How To Help Your Depressed Teen Today!

When your teen is feeling unhappy it can make you feel helpless. You don’t want your teen to suffer but you just don’t know what to do! Choosing a private counsellor can be expensive ( but worth it 😉 ), and the IWK can have long wait times. So, below I am sharing one of my resources that can help your teen uplift their mood today!

Mood Enhancing Plan

There are many free activities that can help your teen enhance their mood. Invite your teen (maybe with some hot chocolate and cookies) to sit down with you and devise a plan of action to help stop depression from affecting their life.

#1. Exercise:

(Is there a physical activity that you teen likes to do? Or maybe just walking around the block once a day? No matter what the activity is, being active has been proven to help people feel better.)

What activity:

How often per week:

Will you do this alone or with other people?

#2. Eating Well:

(What healthy foods could your teen add to their diet? Maybe some baby carrots, cucumber, apples, or strawberries? Eating healthy can make you feel better so start eating those greens!)

What healthy food can you add into your diet:

How often will you eat this health food:

#3. Sleeping Well:

(Having good sleeping habits is vital to our mood and growing teens need a lot! Encourage your teenager to go to sleep around the same time each night and to wake up around the same time each morning. Teenagers need around 9 hours of sleep each night!)

What time will you try to go to bed:

What time will you wake up:

How will you stick to this habit: (alarm clock, powering off phone before bed, etc.)

#4. Being Socially Active:

(Connecting with others is so important to help stop depression! Ask you teen if there is a friend(s) that they can hang out with once a week, a club they could join, an extracurricular class, or possibly even start a part time job where they could meet other teens.)

How will you be social each week: