High school is a time of transition. Teenagers become more independent, and turn towards their friends and peers for guidance and support. They also start to explore larger questions like what they want to do in the future. It’s an exciting time that also comes with complicated, wonderful, confusing and big emotions.

Sometimes these emotions may be uncomfortable but feeling them is healthy and important because emotions provide teens with information about themselves and their environment and help them to connect to other people. Learning how to notice, label, and express their feelings helps teens to feel more in control.

Here is a summary of the KEY SKILLS from the video.
• Label and name feelings to increase emotional vocabulary AND reinforce that
you can feel more than one emotion at a time.
• Notice body sensations that are attached to different emotions and provide clues for what we are feeling. Sometimes it’s easier to notice physical symptoms first.
• Rate the feeling of emotions on a scale of 1 to 10 to capture that we feel emotions in different amounts or intensities.

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The California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids Project is series of free, evidence-based video and print resources that caregivers and educators can use to teach their kids critical mental health and coping skills. The project was born of an innovative partnership between the state of California and the Child Mind Institute.

https://childmind.org/healthyminds