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Supporting a Teen's Mental Health

A baseline and warning signs, a crisis card, a safer home, the first doctor's visit, weekly mood scores, referral chasing, school support and calm plans for self-harm, school avoidance and crisis.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Supporting a Teen's Mental Health, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

Before you start: this plan is general information to help you look after your own wellbeing. It is not medical or psychological advice and does not replace a doctor, therapist or counsellor. If you are in crisis, in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line now.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

199

Starter tasks

👨‍👩‍👧 Family & Parenting

Supporting a Teen's Mental Health

Spotting signs of anxiety, depression or self-harm in a teenager and getting them the right support at school and from services.

  1. What normal looks like for your teenager
  2. Warning signs of anxiety, depression and self-harm
  3. Crisis numbers and urgent help card
  4. Safer storage of medicines and sharp items at home
  5. Opening conversation about how they are really doing
  6. First appointment with the family doctor
  7. School pastoral team contacts and wellbeing offer
  8. Privacy and information-sharing agreement with your teen
  9. Mental health records folder
  10. One shared approach between the adults at home
  11. Weekly mood check-in on a one to ten scale
  12. Parent observation log for sleep, food and mood
  13. Referral and waiting list follow-up routine
  14. Therapy appointment logistics and school absence notes
  15. Medicine supply and repeat prescription routine
  16. Monthly update with the school wellbeing lead
  17. Daylight, movement and regular meals basics
  18. Quarterly review of what is helping
  19. Protected time to recharge as the parent
  20. Asking directly about suicidal thoughts
  21. Responding calmly to self-harm
  22. Talking therapies for teenagers explained
  23. Cutting back reassurance for an anxious teen
  24. Supporting graded exposure practice at home
  25. Youth mental health first aid course for parents
  26. Eating disorder warning signs and first steps
  27. Building your teen's own coping toolkit
  28. Public, school and private support options compared
  29. Vetting a private therapist or counsellor
  30. Questions to ask before agreeing to medication
  31. Phased return plan for a teen avoiding school
  32. School wellbeing support plan with agreed adjustments
  33. Easing the load during a low patch
  34. What to tell relatives and family friends
  35. Written safety plan made with your teen and their clinician
  36. Preparing for the specialist assessment appointment
  37. Care plan review meetings
  38. Return to school after a crisis or hospital stay
  39. Difficult dates and anniversaries plan
  40. Moving from child to adult mental health services
  41. Coordinating mental health support across two homes
  42. Juggling work with a struggling teen's care
  43. Looking after siblings while one child struggles
  44. Grief and low mood after a death in the family
  45. Anxiety and low mood in an autistic or ADHD teen
  46. Trauma reactions after a frightening event
  47. Supporting an older teen who refuses help
  48. Hospital admission or intensive home treatment
  49. Meal support during family-based eating disorder treatment
  50. Second opinion or formal complaint about care

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

What normal looks like for your teenager

Change is the most useful signal parents have, and it is only visible against a picture of how your teenager usually sleeps, eats, spends time and talks. Writing that picture down now, while things are calm or only just wobbling, gives you something concrete to compare against and to describe to a doctor or the school.

First tasks

  • Write down your teen's usual bedtime, wake time and weekend pattern
  • List the friends, clubs and interests they had six months ago
  • Note every change you have noticed and roughly when it started
  • Ask the other parent or a close relative what they have noticed

Warning signs of anxiety, depression and self-harm

Ordinary teenage moodiness and the start of anxiety or depression can look alike for weeks. Learning the signs that tend to separate them, such as how long a change lasts, whether it reaches school, sleep and friendships at once, and hidden injuries or covered arms in warm weather, helps you act early without panicking over one bad week.

First tasks

  • Read a young people's mental health charity guide to warning signs
  • Sort the signs into watch, book an appointment and same-day help
  • Compare the list with your note of what normal looks like
  • Share the list with the other adults who care for your teen

Crisis numbers and urgent help card

In a crisis nobody can remember which number to ring or whether the out-of-hours line covers teenagers. A card with the emergency number, a crisis line and text service for young people, the out-of-hours medical line and the nearest emergency department, kept in every adult's phone and on paper at home, removes that search at the worst moment.

First tasks

  • Look up the young people's crisis line and text service in your country
  • Find which local emergency department sees under-18s at night
  • Save every number as a contact in each parent's phone
  • Check the card's numbers and opening hours are still current @recurring(quarterly)

Make it yours.

Install Supporting a Teen's Mental Health, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.