Information for young people going through a difficult time
There are times in your life when you may feel you are not coping with everyday tasks, aware of sadness, anger and generally feeling down. Some of these feelings are perfectly normal and part of going through adolescence. All of us experience good days and bad days and we tend to cope with these.
However, when good days and bad days turn into mostly bad days and weeks, then life can be difficult to manage. You may try to hide how you feel from your family and friends hoping the feelings will go away. There is often shame about mental health difficulties and young people are afraid to talk about this.
Many young people experience mental health difficulties such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and eating disorders. Daily life can become a battle, you may change as a person and maybe reach a point when it feels so overwhelming. If this sounds like you then perhaps counselling can help.
Counselling is a talking therapy and is confidential. This means that information about you will not be shared with anyone else. However in some cases when a young person may be at risk of serious harm, it may be necessary to speak to others to keep them safe.
Don't worry if you are not confident at talking, there are many ways to work together and you'll be made to feel as comfortable as possible. By exploring your thoughts and feelings, you can often make sense of these and begin to understand them. It takes time to build up a trusting relationship with a counsellor but over time and by working together, you can find ways to make changes and eventually find peace.
Adolescent Wellbeing is a counselling service especially for young people to help explore past experiences or trauma and make sense of a confused world. You will also be free to explore any thoughts and feelings without judgement which in time will help to restore your world to a happy place again.
If you feel counselling might help, it is always a good idea to let parents or carers know. Involving parents or carers, helps to build a support network around you. If you feel Adolescent Wellbeing could help you, please get in touch, you might need a parent or carer to help you with this.