Welcome to the LCPS Mental Health and Wellness "Navigating the Path to Student Wellness" Virtual Conference. We look forward to seeing you on January 30, 2021 for a day of connection and learning.
When a teen you care about is struggling with a pattern that puts their happiness, safety or future at risk, but isn’t open to treatment, it can be frustrating and heartbreaking. Some challenges prior to the Covid response were manageable by teens but now they are experiencing symptoms and situations that require professional support, particularly those with increasing conflict with caregivers. Enforcing limits is especially challenging when the relationship with the teen feels tenuous. While motivational strategies are effective for individuals with the skills to meet expectations, they only frustrate teens who are missing the necessary skills.
This session provides evidence-based and specific strategies to reconnect, overcome resistance, and partner in solving problems collaboratively. Learn reasons for resistance and explore the emotional experience of accepting help as it informs effective strategies for engaging teens. Understand the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model and how to apply these strategies using the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems and the Problem-Solving Worksheet in practice scenarios. Develop an awareness of how to access additional resources including books, web pages, instructional videos, and consultation. This session combines the teen engagement principles present in both the High Fidelity Wraparound and the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) models, evidence-based responses to addressing complex needs that emphasize partnership and collaboration with the youth. The session initially works to build empathy for teens needing mental health or substance abuse treatment by reviewing the challenges of this developmental stage and the impact of this stage on relationships with caregivers. It introduces tools including natural supports, the importance of language, perspective-taking, and ways to maintain connection.