Helping Your Teen Manage Social Anxiety
For teens with social anxiety, each day brings a battle inside their brains: a chronic sense of dread, constant self-criticism and fear of humiliation. Their anxiety may be triggered by walking down a crowded hallway at school, being called on in class, talking on the phone, or any other situation that involves interacting with others. […]
Why Now?
It’s time to get serious about protecting teen mental health. Over the past decade, rates of depression, anxiety, mood disorders and self-harm have escalated sharply among teens. One in three high school students report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness – a 40% increase between 2009 and 2019. Death by suicide is also now the […]
Teaching Teens How to Set Boundaries
Boundaries protect your teen’s right to feel safe, respected and validated. They help teens create a strong sense of identity, and they’re a part of every healthy relationship. But setting boundaries is not easy, even for many adults. Here are five steps to help you teach your teen how to set boundaries skillfully. Know what […]
Why Confidence is so Important for Teens
Here’s a cool, little-known fact about the word confidence: it comes from the Latin fidere, which means “to trust.” If you’ve used the Lucero App, you might have seen this word before. Hint: It’s the title of Island 2 because the 28-day experience is designed to help improve your sense of confidence. You could say […]
Why Living Consciously is so Important for Teens
What does it mean to live consciously? According to Zen Habits blogger Leo Babauta, it’s about “taking control of your life, about thinking about your decisions rather than making them without thought… If you’re drifting through life, or feel out of control, or don’t know how you got here, deciding to live consciously could be […]
Why Emotional Regulation is so Important for Teens
The teen years are known for intense emotions with good reason. First, the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain in charge of reasoning, logic and impulse control – is still developing in teens. Second, the hormones that spark puberty’s physical changes also amp up activity in the emotional and reward-seeking centers of the […]
5 Myths About Teen Mental Health
There’s no doubt that teen mental health is in crisis. Since 2007, rates of teen depression and suicide have risen by 60%. Self-harm, anxiety and other mood disorders also rose sharply during the same period. And while the COVID-19 pandemic made things worse for many, teen mental health was in decline before 2020, making it […]
