Teenage Mental Health Issues: 6 Ways Parents May Help

Teenage Mental Health issues have become more at the forefront of conversation than ever before. Being in Youth Ministry for close to 20 years, I have experienced more conversations with teens surrounding the topic of mental health issues than in the past.

While it can be looked at in a negative light because it has been sometimes used as a form of manipulation, I have noticed something positive coming from these conversations.

This is a healing generation.

Instead of shoving teenage mental health issues under the rug, hoping it goes away, people are actually taking responsibility over what’s going on with them emotionally and not ignoring the things that need to be discussed and dealt with.

As parents, who may or may not have gone through their own healing process, it can feel very overwhelming. However, there are ways to help teenage mental health issues inside your home and help with the process that may or may not be supported with professional help.

This advice is not to be used as professional advice. Seek professional attention when necessary.

Teenage Mental Health Issues: 6 Ways Parents Can Help Their Child’s Mental Health

1. Pray.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16)

Pray, pray, and pray again. Pray until something shifts.

There has been an ignored factor in teenage mental health issues and that’s the spiritual element. Prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ is the power to heal not just teens but anyone with mental health issues and is often not utilized at all.

We are body, soul, and spirit.

We can’t ignore the spiritual element to this. We will discuss this more in another article.

You may say, “I’ve been praying!” It may seem like our prayers aren’t working, but keep praying and ask God for direction. 

Sometimes we may see results right away. Sometimes it takes seasons of growth or some back and forth to see the effectiveness of our prayers.

Sometimes we are missing something, and God needs to reveal it to us so we can act in the physical to help move the spiritual.

For instance, if your teenager has accursed items in their possession, we need to throw them out or they need to stop watching or listening to certain types of entertainment and then we may see the shift.

If you haven’t started praying for them yet, take the time to do it now. Dedicate the next 40 days to praying for them by name and the specific teenager mental health issues they are dealing with. Start there! 

Ask The Lord for revelation, resources, support, how to help them SPECIFICALLY. God is all about the details.

Stay dedicated to praying for them. You can set a daily alarm and place to do it. Stay watchful. It may get worse before it gets better, keep going.

Something is shifting! Keep praying!

2. Talk it out.

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.” (Rom. 14:1)

Fight for the space and time to talk out whatever they are going through as soon as you notice it.

It’s not the time to let them know they are “being ridiculous” or finding ways to negate their feelings, but instead get to the root of them by unveiling through questions.

My husband is excellent at this. He doesn’t negate any of our family’s anxious moments but instead uses questions to reveal the root and then cuts the root through love and biblical truth.

By unveiling the deception, it can release them from the thoughts and thought processes holding them hostage,

They may want to run away or not talk about it, but it may only make it worse leaving them in their pit of despair. If they are adamant about not wanting to talk about it, set a time to right then and there to do it at a later time that day.

One thing I remember about being a teen and depressed, is that no one came for me. I specifically remember thinking, “When I have kids, I’m not going to leave them in the pit.” That has been my practice. 

No one in my house will suffer alone.

By allowing them to stew in their thought processes, especially if we know they are out of order and these teenager mental health issues have been controlling them, it keeps them in mental prison longer.

Talk out exactly what it is they are anxious, fearful, mad, about, break it down, and bring them biblical truth and natural truth with the safety and comfort of your love.

Stay consistent!

3. Exercise in nature.

“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.” (Neh. 9:6)

Exercise and whenever possible add nature.

Nature points to our Great Creator.

It may help us realize there is more than us. Our world becomes small when we are going through difficult times.

There have been many times when my husband has brought me out for a walk when I didn’t want to, but it helped get the blood flowing from being stagnant, and gives me a chance to remember there is Someone Greater than I.

He took great care in creating, the sky, the grass, and everything around me. Why wouldn’t He take great care of me too?

Even if it’s taking a walk down the block. Bringing them into fresh air and the sun, these seemingly small actions does wonders for the body.

It may help them get vitamins from the sun. Fresh air may help them detox especially if they are stuck in a room all day that may be stuffy. Hearing nature may help soothe and comfort them.

When we are stagnant, we atrophy in the natural and the spiritual. Get them moving!

3. Diet.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor. 10:31)

It’s important to treat a person holistically with mental health.

It’s amazing how much our diet may not include the vitamins needed for proper brain health.

When we are chemically off physically, it’s no wonder why our mind goes too.

Again, it’s a holistic approach we are talking about, I’m not saying vitamins are the end all be all, there may be other pressing teenage mental health issues in the environment around them, something they haven’t dealt with in their past, etc., but we can’t ignore diet being a factor in mental health either.

You can start a process of elimination in finding out the root cause of mental health issues by eliminating food that can be a factor in decreasing healthy brain health and seeing if that helps.

Also, adding to the diet may help like adding vitamin supplements. It can help the brain process better so therapy sessions, healthy communication, and other resources have the ability to do the work it’s supposed to do. 

You may start to see your teenager grow by leaps and bounds simply by checking their diet.

4. Seek professional Christian resources and support.

For by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory. (Prov. 24:6)

The beautiful thing about Godly healthy community is you can lean on them during times of difficulty. 

They can pray when you feel all prayed out. They can talk when you feel you’ve said everything you feel you can say. They can be the hug or hand holder when you need to be alone and refresh your own spirit.

If you don’t have this kind of community, ask God for His help in finding strong Christian men and women, both professionally and socially, to come and be a part of your family community.

It’s important to not be the only voice in your teenager’s life, but to have many like-minded voices to help support and offer other angles of your beliefs to your teenager.

I can’t tell you how many times my community was able to offer support or offer my perspective through a different lens so my teenager can hear it differently making what I was saying click.

This support can be in the form of mentors, church leaders, professional counselors or therapists, family friends, Pastors, teachers, etc.

It can be exhausting being the only person to help lead your teenager. By cultivating a Christian community of Godly healthy people, it can give you the breath and rest you need so others can have the space to come alongside you and lead your teenager as well.

I have found many who are excited to do it!

5. Seek your own support.

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. (Prov. 11:14)

Many people have grown up handling issues on their own. Unfortunately, you don’t know what you don’t know.

You may not know how to communicate in a healthy way, so it may be impossible to teach your teenager how to.

You may not know what healthy parent/teen relationships look like, so it may be impossible to cultivate that with your teenager.

Finding your own support through books, seminars, conferences, leadership meetings, getting your own professional therapy sessions, are all ways to help support yourself.

As it has been said many times before, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

You can only pour out what you’ve been letting in. What are those things? Are they healthy? More importantly, are they Godly?

I was able to help my teens heal, both my own and those I’ve done Youth Ministry with, by healing myself. I was able to give the lessons I learned. 

If I didn’t do the work, I would not be writing this or have made it very far as a Mother and a Youth Leader.

Teenage Mental Health Issues are complex but not impossible. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philip. 4:13) I pray this is the beginning of feeling hope for the future of your teenager and the ability to tackle teenager mental health issues in a way you may not have thought of before.