Coping Strategies for Teens group - High School Students. 

Adolescence is a passionate time of exploring and developing one’s identity and sense of self. It can also be a time of heightened emotions that are challenging for teens and their parents to navigate. Everyday situations at home, at school and with friends can feel overwhelming and may lead to feelings of stress, anxiety or depression. Add to that the flood of incoming news and social information that the adolescent brain is often not developed enough to process. When the brain is overloaded with emotions, it can’t process incoming information and suggestions seem to bounce right off. Sometimes teens appear to be unable to hear suggestions aimed at assisting in healthy decision making, no matter how well intended or compassionate the delivery. 

Learning strategies to de-stress and regulate emotions can help teens successfully navigate these challenges. One of the best methods for learning these strategies is Dialectical Behavior Treatment, or DBT. DBT focuses on emotions and their associated behaviors and provides skills to help overcome moments of perceived crisis, as well as understand what prompted the behavior in the first place.

The Mary J. Sherlach Center offers a Coping Strategies for Teens Group utilizing the principles of DBT.  It has been very successful and previous participants report an increased ability to remain calm in stressful situations.  The skills they learned allowed them to respond effectively when dealing with challenges at home at school and with friends. This leads to improvements in interpersonal relationships, including an increased ability to understand the perspectives of peers, teachers and parents.

Because of this success, the Mary J. Sherlach Center continues to offer a Coping Strategies for Teens Group. By practicing the skills taught in the group, participants will develop the ability to tolerate and regulate frustration and other distressing feelings, develop greater self-awareness and genuine self-esteem, interact more effectively with others, and be better able to form healthy relationships. 

There are four modules included in the group – Emotion Regulation, Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Distress Tolerance. Through these modules, participants will learn skills to disrupt negative thought patterns and reach personal goals. This program is research-based, and sessions are facilitated by experienced clinicians. 

The upcoming Coping Strategies for Teens Group will be for High School Students and that group will begin on January 24^th and run for eight weeks.  This session will meet on Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:15pm.  For more information and registration, please call The Mary J Sherlach Center at 203-452-5193.

For more information or to register call the Mary J. Sherlach Counseling Center 203-452-5193.