According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)*, “nearly all indicators of poor mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (among high-school students) worsened from 2013 to 2023. Specifically, there were increases in the percentage of students who experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, seriously considered attempting suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide.”
While the “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” decreased between 2021-23, the data are still trending in the wrong direction overall.
No parent wants to think their child is struggling – because, ultimately, we know we’re powerless to “fix” it. But God is able, and the risen Christ offers living hope for us and our families.
God also gives us the grace of practical wisdom and resources that can help our teens. Following are some warning signs and tips to keep in mind, all from mental health professionals and organizations.
*Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2013–2023
Compass Christian Counseling
I love David’s description of parenting, “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth” (Ps. 127:4). But sometimes parenting can be like trying to aim an arrow in the middle of a hurricane. We don’t have complete control over where they land. One important “target” for children and adolescents is cultivating wisdom.
Teaching kids, as they grow and mature, how to balance freedom with responsibility can help to instill wisdom. However, freedom can lead to irresponsibility and mistakes, resulting in failure, shame, and even emotional distress. These experiences can be distressing (for you and your kids!), but failure is the precursor to wisdom. Our job as parents is to provide unconditional love and a faithful presence as our kids learn from their mistakes and failures. In time, they self-aim as they learn to manage freedom with greater responsibility.
Cornerstone Counseling
Most parents don’t miss the crisis because they weren’t paying attention. They miss it because teenagers rarely announce their pain — they show it. Watch for shifts in the ordinary: sleeping far more or far less, appetite changes, irritability that outlasts a bad day, slipping grades, or pulling away from friends and the things they once loved.
Your teen isn’t hiding these signs to deceive you. They’re hiding because they’re afraid of disappointing you, of being a problem, of not being able to hold it together. The kids who look “fine” are often the ones quietly drowning.
Start doing less fixing and more listening. Ask a real question: “You haven’t seemed like yourself lately — what’s going on?” Resist solving it in the first 60 seconds.
Getting help isn’t proof that you’ve failed or that your teen is broken. It’s what courage looks like in a family that refuses to let anyone carry the weight alone. – Dr. Kristen Jones, LPC-S, NCC, BC-TMH
The Counseling Center at RTS
As the school year settles into its fast rhythm, teens often feel the pressure of academic demands, social expectations, and packed schedules. These stressors can impact their emotional well-being, and parents are often the first to notice when something feels “off.” Paying attention to subtle shifts can make a meaningful difference. Warning signs include withdrawal from friends or activities, sudden irritability or mood swings, disrupted sleep, changes in appetite, declining school performance, or comments that hint at hopelessness or feeling overwhelmed.
Slowing down enough to notice these patterns is an important first step. One practical tip is to create small moments of calm in your home. Even a brief pause — five slow breaths, a quiet conversation, or a break from screens — can help teens regulate emotions and feel safe opening up. Ask gentle, open‑ended questions, and listen without rushing to fix. Teens often need presence more than solutions. Faith‑centered families may also find grounding in prayer or reflection, inviting God into moments of uncertainty and asking for wisdom in supporting their child.
When concerns persist, professional support can be invaluable. The Counseling Center at RTS offers accessible care through trained graduate counselors who integrate biblical truth with evidence‑based mental health practices. While counseling is not always the first step, it can be a meaningful one when a teen needs additional support. Paying attention early — and responding with patience, connection, and care — can help your teen navigate the school year with resilience and hope.
Count It All Joy Counseling & Consulting Services
In the movie Inside Out, emotions crowd the console and sometimes take control. I love the symbolism. Irritability, numbness, poor concentration, and changes in sleep or appetite can be warning signals that a teen’s system needs attention. I created the Journey to Joy Color Zones to help individuals notice whether they are “Good to Go,” “Nearing the Edge,” or “Outside Their Window” of tolerance.
When an intense emotion grabs the wheel, use ABCD to re-regulate: A: Acknowledge awareness of your feelings. B: Breathe and be with it. C: Check for the message beneath the emotion, with curiosity and compassion. D: Decide to respond with positive intention. The driver becomes your best self, leading you on a journey to joy.
Crossroads Counseling
Psychologist Erik Erikson emphasized that teenagers face a constant conflict: identity versus role confusion. This conflict challenges fundamental questions like “Who am I?” and “What am I doing with my life?” Teens are constantly bombarded with unrealistic expectations of who they “should” be. This endless cycle of social comparison drains them physically, intellectually, and emotionally.
This embattlement of comparison can cause serious dysfunctions. Professional counsel is warranted if any of these warning signs are present and persist for longer than two weeks:
- Isolation: Withdrawing from family, friends, and activities.
- Mood and sleep shifts: Persistent sadness, irritability, or drastic changes in sleep and eating.
- Academic decline: A sharp drop in grades or a complete loss of effort in school.
- Expressions of hopelessness or worthlessness.
Proverbs 24:6 (KJV) reminds us, “By wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.”
– Darren Dickens, LPC-S
Downtown Counseling Associates
As the school year begins, many teens carry more than backpacks into the classroom. They may carry pressure, anxiety, loneliness, and expectations that they don’t always know how to express. Sometimes stress looks like irritability instead of sadness, isolation instead of independence, or perfectionism instead of motivation. Behind every report card is a young person navigating friendships, expectations, challenges, and growth. Their emotional health deserves attention, too.
If your teen seems different or simply “not themselves,” trust your instinct. Early conversations can make a lasting difference in your child’s emotional well-being. Sometimes healing starts with feeling seen. One of the strongest protective factors for a teen’s mental health is having a trusted adult who listens without judgment.
If you’re concerned, we’re here to help your family navigate the challenges of adolescence with compassion, evidence-based care, and hope. This school year, remember that we’re here for you.
Harbor House: Behind the behavior
by Dr. Avani K. Patel, MD, MHA
Adolescence is a season of profound growth — and profound vulnerability. As a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in lifestyle, integrative, and sports psychiatry, I often remind families that mental health is not simply about the absence of illness. It is about creating the conditions in which young people can develop, connect, and thrive.
Parents should pay attention to the following: withdrawing from family or friends, declining academic performance, disrupted sleep, significant changes in appetite or energy, irritability, loss of interest in activities, excessive social media use, or persistent feelings of worthlessness, anxiety, or hopelessness. When these changes persist or interfere with daily life, it is time to start a conversation and consider professional support.
The pressures facing adolescents today — from social comparison and academic expectations to cyberbullying and the constant pursuit of belonging in the world of social media — can become overwhelming. Healthy boundaries around technology, sleep, movement, nutrition, meaningful relationships, and time away from screens are not luxuries — they are foundational components of mental health. When young people lack healthy ways to cope with emotional pain, some may turn to substances, self-destructive behaviors, or other temporary escapes. Early recognition and compassionate intervention can help prevent these coping strategies from becoming lifelong patterns.
This philosophy extends into my work at my private practice and at Harbor House, where I provide psychiatric care to adults recovering from addiction, many of whom have experienced trauma, homelessness, incarceration, or violence. Our person-centered approach recognizes that recovery requires more than treating a diagnosis; it requires compassion, trust, support, and a commitment to helping each person build a life worth living.
Contact information: 601-509-2015; apatelmd@mspsychiatrywellness.com
Imagine Behavioral Health
I often worry about teens and young adults in our area. Many are socially isolated and struggling with anxiety and depression. Unhealthy coping mechanisms are on the rise. At the same time, designer drugs – synthetic compounds developed to mimic the physiologic effects of other abused drugs – have never been easier to access. Teens can simply walk into a gas station or smoke shop and purchase products like Kratom, its concentrated form called 7-OH, Delta-8, Delta-9, and THCA flower.
Many of these substances are made in labs with inconsistent potency. 7-OH acts on the same brain receptors as opioids and can lead to dependence and withdrawal symptoms similar to heroin. Mental and physical risks include anxiety, depression, dissociation, psychosis, heart and lung strain – and in the case of concentrated 7-OH, withdrawal that is indistinguishable from opioid rebound effects.
If your teen is using these products, you may start seeing things like red, glassy eyes, avoidance, mood swings, sleep changes, appetite changes, poor school performance, or less interest in activities they used to enjoy. Parents might also notice unfamiliar packaging, vapes, gummies, or an increased need for money.
If you catch your teen or suspect that they are using these products, don’t panic. Take a breath, then help them find a professional they can trust. Early support can help steer them toward healthier choices before things escalate. A good therapist can help your teen understand what’s driving their use and give them healthier ways to handle what they’re feeling.
– Austin Eubanks, LMSW
Lifeworks Counseling
Teenagers are supposed to change. They pull away, test boundaries, feel things deeply, and sometimes seem like different people from one week to the next. So how do parents know when something is wrong?
Start with connection, not correction.
Pay attention to changes in sleep, friendships, grades, anger, anxiety, motivation, or isolation — and trust what you notice relationally. Does your teenager seem less like themselves? Are they harder to reach emotionally?
Instead of immediately asking, “What’s wrong with you?” try curiosity: “I’ve noticed you haven’t seemed like yourself lately. What’s life been like for you?”
Then listen. Resist the urge to fix, lecture, minimize, or immediately offer a Bible verse. Attachment grows when teenagers experience their parents as a safe place for difficult emotions.
Faith can be part of that safety. Our kids don’t need us to have every answer. They need to know that when life gets messy, we’ll stay close, stay curious, and walk with them.
– Roe Hunter, LPC
Mission Vigilant
Pay attention to shifts in a teen’s emotional wellbeing. Changes such as withdrawing from friends, mood swings, disrupted sleep, slipping grades, or comments that hint at hopelessness can signal that a young person is struggling. These signs don’t always indicate a crisis, but they do suggest a need for support, connection, and open conversation.
Our perspective is shaped by founder Susan Cleland’s loss of her son Michael — a veteran and devoted Christian — to suicide in 2019. Since then, Susan and her family have been helping others recognize mental health challenges earlier and respond with compassion. Susan also has written a book to support families navigating grief.
Mission Vigilant offers faith‑centered encouragement and practical resources that remind families that hope and help are always within reach. Families are invited to the “Ruck 22/Buddy Check” event September 19 at Lake Caroline in Madison. Learn more at MissionVigilant.org.
Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services: Teach your kids how to deal with conflict
By Ted Crawford, LMFT
Childhood and adolescence are like a social boot camp, minus the handshake and salute at the end. At no other time is the lack of tact and sensitivity in our peers as rampant. As parents, we are our children’s survival instructors. Neglecting this obligation sends them recklessly dancing into the minefield of interpersonal relations. Guiding kids can be tricky, as we can only pull from our own experience, which often fails to cross the generation gap.
Discuss how expecting others to “act right” can be a setup for frustration and resentment, but that we can learn to control how we let others affect us. For instance, regarding bullies and people who are difficult to like or get along with:
- Discuss how people generally “spread what they have.” In other words, those who spread misery are probably miserable, and those who lash out have probably been wounded. Understanding a behavior doesn’t excuse it, but can help buffer the pain it causes. Ask if they would want to trade places with or actually be the person who’s harassing them. Almost always, the answer is a quick and clear “NO!”
- Assert that reporting another’s provocation or threat is sometimes a necessary part of protecting yourself. Conversely, “ratting” on someone is when, with ulterior motives, you report a behavior that doesn’t affect you.
- Teach kids to see provocations as “bait,” not to be bitten; that ignoring the antagonizer disrupts his or her goal and shows that you’re smart enough not to take the bait.
With relationships in general, squash the belief that admitting mistakes shows weakness. Absurd! How much strength does it take to deny wrongdoing or blame others when you’re guilty? A toddler in a loaded diaper can do that. There’s no greater sign of courage and strength than the ability to humble down and own up. When humility steps into the ring, the fight’s over before it begins. Also, real friends will trust and respect your kid for this. The most effective way to teach all of the above? Model it.
Red River Counseling
As a parent, it’s hard to know if you are over- or under-reacting to your teen’s shifts or changes in moods. Is this just normal adolescence, or is this a sign of something more? Trust your intuition, but verify the merit of your anxiety and concern. It’s important that you stay as grounded and balanced as possible when you begin to notice that something may be going on with your teen. We’ve always had a list of warning signs on our site and encourage you to reach out for guidance if you find your teen is experiencing many of these. https://redrivercounseling.net/warning-signs
Stillwaters Counseling: Tips for your teen’s mental health
By Kelsey Dennis, LCSW
The teenage years can bring pressure, uncertainty, and big emotions. As parents, we can help our teens care for their mental health while reminding them that their identity and worth are rooted in God.
- Encourage honest conversations.
Let your teen know they can talk about difficult emotions without fear of judgment. Scripture reminds us to “be quick to listen, slow to speak” (James 1:19). Sometimes, simply being heard can make a tremendous difference. Be slow to react. Be thoughtful about when and how you give advice or life lessons. We are there to help them grow in wisdom, but the more they feel heard, the more they share.
- Teach them to bring their worries to God.
Prayer does not mean ignoring problems. Encourage your teen to share their fears and struggles with God. Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us to pray about everything and trust God’s peace. Model prayer with them by praying over them aloud. Hearing your heart for them makes them feel significance and safety in how you love them and how they can trust God’s love for them.
- Help them care for their whole self.
Sleep, nutritious food, physical activity, healthy relationships, and appropriate boundaries all support well-being. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Caring for ourselves matters.
- Build community.
Teens need supportive relationships with family, friends, mentors, and church members. Galatians 6:2 encourages us to “carry each other’s burdens.” Their friendships are so influential during these years. Be curious and get to know who they spend time. When possible, facilitate activities that foster healthy friendships.
- Seek help when needed.
Faith and professional mental healthcare can work together. If your teen is experiencing persistent sadness, anxiety, withdrawal, or thoughts of self-harm, seek help from a qualified mental health professional. Sometimes we think that the problems have to be really big or scary to seek help. Don’t hesitate to seek a consultation if you are unsure if your teen would benefit from counseling.
Summit Counseling: Mental health in teen athletes
By Jennifer Heggie, LPC-S, NCC, BC-THM
Participating in sports can provide fun, fitness, teamwork, friendships, and healthy competition; however, if your teen does not have healthy, realistic expectations for themselves, then this can lead to tying their self-worth to their athletic abilities and performance. Healthy self-esteem leads to increased confidence in every aspect of a teen’s life. Unhealthy self-esteem can lead to stress, anxiety, and sometimes depression. Parents and coaches need to watch for an increase in agitation, skipping practice, lack of or loss of enthusiasm in the sport, putting themselves down after a setback, poor school performance, and expressing wanting to give up or quit sports. It’s important for parents and coaches to help teen athletes develop and foster healthy coping skills, encourage athletes after a setback, help them navigate stress – and most importantly, talk and listen to your teen.
Watershed Counseling
Warning signs of poor digital hygiene for teens: secretive device use or online activity, doomscrolling, social media preoccupation, and irritability after use. Parental tips: no-phone zones in bedrooms nightly or during family time. Model healthy habits, consistently initiate conversations, share concerns as they arise, and trust but verify when concerned.
