We’re in a moment where anxiety is running rampant, spreading like an epidemic among adolescents. The rise of anxiety is burdening schools and counselors, scaring parents, and harming kids, creating dangerous pathways to depression and substance abuse. What can we do? In a series of pieces, we look at how to help teenagers face their fears, build resilience, and grapple with the pressure to achieve — on the road to college and beyond.
Social Media and Teen Anxiety
How parents can help their kids navigate the pressures of their digital lives — without pulling the plug on the positives.
Resilience for Anxious Students
How school counselors can manage and mitigate anxiety — by focusing on coping strategies and schoolwide supports.
When the Nurse's Office is a Refuge
For teens whose anxiety isn’t severe, the school nurse can play a vital, overlooked role in sustaining health and wellness.
A Journalist’s Perspective on Anxiety
Benoit Denizet-Lewis spent more than a year chronicling the lives of anxious teenagers for the New York Times. What he found is, frankly, scary.
– Lynn Lyons, licensed clinical social worker.
Listen to our interview.
Taming the Admissions Anxiety
How to parent through the college process — navigating hopes and expectations (yours and theirs) and the minefield of status and achievement pressure.
A Short Primer on Resilience
Teens — like all of us — can bolster their ability to cope with hardship. Here's how resilience works.
A Better Way of Thinking
Mindfulness can help us build positive thinking habits and defeat stress or worry.
Finding Authentic Service Opportunities
Three ways guidance counselors can help:
- Look for activities that are local, skill-building, and emotionally and ethically engaging.
- Ensure that students with significant family responsibilities include those contributions on their applications.
- Remind students that colleges are alert to community service that’s inauthentic or trumped up.
College and (the Real) You
What students should know about showcasing authentic community service in college applications.
Coping Skills for Anxious Times
A conversation about how to confront anxiety — not accommodate or avoid it.
