Information for Parents and Carers of Teens

First is to help them to regulate and calm their fight/flight/freeze responses by staying in the present moment, breathe steadily, focus your attention on them, and clear your mind. If you yourself have a difficult time regulating, you could try these grounding techniques:

• Square breathing – this is where you breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, hold for four seconds and repeat.
• Just chatting - taking your mind off the worry is a lot easier than you’d think sometimes.
• Going through my senses – to do this, name five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste.

Second is to relate and connect with them - relationships can be safe and positive, and can bring safety and comfort, love and joy. The message of health and wellbeing.

Thirdly we can support them to reflect, learn, remember, articulate and become self-assured

And lastly every time we repair a relationship together we can teach them that there is usually an exit strategy. That it’s usually possible to put things right and that we are often made stronger because of difficulties. So, there is no reason to panic or be afraid of ourselves or of each other.