Speaking with Lon today on the subject of stress with our youth, was Steve Sawyer, the Clinical Director and co-founder of New Vision Wilderness in Wisconsin. "Stress is a physiological response, stated Steve, where our brain responds to safe or unsafe? And this response becomes an internalized process either emotionally or physically. Our brain takes previous material and compares it to past experiences and then determines whether it is safe or unsafe…and this affects us very quickly." In adolescents, stress shows up in mental health issues such as ADHD, anxiety disorders and eating disorders. Other sources of stress in our kids include tests and test results for acceptance into college, peer relationships and the need for peer approval, with access 24/7 to the stress of this approval via technology (i.e.: all the social networking sites and cell phone texting), cyber bullying and feeling so powerless; and for some kids, perfectionism and the amount of fear and effort it takes to manage their world around them.
"Parents are not there the way they used to be, due to 10 - 12 hour work days. And the kids are not being taught how to manage their stress. As Lon refers to it as 'the new normal', Steve agrees, yet stated very clearly: but we are not powerless!
Having mentors helps, just to have someone to talk to helps immediately relieve the stress. And there are things a parent can do to protect their child from stress: number one- get educated, read up on stress response, there are techniques to help de-escalate the stress (self-care work), modeling and engaging in the process, yoga and visualization techniques. Spending time with your family can be a significant stress reliever for your child, using a calming voice and a soft touch (lightly touching their shoulder tells them 'I am here for you') and breathing together- in sync helps calm and distress.
Other tools and therapies that New Vision Wilderness program is using in working with youth in stress and other issues include Brainspotting, regression work through trance and hypnotism (getting into the subconscious and going to the root of the stress), TMR and HeartMath- keeping body, mind and soul at one rhythm.
To listen to the full interview go to
Overcoming Stress in Youth on
LATalkRadio.
Also available in Podcast 
Lon Woodbury is the owner/founder of Woodbury Reports Inc. and
www.strugglingteens.com. He has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984 and is the host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens.
Steve Sawyer, LCSW, CSAC is the Clinical Director and co-founder of New Vision Wilderness, a wilderness therapy program in WI. With over 15 years of experience working with clients in intervention therapies, Steve is trained in advanced therapeutic models: Brainspotting, somatic trigger release techniques, traumatic memory reprocessing and HeartMath, is an author and works as a core therapeutic training development staff with the Institute of HeartMath.
This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602,
www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.
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