They have so much to do. So it really is. And then you have the school counselors who, you know, again, it varies by school district. There are some school counselors who are still focused on just the academic progress and just focused on the course load and things like that. And the college prep, of course, too, and professional prep. So the time really spent in devoting to mental healthcare and support for students is still very limited. And then you have the access to community care, which there in some places, again, there's great community care, but the talking to each other part is sometimes lacking or sometimes missing. So that's actually where the Jed Foundation comes in. We kind of help, like I had mentioned, a systems approach. Those are things that we help with. We kind of assess where schools have support in -house, and then we assess also where the community mental health support exists.

 

And we help to bridge those gaps to kind of make sure that the referrals are strong and the intakes are strong and that the two entities are talking to one another. And that if a student does end up, you know, in a hospital setting or a clinical setting, that the school gets notified about it. So that, again, there isn't a situation where the student is falling through the cracks, that the parents get notified. So there's a lot of intricate pieces that need to exist within the school setting and outside of the school setting and then back within the school setting to get the student back to the care that they need to have. So there's so many details and you know, just like anything else, schools can't do it themselves. Parents and family members can't do it themselves. Students certainly can't do it themselves and can't expect their peers to help them through mental health challenges. It really is such an intricate support network of so many different individuals that should be there for teens.

 

 

Ann

When you say you go into you, you do this and you work with schools and make sure these things are in place. Are you able to work with all schools all over the country or is this in certain areas of the country? How does that work?

 

Kamla Modi

So we wish we could work with all schools in the country. We originally started with just colleges and universities starting in around 2012. And so we currently, in total, we currently work with more than a thousand schools, colleges, universities, high schools and school districts. So we are expanding, but it's taking time. We are in about 40 out of 50 states. So we are increasing our reach over our time. We are working with well -resourced schools, less -resourced schools. We're working with community colleges and four -year private institutions.

 

So, we are reaching a lot of individuals and schools, but there's certainly more that we'd love to do. We'd love to partner with more schools. We'd love to expand our reach as much as we can.

And so, you know, when I look at the schools and look at my son was, when he was going through his issues about five years ago, 2017, 2018, my feeling I had about the school system at that time was that schools were about the worst place on earth for kids to be for their mental health. And I still tend to feel that way. I feel that.

There are so many things that are not being done or there are things that are being done that are just the opposite of helping our kids be more mentally stable and healthy

I know more counselors would be helpful, but I wonder if there's anything else that we're missing at the school level that is perpetuating this problem with kids feeling like they just cannot walk in the school doors. I mean, do you have an opinion about that?

 

Yeah, it's, you know, one thought that came to mind was this is why so many parents homeschool or choose to homeschool their kids. And I, you know, I live in Long Island, New York, we're in a, you know, urban suburban district. Many, I would say homeschooling is pretty rare up here, but I know in other areas, homeschooling is much more popular. I definitely personally see a good value in homeschooling. You know, and I think the study that we did around how parents are still so influential to their kids, it really just shows, you know, parents can keep their kids in this nice, soft, comfortable, supportive nest for some time and even up into the age of, you know, late teen, teenager, late adolescence. You know, certainly there are a lot of things that could go awry in schools, bullying being one major example here. We need to do better at addressing bullying. There are many, many bullying prevention programs out there. They need to be sustained and continued and evaluated. They need to be really strong. They need to be realistic. They need to be endorsed by everybody in the school building. We talk a lot at JED about creating this culture of care.

 

So again, it's not just the teacher's responsibility. It's not just the school counselor or the school nurse or whoever you have or don't have at that school. It's not the principal. It is everybody around, surrounding that student. And it sounds like what you're saying, Anne, is that that's not happening in your area. That's not happening in a lot of these cases where students are refusing to go to school. There's not a culture of care in these schools and we need to do better to create one.

 

We talk a lot about this at the college and university level. This is where we again had started our program in the first place. And you know, it's even so much more disparate on a college campus, right? Because you're in your dorm and then you, what's good about a college campus is that many of them, especially the residential colleges do have a counseling center of some sort. Again, you still have the same issues with not enough counselors, too long of wait times and things like that. But there typically is free counseling available at a residential college, which is great.

 

And that's sometimes a kid's first entree into getting counseling for the first time. So, however, the culture of care, that doesn't mean that everyone's, you know, flooding the gates of the counseling center or the, you know, the faculty member is saying, go to counseling, things will get better. And I support you too. No, the faculty member is pissed off that the student is not turning their assignments on time, is asking for extensions and is assuming that the student feels lazy, but maybe there's something else going on. So this culture of caring really needs to be improved throughout our schooling, through all levels of school, starting at pre -K, working all the way up to higher ed. And I think that a lot of things need to be addressed. Like we have very heavy, heavy pressure on students to do well in school and to get into the right college and to get the right career and make all the money. And so we have to think about softening that a little bit over time and just allowing teens to, allowing kids to be their best selves and not to be over scheduled and not to, there's so much pressure to do all these right things and kids feel this. It's so much pressure for kids and they feel it younger and younger. And of course you're going to feel that at school.

 

Ann

And going back to the teachers, I know we, you know, every issue that comes up regarding kids and teens. It's like, well, we could do this in the schools. We could teach this in the schools. The teachers could do it. The teachers could do it. And to your point, they cannot do everything. They cannot know everything. And they cannot be the protectors of all things for our kids.

 

 

Kamla Modi

I think that's right. The things that teachers have to do day to day, they're so focused on the curriculum and the standards and the testing and making sure that things are where they should be so that kids don't fall behind. And that's very important. We don't want kids to fall behind academically. We want kids to be reading by such and such age. We don't want kids to fall behind. But the emphasis...on these standards is so heavy that sometimes you feel like something's getting lost. And that could be in the education for teachers, but that could also just be the standards that are falling on them from the school district, from the state, from the government, et cetera.

 

Ann

I just think it is so sad that they, and you're right, the rules and regulations for teachers and the standards that must be met and the test scores that they are, I guess the teachers are themselves graded on the testing that they're able to pull out of their kids. So it does, that is a lot of pressure on teachers and it removes their attention from, in my opinion, a lot of the things that are more important. That is, our kids can't learn if their mental health is off, if they don't feel safe at school, if they don't feel nurtured at school. So, you know, I mean, in a perfect world, what would you like to see happen in the school systems and for our kids?

 

Kamla Modi

I would love a little bit of time taken each day for mental health. And of course this is developmentally appropriate. You talk about emotions in pre -K and kindergarten and first grade. You learn about identifying your emotions. Things are not just sad and bad and happy. There are I think like 60 or 70 different emotions. I don't know all of them, but it would be great to learn about these and to learn about.

 

What's the difference between envy and jealousy, for example? Those are two different things. You know, again, developmentally appropriate, you know, spend five minutes a day with an emotional check -in. How are things going today? How are you feeling today? How can you start to feel better if you're not feeling your best? And, you know, and then with that, this is kind of a little bit off the off center, but you know, things like making sure kids get exercise and movement and get to play and get to you know, do enough phys ed during the day, you know, get that movement piece is really important too, especially for littles who can't really sit still for six hours, you know, so many pieces, there's the, there's the emotional side and then there's the physical side too. And really just caring about kids first and their whole selves. And again, just an emotional check -in, a mental health check -in, a little something each day would really, I think it would get the kids more primed to talk about these things more regularly. It would get them able to talk about it at home some more, maybe introduce that at home as well. And it would be just like, just like you're brushing your teeth in the morning. It's like just a quick check -in to see how you're doing and how things could get a little bit better. And it's okay if you're not feeling cheery and enthusiastic all day, every day. No one is like that ever. So.

 

 

Ann

Right, right. Well, that and listen, we all hope for that and I hope that the Jed Foundation gets lots and lots of money from lots and lots of different places so that you can spread your love across the country and help with all of this in the schools and do a little education. And I really appreciate you being here, Dr. Modi

 

Kamla Modi

Thank you so much for having me, Anne. I really appreciate it being here. I'm a big fan of your show. Thank you.

 

Ann

Okay, here’s what I want you to take away from this episode:

You are your kids’ first stop if they need help with their mental health.

BUT they’re very hesitant to talk to you about their difficult emotions, they don’t want to burden you with their problems, they’re afraid you won’t get it –that you won’t relate to their issues. They assume you’re going to just jump in and try to solve their problems without listening and trying to understand.

And many teens just don’t want parents or other adults to know they’re struggling, they’re afraid you or another adult would escalate the situation (in other words make a bigger deal out of it or cause a big ruckus), they worry about being seen as dramatic or they don’t have the language to articulate their feelings.

Have you made the connection here yet? What do I talk about on the podcast all the time that addresses all these hesitancies teens have about going to adults (to you) with their mental health struggles?

Emotion coaching. When you practice emotion coaching, it teaches teens to talk about their difficult problems, you show them by listening and reflecting and acknowledging their feelings that you’re open to their issues, that you get it and that even if you can’t relate that you empathize with them. You show them that you’re not going to jump in and solve their problems but you help articulate their feelings and walk them through the issue with curiosity and compassion to help them process everything so they can make their own decisions.

Learning these skills is critical to maintaining an emotional connection with your teen, teaching them emotional awareness and emotional regulation, and showing them you’re accepting of their difficult emotions, so that you can be the influence in their life they need you to be.

If you want to read JED’s report Unraveling the Stigma, Exploring Barriers to Mental Health Support Among US Teens or you want to check out JED’s wonderful mental health resource center on their website where you can look up all sorts of different kinds of mental health related challenges, just go to JedFoundation .org. That's J -E -D, foundation .org.

And if you’d like to find out more about Emotion Coaching you can listen to episodes 6, 78 and 95 and download my free emotion coaching parenting guide – I’ll have all of these links in the episode description where you’re listening.

Alright, that’s it today for Speaking of Teens, thank you for being here, I hope you got something out of the episode and if you did, that you’ll consider sharing it with a friend or two.

If you’d like to continue the conversation come join us in the Facebook Group and if you’d like a more curated learning experience with weekly group coaching from me, check out Parent Camp. Those links are also at the bottom of the show description in your app.

And until next time, remember, a little change goes a long way.