Thank you for reviewing our Playbook for Parents of Teens. To help you more easily access the many resources referenced in the playbook, we’ve included and linked them all here.
Visit Get Support Now to learn more about all of our resources and services for parents concerned about a child’s substance use or vulnerability to substance misuse. We also offer a full range of downloadable guides and e-Books.
Child Mind Institute offers numerous parent guides addressing specific mental health disorders, including one with specific guidance to help children who have suffered trauma.
When a child struggling with a mental health issue is also engaging in substance use, it’s important that both issues are addressed because they’re very likely inter-related. Download our guide, Substance Use + Mental Health: Your Guide to Addressing Co-occurring Disorders.
If you are struggling with mental health issues, consult NAMI – the National Alliance on Mental Illness or call their national helpline: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264). To find a mental health care provider, ask your primary care physician or check the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress and improve many mental health problems. Read more at positivepsychology.com.
Building and strengthening resilience helps equip teens to manage challenges in school, with peers and socializing. It also helps them place the pros and cons of social media in perspective.
The American Psychological Association offers guidance on helping your child develop resilience in order to equip them to better handle peer pressure, both online and offline.
Good communication between parents and kids takes practice and effort, particularly as kids get older. We offer a self-paced online skill-building course to help you foster greater connection.
School connectedness — children’s engagement with schoolwork and their teachers — is important to try and develop in childhood; it helps position a child for later success, not just in academics but psychologically and socially. Kidshealth.org offers more information on this topic, and we also discuss it within the prevention section of this site.
Find guidance and information on why modeling healthy behavior, including ways of coping with your own stress, is key.
Sensation-seeking and impulsivity can be addressed by channeling teens’ energy into healthy, productive activities. Scholastic.com provides more information, and we share guidance on how to encourage healthy risk taking.
Common Sense Media and Seattle Children’s Hospital offer information on proven strategies for managing your children’s use of technology and social media.
The prevention section of this site includes guidance on parental
monitoring and rule-setting.
Be sure to safeguard any substances in the home, including tobacco, alcohol and medications.
A family history of addiction means that early use — even “experimentation” — by teens is even riskier. Communicate with your teen about a family history and the role of genetics. At the same time, help them build the resilience needed to cope with everyday stress and anxiety.
Learn how to identify possible substance use disorder.
Opioid misuse — whether of legal, prescription pain relievers or of illegal opioids such as heroin — poses particularly serious risks. Learn more about: