Reaching Teens, 2nd Edition

Primary Chapters

• In “The Journey From Risk-Focused Attention to Strength-Based Care” (Chapter 3), the history and the rationale of a strength-based approach to youth are presented. Although it may seem intuitive that people will best feel empowered when we recognize their existing strengths, this premise was considered innovative at one time. Because we cared so deeply about the well-being of youth, we naturally focused on mitigating their risks. Now we understand that one of the most effective ways to address risk is to build on existing strengths. You will see how the positive youth development and resilience movements form the framework for strength-based communication and interventions.
• “How a Strength-Based Approach Affects Behavioral Change” (Chapter 4) contextualizes how many of the approaches suggested in Reaching Teens fit into an overall strategy to apply these frameworks and promote positive behavioral change in youth.
• “Building a Strength-Based Community to Support the Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health of Youth” (Chapter 7) shares the Fort Worth Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County collaborative experience as the pilot community for Reaching Teens. The strength of their multicenter-interdisciplinary collaboration enabled Reaching Teens to have an optimal effect.
• “Ensuring Our Environments, Practices, and Procedures Align With Strength-Based Practices” (Chapter 11) suggests a reflective process that carefully considers whether current setting-specific realities will support or undermine strength-based practices.

Supportive Chapters

• “Reaching Teens: Preparing You to Become the Kind of Adult Young People Need in Their Lives” (Chapter 1) presents the core philosophical principles that guide Reaching Teens. Furthermore, it calls for a needed course correction. An awareness of trauma, rooted in irrefutable emerging science, could change the course of humanity for the better. This body of literature underscores the imperative of protecting children and positioning each of them to become their best selves. It makes abundantly clear how forces of discrimination and inequitable distribution of resources undermine our collective future. It invites our empathy, and we must heed its call; however, we must do so in a way that raises our expectation for youth and prepares them for the world. For these reasons, we must integrate all we have learned in the past few decades. The principles of positive youth development implore us to create both high expectations for youth and the resources and infrastructure that allow them to prepare to lead us into the future. We learned from the resilience framework how to create the nurturant relationships and supports to have young people thrive in good times and recover from challenges. The trauma-sensitive findings tell us that what happens to children can affect their bodies, brains, behaviors, and, indeed, their genetics. But a parallel robust literature says this possibility is true unless they have strong, supportive adults alongside them. In fact, what all 3 frameworks share in common is the power and primacy of human relationships to protect and build youth. In sum, this chapter orients you to the lessons that will be reinforced throughout this work.
• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5) covers how recognizing teens as the greatest experts in their own lives—one of the core principles of positive youth development—better positions adults to engage in a shared decision-making process with adolescents.
• “Reframing Adolescence” (Chapter 6) discusses the myths and misperceptions about adolescents that generate an undermining cultural narrative. This false story line harms teens’ self-perceptions and undermines adult-youth engagement. If young people are falsely seen as inherently risky or irrational, adults will believe they have little influence. If young people are seen as rejecting adult guidance, or as uniformly resentful of parental involvement, we will pull away precisely when we should be drawing nearer.
• “Global Is Local” (Chapter 8) offers strategies to benefit from this toolkit in international settings. The key is to collaborate with local expertise to tailor the kit to meet local needs.
• “Creating Adolescent-Friendly Spaces and Services” (Chapter 22) describes how we can create engaging, enriching environments that are welcoming to teens.
• “Focusing and Building on Existing Strengths” (Chapter 44) is the heart of Reaching Teens. It is about both seeing young people the way they deserve to be seen and leveraging their behaviorally operational strengths to drive their forward progress. This approach can be useful with all young people, but it can be key to engaging youth who feel demoralized and may have internalized disempowering messages.

Primary Chapters

• “Frame Shift” (Foreword).
• “Reframing Adolescence” (Chapter 6) discusses the myths and misperceptions about adolescents that generate an undermining cultural narrative. This false story line harms teens’ self-perceptions and undermines adult-youth engagement. If young people are falsely seen as inherently risky or irrational, adults will believe they have little influence. If young people are seen as rejecting adult guidance, or as uniformly resentful of parental involvement, we will pull away precisely when we should be drawing nearer.
• “Reframing Youth Who Have Endured Trauma and Marginalization” (Chapter 38) covers the importance of avoiding labels and understanding past traumatic experiences as the origins of current behavior. It goes a step further by offering strategies in recognizing, elevating, and reinforcing the strengths of youth who have endured adversities.
• “Focusing and Building on Existing Strengths” (Chapter 44) is the heart of Reaching Teens. It is about both seeing young people the way they deserve to be seen and leveraging their behaviorally operational strengths to drive their forward progress. This strategy can be useful with all young people, but it can be key to engaging youth who feel demoralized and may have internalized disempowering messages.

Supportive Chapters

• “Reaching Teens: Preparing You to Become the Kind of Adult Young People Need in Their Lives” (Chapter 1) presents the core philosophical principles that guide Reaching Teens. Furthermore, it calls for a needed course correction. An awareness of trauma, rooted in irrefutable emerging science, could change the course of humanity for the better. This body of literature underscores the imperative of protecting children and positioning each of them to become their best selves. It makes abundantly clear how forces of discrimination and inequitable distribution of resources undermine our collective future. It invites our empathy, and we must heed its call; however, we must do so in a way that raises our expectation for youth and prepares them for the world. For these reasons, we must integrate all we have learned in the past few decades. The principles of positive youth development implore us to create both high expectations for youth and the resources and infrastructure that allow them to prepare to lead us into the future. We learned from the resilience framework how to create the nurturant relationships and supports to have young people thrive in good times and recover from challenges. The trauma-sensitive findings tell us that what happens to children can affect their bodies, brains, behaviors, and, indeed, their genetics. But a parallel robust literature says this possibility is true unless they have strong, supportive adults alongside them. In fact, what all 3 frameworks share in common is the power and primacy of human relationships to protect and build youth. In sum, this chapter orients you to the lessons that will be reinforced throughout this work.
• “In The Journey From Risk-Focused Attention to Strength-Based Care” (Chapter 3), the history and the rationale of a strength-based approach to youth are presented. Although it may seem intuitive that people will best feel empowered when we recognize their existing strengths, this premise was considered innovative at one time. Because we cared so deeply about the well-being of youth, we naturally focused on mitigating their risks. Now we understand that one of the most effective ways to address risk is to build on existing strengths. You will see how the positive youth development and resilience movements form the framework for strength-based communication and interventions.
• “How a Strength-Based Approach Affects Behavioral Change” (Chapter 4) contextualizes how many of the approaches suggested in Reaching Teens fit into an overall strategy to apply these frameworks and promote positive behavioral change in youth.
• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5) covers how recognizing teens as the greatest experts in their own lives—one of the core principles of positive youth development—better positions adults to engage in a shared decision-making process with adolescents.
• “Understanding and Supporting Healthy Adolescent Development” (Chapter 13) offers a whirlwind tour of the social, cognitive, emotional, and moral development of youth, but it focuses on those points that affect our ability to effectively interact with youth.  
• “The Teen Brain” (Chapter 15) tells us about the rapidly developing adolescent brain. An understanding of the teen brain enables us to better understand adolescents’ emotions, thinking patterns, and behaviors. It also prepares us to more effectively communicate with young people.
• “Working Toward a Healthy Masculinity” (Chapter 21) acknowledges that many young men feel pressure to fit into a box, and in the effort to live up to these externally imposed standards, they give up a piece of themselves. This chapter prepares us to support young men to be a complete version of themselves.
• “Restorative Practices” (Chapter 45) is about including rather than excluding youth. It allows us to hold young people accountable to being their best selves in a way that supports, rather than disrupts, our relationships with them.

Reaching Teens aims to transform our practices and sites into strength-based settings. However, when youth return to their families and communities, they may not be receiving similar strength-based messaging and expectations. An undermining cultural narrative mistakenly paints adolescents as inherently risky, overly emotional, somewhat irrational, and as desiring distance from adults. This narrative can change the way adolescents see themselves and critically disrupts adult engagement by making adults, including parents, wonder if they still matter in the lives of teens, or if teens desire their engagement. When adults do engage with adolescents, they may falsely presume adolescents are irrational or deem themselves invincible. This can influence adults to focus their energies on protecting young people from themselves rather than supporting them to develop to their potential.

We must tell the truth about adolescence and credibly refute the myths. We earn our credibility by integrating people’s lived experiences (what they know about adolescents in their own lives) with the science. We must advance the pro-development messages that will build a world receptive to supporting positive youth development.

Primary Chapters

• “Frame Shift” (Foreword)” sets the tone for the toolkit and reminds all of us that a shift to a strength-based philosophy is an active step toward changing the way people think about and interact with youth. It then reminds us that Reaching Teens is part of a culture-change movement and that we are powerful advocates when we advance a positive message about youth to parents, schools, and communities.
• “Reframing Adolescence” (Chapter 6) discusses the myths and misperceptions about adolescents that generate an undermining cultural narrative. Critically, it tells the truth about adolescents and will prepare you to credibly share that truth and refute the myths.
• “Reframing Youth Who Have Endured Trauma and Marginalization” (Chapter 38) aims to transform our perceptions of adolescent behavior in youth who have had hard lives by offering a strength-based understanding of what drives their behavior. It covers the importance of avoiding labels and understanding past traumatic experiences as the origins of current behavior. It goes a step further by offering strategies in recognizing, elevating, and reinforcing the strengths of youth who have endured adversities.

Supportive Chapters

• “Examining Our Unconscious Biases” (Chapter 29) explores how these biases affect our decision-making and interactions. Our perceptions of adolescence may be affected by the undermining cultural narrative. We must be intentional about not letting these myths and misperceptions flavor our decisions or interactions. Every other unconscious bias we might have about any aspect of the young person's identity must be understood as a first step of being overcome.
• “Body Language” (Chapter 30) can undermine our interactions even if we know what to do and are intentional about what we say. Being mindful of our body language ensures that our actions match our intentions.
• “The Teen Brain (Chapter 15)” — understanding the teen brain can reframe the adolescent as “emotionally brilliant” while simultaneously teaching the basic skill sets in how to more effectively communicate with them. Equipped with some basic skills rooted in an understanding of neurodevelopmental science, we can support adolescents to better access their decision-making capacities.

Productive Messaging Must Replace “Adolescents in Crisis”

Messaging about adolescents being in crisis can backfire by activating a sense of futility in the adults who are needed to respond to the issue. Furthermore, it paints adolescents with a broad brush and reinforces the vulnerability, risk, and emotional fragility messages about youth.

Brief Exercise

To understand why crisis messaging can backfire, consider the following exercise. Use a search engine to find images associated with “Teen mental health crisis.” Scroll down and look at the images online media chooses to grab your attention. Ask, which of these invites you to engage, or even makes you believe you can make a difference? You will primarily see youth with their faces in their hands. Others are looking deeply into their phone. Discuss as a group or reflect personally how they make you feel about your potential to reach youth?

The article below offers a summary of why crisis messaging can backfire on youth.

Nat Kendall-Taylor and Andrew J. Fuligni. The Story We're Telling About Youth Mental Health is Hurting Our Kids. Newsweek.com. October 28, 2022

The article below explains how our crisis messaging may backfire and gives many examples of productive messaging for varied circumstances.

Brooks, MJ, Kendall-Taylor N, Ginsburg KR. Productive Messaging to Promote Youth Mental Well-Being and Positive Development in Clinical and Advocacy Settings. Pediatric Clinics of North America. Volume 71, Issue 4, 2024, pages 707-727.

Resources

The following resources are synergistic with this unit and will enable you to better guide parents and communities:

Frameworks. As stated in the Frameworks Institute explanation of What We Do: “Decades of social science research shows us that people rely on mental shortcuts to make sense of social problems. We know that some of these shortcuts are more helpful than others in how we see and support solutions. If we communicate in ways that cue unproductive ways of thinking, people dismiss our ideas or jump to unhelpful responses.”

Several issue briefs specific to promoting positive development in adolescents are available through their webpage.

Disclosure: Dr. Nat Kendall-Taylor, PHD and Mackenzie Price, PhD, of Frameworks Institute wrote the foreword for Reaching Teens and Jennifer Nichols, PhD contributed to chapter 6, “Reframing Adolescence: Holding Youth to High Expectations and Refuting Undermining Portrayals”.

Congrats—You're Having A Teen!: Strengthen Your Family and Raise a Good Person was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2022. It offers a reframing of adolescence that tells the truth about adolescents, refutes the myths about them, and then empowers parents to apply strengths-based communication strategies.

Disclosure: This book is written by Dr. Ken Ginsburg, the editor of Reaching Teens.

The Center for Parent and Teen Communication. The mission statement for The Center for Parent and Teen Communication includes “Adolescence is a time of opportunity and parents matter more than ever. We strive to ensure every caring adult has the knowledge and skills to promote positive youth development and foster strong family connections.”

Its free online content is multicultural and strength-based, and explicitly works to shift the undermining narrative about adolescents to empower parental engagement.

Primary Chapters

• “Cultural Humility” (Chapter 28) demonstrates an understanding that we are all “other” to somebody and that the only way we can be uniformly respectful to people is to consistently be prepared to learn about their culture and environment. A critical first step in being culturally humble, however, is having an awareness of our own unconscious biases.
• “Examining Our Unconscious Biases” (Chapter 29) looks at thinking patterns and assumptions we may have that can interfere with our ability to objectively draw the most appropriate conclusions and even to guide people toward their most positive futures.

Supportive Chapters

• “Global Is Local” (Chapter 8) offers strategies to benefit from this toolkit in international settings. The key is to collaborate with local expertise to tailor the kit to meet local needs.
• “The Traumatic Impact of Discrimination and Racism on Young People and How to Talk About It” (Chapter 42) discusses the life course impact of chronic stressors such as racial discrimination. It prepares professionals to have authentic discussion with youth about these undermining forces.
• “Parents Who Have Experienced Trauma and Marginalization” (Chapter 58) reminds us of the imperative of being as trauma sensitive and universally respectful with parents and other caregivers as we are with young people.
• “Youth Who Are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Queer/Questioning” (Chapter 82).
• “Serving Youth Who Are Transgender and Gender Diverse” (Chapter 83).
• “Reaching Youth Who Are Immigrants” (Chapter 84).

Primary Chapters

• A brief overview to the basics of communication is offered in “Communicating With Adolescents 101” (Chapter 26).
• “The Language of Resilience” (Chapter 27) offers examples of how we support instead of undermine resilience with our words.
• “Body Language” (Chapter 30) describes how we can reinforce or undermine our connection with youth through nonverbal communication. In fact, our words represent the smaller fraction of what we convey to others. People skilled in the use of body language can better engage and empower people, as well as diffuse tension.
• “Focusing and Building on Existing Strengths” (Chapter 44) is the heart of Reaching Teens. It is about both seeing young people the way they deserve to be seen and leveraging their behaviorally operational strengths to drive their forward progress. This strategy can be useful with all young people, but it can be key to engaging youth who feel demoralized and may have internalized disempowering messages.
• “Helping Adolescents Own Their Solutions” (Chapter 48) offers an approach to facilitate youth to make their own decisions. The strategies covered in this chapter both facilitate healthy development and are central to trauma-sensitive practices because they increase youth self-control. The chapter offers communication strategies to use in lieu of the dreaded lecture, which backfires by triggering and disempowering youth. It also offers a strategy for working with youth who have grown to view themselves as powerless in their ability to move away from worrisome behaviors. It allows them to contemplate alternative futures and take simple steps toward desirable behaviors.

Supportive Chapters

• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5) covers how recognizing teens as the greatest experts in their own lives—one of the core principles of positive youth development—better positions adults to engage in a shared decision-making process with adolescents.
• “Reframing Adolescence” (Chapter 6) discusses the myths and misperceptions about adolescents that generate an undermining cultural narrative. This false story line harms teens’ self-perceptions and undermines adult-youth engagement. If young people are falsely seen as inherently risky or irrational, adults will believe they have little influence. If young people are seen as rejecting adult guidance, or as uniformly resentful of parental involvement, we will pull away precisely when we should be drawing nearer.
• “Understanding and Supporting Healthy Adolescent Development” (Chapter 13) offers a whirlwind tour of the social, cognitive, emotional, and moral development of youth, but it focuses on those points that affect our ability to effectively interact with youth.  
• “The Adolescent World” (Chapter 14) offers a glimpse into the multiple environmental contexts with which young people interact, and it drives home the hard work involved in forging an identity.
• “The Teen Brain” (Chapter 15) tells us about the rapidly developing adolescent brain. An understanding of the teen brain enables us to better understand adolescents’ emotions, thinking patterns, and behaviors. It also prepares us to more effectively communicate with young people.
• Adolescents are social beings, and learning how to fit in with peers is a key developmental task. It is equally as important to know how to choose positive friendships and to know when not to fit in with peers. “Friendship and Peers” (Chapter 16) helps us better understand the social forces that affect youth.
• “Cultural Humility” (Chapter 28) demonstrates an understanding that we are all “other” to somebody and that the only way we can be uniformly respectful to people is to consistently be prepared to learn about their culture and environment. A critical first step in being culturally humble, however, is having an awareness of our own unconscious biases.
• “Healing-Centered Engagement” (Chapter 31) underscores that our goal is to form relationships, not to gain information. This approach is key to creating the safe, secure, and sustained relationships that heal youth.
• “The SSHADESS Screening” (Chapter 32) is a verbal behavioral screening that starts by contextualizing risk within a broad initial understanding of the young person’s strengths.
• “Strength-Based Interviewing” (Chapter 33) is an interview technique (the Circle of Courage) that elicits and reinforces existing strengths by focusing on 4 assets: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. It allows the interviewer to also have a focused discussion on building strengths in those areas that need further development.
• “Restorative Practices” (Chapter 45) is about including rather than excluding youth. It allows us to hold young people accountable to being their best selves in a way that supports, rather than disrupts, our relationships with them.
• “Motivational Interviewing” (Chapter 46) is a strategy rooted in the transtheoretical model of behavioral change that facilitates youth to consider advancing to the next stage of change. It demonstrates trust in them as the experts in their own lives and lets them guide their own progress.

Primary Chapters

• “Understanding and Supporting Healthy Adolescent Development” (Chapter 13) offers a whirlwind tour of the social, cognitive, emotional, and moral development of youth, but it focuses on those points that affect our ability to effectively interact with youth.  
• “The Teen Brain” (Chapter 15) tells us about the rapidly developing adolescent brain. An understanding of the teen brain enables us to better understand adolescents’ emotions, thinking patterns, and behaviors. It also prepares us to more effectively communicate with young people.

Supportive Chapters

• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5) covers how recognizing teens as the greatest experts in their own lives—one of the core principles of positive youth development—better positions adults to engage in a shared decision-making process with adolescents.
• Adolescents are social beings, and learning how to fit in with peers is a key developmental task. It is equally as important to know how to choose positive friendships and to know when not to fit in with peers. “Friendship and Peers” (Chapter 16) helps us better understand the social forces that affect youth.
• Female and male sexuality are covered in “Sex(uality) Happens: Fostering Healthy, Positive (Female) Sexuality” (Chapter 17) and “Male Sexuality” (Chapter 18). These chapters offer a deeper dive into the key developmental adolescent task of developing a healthy sexuality. The sexuality chapters simultaneously address avoiding perilous risk behaviors sometimes associated with sexual awakening.
• Spirituality and religion are integral parts of the lives of many of the teens we serve. “Spirituality and Resilience in Adolescence” (Chapter 20) discusses how a better understanding of these elements of young people’s lives can better prepare us to support them as they seek meaning and purpose.
• “Working Toward a Healthy Masculinity” (Chapter 21) acknowledges that many young men feel pressure to fit into a box, and in the effort to live up to these externally imposed standards, they give up a piece of themselves. This chapter prepares us to support young men to be a complete version of themselves.
• “Helping Adolescents Own Their Solutions” (Chapter 48) offers an approach to facilitate youth to make their own decisions. The strategies covered in this chapter both facilitate healthy development and are central to trauma-sensitive practices because they increase youth self-control. The chapter offers communication strategies to use in lieu of the dreaded lecture, which backfires by triggering and disempowering youth. It also offers a strategy for working with youth who have grown to view themselves as powerless in their ability to move away from worrisome behaviors. It allows them to contemplate alternative futures and take simple steps toward desirable behaviors.
• “Preparing Parents for Their Children’s Adolescence” (Chapter 53) suggests that looking forward to adolescence with a sense of dread will create a self-fulfilling downward spiral. We must celebrate this time of inspirational development. It also outlines a strategy that will help parents learn to honor adolescents’ growing independence, and, therefore, hopefully prevent part of the rebellion sometimes associated with the teen years.

Primary Chapters

• “The 7 Cs” (Chapter 2) will introduce a comprehensive model that captures the key ingredients youth need to thrive in good times and rise above adversity in challenging times.
• “The Language of Resilience” (Chapter 27) offers examples of how we support instead of undermine resilience with our words.

Supportive Chapters

• Spirituality and religion are integral parts of the lives of many of the teens we serve. “Spirituality and Resilience in Adolescence” (Chapter 20) discusses how a better understanding of these elements of young people’s lives can better prepare us to support them as they seek meaning and purpose.
• “Supporting Youth to Build Their Self-regulation Skills” (Chapter 39) discusses approaches to helping youth gain a sense of control and regulate their response to stressors.
• “Health Realization” (Chapter 47) assumes that humans have a natural predisposition to be healthy and that professionals can be more effective when we assume the role of facilitating youth back to that state of equilibrium.
• “Stress Management and Coping” (Chapter 50) allows you to move beyond telling youth what not to do and instead prepares you to suggest positive coping strategies that also alleviate stress. The comprehensive coping strategy presented will aid youth to choose healthy means to deal with discomfort rather than reach for potentially dangerous quick fixes.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) helps youth live fully in the moment while they forget the past and not worry about the future. It relieves stress and allows focused thinking.
• “The Role of Lifestyle in Mental Health Promotion” (Chapter 59).
• “Finding Resilience in Sports and Physically Active Recreation” (Chapter 60) speaks of the preventive power of wellness and the capacity of health-promoting strategies to restore health and wellness, even in the face of extreme stress or trauma.

Reaching Teens strives to be trauma sensitive in its entirety. In fact, the Reaching Teens Trauma-Sensitive Model holds as a central imperative to integrate positive youth development principles, resilience-building strategies, and the knowledge we have gained about working with people who have experienced trauma and hardships. It is this integration that ensures we will offer the accountability critical to growth and maintain the high expectations that generate confidence. It is this integration of models that gives us hope; we trust that under the right circumstances, people can recover from hard lives. Therefore, all the chapters that focus on development and resilience are an integral part of our trauma-sensitive approach.

Specifically, though, our trauma-sensitive model consists of the following 4 key principles:

1. Knowing what is about you and what is not about you
2. Changing the lens with which we view behavior from “What’s wrong with you!” to “What happened to you?”
3. Seeing people as they deserve to be seen, not according to labels they’ve received or behaviors they’ve displayed
4. Giving control back to people from whom control has been taken away

Materials that prepare you to apply these principles are found throughout this toolkit. Section 6 is specifically focused on working with adolescents who have endured trauma and marginalization. Let’s first highlight chapters that are not in this section. They are organized by the 4 key principles of our trauma-sensitive practices model.

1. Knowing what is about you and what is not about you

It is hard work to be able to understand that behavior directed at you may not be about you. But it is critical to do so if you are to remain radically calm rather than grow defensive.

• “The Teen Brain” (Chapter 15) helps you better understand the heightened emotional nature of adolescents.
• “Boundaries” (Chapter 24) helps you go through the reflective practices that enable you to understand what pushes your buttons. Boundaries are not what separate us from people; they are what allow us to draw nearer in a way that is safer for youth and for us.

2. Changing the lens with which we view behavior from “What’s wrong with you!” to “What happened to you?”

The following chapters, to name a few, offer context to the forces that shape youth:

• “Grief” (Chapter 65)
• “Helping Teens Cope With Divorce” (Chapter 75)
• “Bullying” (Chapter 76)
• “Unhealthy Relationships” (Chapter 77)
• “Emotional, Physical, and Sexual Abuse” (Chapter 78)
• “Youth Violence” (Chapter 79)
• “Supporting Youth in Foster Care to Engage in Services and Supports” (Chapter 86)
• “Working With Youth Involved With Juvenile Justice” (Chapter 87)
• “Serving Youth Who Are Experiencing Homelessness or Are Unstably Housed” (Chapter 89)

3. Seeing people as they deserve to be seen, not according to labels they’ve received or behaviors they’ve displayed

Many chapters focus on changing how we view and therefore interact with youth. They recognize that safe, secure, and sustained—even loving—relationships are what heal young people. They recognize that there is an undermining cultural narrative for all young people and a deeply toxic one for youth who have been marginalized.

• “Frame Shift” (Foreword).
• “Reframing Adolescence” (Chapter 6).
• “Examining Our Own Unconscious Biases” (Chapter 29) helps you understand what might get in the way of the active reframing we must do if we are to see people in their best light.
• “Reframing Youth Who Have Endured Trauma and Marginalization” (Chapter 38).
• “Focusing and Building on Existing Strengths” (Chapter 44). This chapter may be the most important implementation chapter in Reaching Teens. It is about listening intensely for behaviorally operational strengths and leveraging those strengths to support a person to move beyond undermining behaviors. We see people as they deserve to be seen so that they can see themselves as they deserve to be seen. This is a critical inflection point for people who have a long-standing history of receiving undermining assessments.

4. Giving control back to people from whom control has been taken away

Chapters throughout this toolkit offer the philosophical underpinning of why youth must achieve control over their own lives or offer specific strategies to help young people gain self-control.

• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5).
• “Understanding and Supporting Healthy Adolescent Development” (Chapter 13) serves as a reminder that gaining increasing control is a core need for all adolescents. This is a reminder that applying trauma-sensitive practices universally supports every adolescent.
• “Restorative Practices” (Chapter 45) reminds us that we restore control to people when we include—rather than exclude—them in healing processes.
• “Motivational Interviewing” (Chapter 46) is a technique that has been shown to support positive behavioral outcomes, and it is designed precisely to ensure that people have control over what actions they choose to take and the pace of those actions.
• “Helping Adolescents Own Their Solutions” (Chapter 48) focuses entirely on harnessing youth wisdom to help youth reach healthier conclusions and develop their decision-making capacities.
• “Stress Management and Coping” (Chapter 50) recognizes that quick, easy fixes to cope with uncomfortable feelings or experiences are often also destructive. People can take control of their lives when equipped with a repertoire of positive coping strategies.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) describes a technique proven to restore balance and a sense of control.
• “Promoting Balanced Parenting” (Chapter 54) covers how parents can help their children learn self-control.
• “Finding Resilience in Sports and Physically Active Recreation” (Chapter 60) speaks to how exercise can build confidence, blow off steam, and allow people to regain higher-thinking powers.

Beyond the model

As we think about trauma-sensitive practices, we recognize that youth-serving professionals who feel supported and have had the opportunity to nurture their personal strengths are positioned to best implement trauma-sensitive services. We recognize this is complex and demanding work that requires intention. For these reasons, Chapters 24 (Boundaries), 92 (Creating Healthy Organizations), and 93 (Supporting Frontline Staff Who Bear Witness) are central to implementation. Finally, because youth do not exist in a vacuum, Chapter 58 (Parents Who Have Experienced Trauma and Marginalization) guides us to think intergenerationally.

Now that you are oriented to understand that trauma-sensitive practices are presented throughout this work, let’s prepare you for what is specifically in Section 6, which explicitly focuses on trauma-sensitive practices.

• “The Impact of Trauma on Development and Well-being” (Chapter 36) offers the scientific grounding on what childhood trauma does to the body, brain, and behavior.
• “Trauma-Sensitive Practice” (Chapter 37) summarizes in detail the Reaching Teens Trauma-Sensitive Model and contextualizes it in the existing trauma-sensitive literature. As the anchor of the trauma-sensitive practices in this work, it is likely your starting point.
• “Reframing Youth Who Have Endured Trauma and Marginalization” (Chapter 38) covers the importance of avoiding labels and understanding past traumatic experiences as the origins of current behavior. It goes a step further by offering strategies in recognizing, elevating, and reinforcing the strengths of youth who have endured adversities.
• “Supporting Youth to Build Their Self-regulation Skills” (Chapter 39) discusses approaches to helping youth gain a sense of control and regulate their response to stressors.
• “The Power of Safe, Secure, Sustained Relationships in the Lives of Youth” (Chapter 40) reviews the role of consistent and caring relationships with adults as a stabilizing force in the lives of youth who have endured trauma.
• “Radical Calmness” (Chapter 41) discusses the importance and approaches to remaining calm even in the face of challenging youth behavior. Calm begets calm, reinforces “felt safety,” and therefore lowers hyperarousal and the need for hypervigilance. It is key to co-regulation.
• “The Traumatic Impact of Discrimination and Racism on Young People and How to Talk About It” (Chapter 42) discusses the life course impact of chronic stressors such as racial discrimination. It prepares professionals to have authentic discussion with youth about these undermining forces.
• “Working With Youth Who Have Experienced Sexual Trauma” (Chapter 43) reviews approaches to working with youth who have experienced sexual violence.

Primary Chapters

• “Supporting Youth to Build Their Self-regulation Skills” (Chapter 39) discusses approaches to helping youth gain a sense of control and regulate their response to stressors.
• “Health Realization” (Chapter 47) assumes that humans have a natural predisposition to be healthy and that professionals can be more effective when we assume the role of facilitating youth back to that state of equilibrium.
• “Stress Management and Coping” (Chapter 50) allows you to move beyond telling youth what not to do and instead prepares you to suggest positive coping strategies that also alleviate stress. The comprehensive coping strategy presented will aid youth to choose healthy means to deal with discomfort rather than reach for potentially dangerous quick fixes.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) helps youth live fully in the moment while they forget the past and not worry about the future. It relieves stress and allows focused thinking.

Supportive Chapters

• “The Teen Brain” (Chapter 15) tells us about the rapidly developing adolescent brain. An understanding of the teen brain enables us to better understand adolescents’ emotions, thinking patterns, and behaviors. It also prepares us to more effectively communicate with young people.
• “Examining Our Unconscious Biases” (Chapter 29) looks at thinking patterns and assumptions we may have that can interfere with our ability to objectively draw the most appropriate conclusions and even to guide people toward their most positive futures.
• “Body Language” (Chapter 30) describes how we can reinforce or undermine our connection with youth through nonverbal communication. In fact, our words represent the smaller fraction of what we convey to others. People skilled in the use of body language can better engage and empower people, as well as diffuse tension.
• “Healing-Centered Engagement” (Chapter 31) underscores that our goal is to form relationships, not to gain information. This formation is key to creating the safe, secure, and sustained relationships that heal youth.
• “De-escalation and Crisis Management When a Youth Is Acting Out” (Chapter 34) offers strategies to restore calm to a youth whose anxiety, anger, or frustration may be building.
• “Delivering Bad News to Adolescents” (Chapter 35) acknowledges our own internal struggles with being the bearer of difficult news and offers approaches to conveying information in a supportive manner.
• “The Power of Safe, Secure, Sustained Relationships in the Lives of Youth” (Chapter 40) reviews the role of consistent and caring relationships with adults as a stabilizing force in the lives of youth who have endured trauma.
• “Radical Calmness” (Chapter 41) discusses the importance and approaches to remaining calm even in the face of challenging youth behavior. Calm begets calm, reinforces “felt safety,” and therefore lowers hyperarousal and the need for hypervigilance. It is key to co-regulation.

• “Restorative Practices” (Chapter 45) is about including rather than excluding youth. It allows us to hold young people accountable to being their best selves in a way that supports, rather than disrupts, our relationships with them.

Primary Chapters

• “Stress Management and Coping” (Chapter 50) allows you to move beyond telling youth what not to do and instead prepares you to suggest positive coping strategies that also alleviate stress. The comprehensive coping strategy presented will aid youth to choose healthy means to deal with discomfort rather than reach for potentially dangerous quick fixes.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) helps youth live fully in the moment while they forget the past and not worry about the future. It relieves stress and allows focused thinking.

Supportive Chapters

• “Health Realization” (Chapter 47) assumes that humans have a natural predisposition to be healthy and that professionals can be more effective when we assume the role of facilitating youth back to that state of equilibrium.
• “The Role of Lifestyle in Mental Health Promotion” (Chapter 59) underscores the importance of healthy lifestyle choices in promoting resilience to challenging situations.
• “Finding Resilience in Sports and Physically Active Recreation” (Chapter 60) speaks of the preventive power of wellness and the capacity of health-promoting strategies to restore health and wellness, even in the face of extreme stress or trauma.

Chapters throughout this toolkit offer the philosophical underpinning of why youth must achieve control over their own lives or offer specific strategies to help young people gain self-control.

Primary Chapters

• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5).
• “Helping Adolescents Own Their Solutions” (Chapter 48) focuses entirely on harnessing youth wisdom to help youth reach healthier conclusions and develop their decision-making capacities.

Supportive Chapters

• “Understanding and Supporting Healthy Adolescent Development” (Chapter 13) serves as a reminder that gaining increasing control is a core need for all adolescents. This is a reminder that applying trauma-sensitive practices universally supports every adolescent.
• “Restorative Practices” (Chapter 45) reminds us that we restore control to people when we include—rather than exclude—them in healing processes.
• “Motivational Interviewing” (Chapter 46) is a technique that has been shown to support positive behavioral outcomes, and it is designed precisely to ensure that people have control over what actions they choose to take and the pace of those actions.
• “Stress Management and Coping” (Chapter 50) recognizes that quick, easy fixes to cope with uncomfortable feelings or experiences are often also destructive. People can take control of their lives when equipped with a repertoire of positive coping strategies.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) describes a technique proven to restore balance and a sense of control.
• “Promoting Balanced Parenting” (Chapter 54) covers how parents can help their children learn self-control.
• “Finding Resilience in Sports and Physically Active Recreation” (Chapter 60) speaks to how exercise can build confidence, blow off steam, and allow people to regain higher-thinking powers.

Primary Chapters

• “Radical Calmness” (Chapter 41) discusses the importance and approaches to remaining calm even in the face of challenging youth behavior. Calm begets calm, reinforces “felt safety,” and therefore lowers hyperarousal and the need for hypervigilance. It is key to co-regulation.
• “Supporting Youth to Build Their Self-regulation Skills” (Chapter 39) discusses approaches to helping youth gain a sense of control and regulate their response to stressors.

Supportive Chapters

• “The Teen Brain” (Chapter 15) tells us about the rapidly developing adolescent brain. An understanding of the teen brain enables us to better understand adolescents’ emotions, thinking patterns, and behaviors. It also prepares us to more effectively communicate with young people.
• “The Language of Resilience” (Chapter 27) offers examples of how we support instead of undermine resilience with our words.
• “Restorative Practices” (Chapter 45) is about including rather than excluding youth. It allows us to hold young people accountable to being their best selves in a way that supports, rather than disrupts, our relationships with them.
• “Advancing Adult Compassion Resilience in Youth-Serving Professionals” (Chapter 91) speaks to the imperative of serving with compassion throughout our careers. It addresses the barriers to doing so and the strategies to ensure we can.
• “Supporting Frontline Staff Who Bear Witness” (Chapter 93) addresses the toll that this work can take on each of us and the necessity of processing our triumphs and our challenges with those who can best relate to our experiences: our coworkers.

Primary Chapters

• “Building a Strength-Based Community to Support the Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health of Youth” (Chapter 7) shares the Fort Worth Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County collaborative experience as the pilot community for Reaching Teens. The strength of their multicenter-interdisciplinary collaboration enabled Reaching Teens to have an optimal effect.
• “Reaching Treatment” (Chapter 61) is a particularly important introduction to these set of chapters. It offers a brief explanation of different approaches to mental health treatment, enabling you to better understand the services you might suggest a young person accesses. Furthermore, it suggests strength-based language that will better position you to refer the teen for appropriate services while you avoid shame or stigma in the process.

Supportive Chapters

• “The Language of Resilience” (Chapter 27) offers examples of how we support instead of undermine resilience with our words.
• “The SSHADESS Screening” (Chapter 32) is a verbal behavioral screening that starts by contextualizing risk within a broad initial understanding of the young person’s strengths.
• “The Impact of Trauma on Development and Well-being” (Chapter 36) offers the scientific grounding on what childhood trauma does to the body, brain, and behavior.
• “Health Realization” (Chapter 47) assumes that humans have a natural predisposition to be healthy and that professionals can be more effective when we assume the role of facilitating youth back to that state of equilibrium.
• Strategies are offered in “Helping Youth Overcome Shame and Stigma (and Doing Our Best to Not Be a Part of the Problem)” (Chapter 49) for guiding youth to overcome some of the key barriers that may prevent them from seeking needed support.
• “Stress Management and Coping” (Chapter 50) allows you to move beyond telling youth what not to do and instead prepares you to suggest positive coping strategies that also alleviate stress. The comprehensive coping strategy presented will aid youth to choose healthy means to deal with discomfort rather than reach for potentially dangerous quick fixes.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) helps youth live fully in the moment while they forget the past and not worry about the future. It relieves stress and allows focused thinking.
• Section 9, Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health, begins by underscoring the importance of healthy lifestyle choices in promoting resilience to challenging situations. Chapter 59, “The Role of Lifestyle in Mental Health Promotion”, and Chapter 60, “Finding Resilience in Sports and Physically Active Recreation”, speak of the preventive power of wellness and the capacity of health-promoting strategies to restore health and wellness, even in the face of extreme stress or trauma.
• Challenges to mental health and well-being, including depression (Chapter 62), anxiety (Chapter 63), somatic symptoms and related disorders (Chapter 64), grief (Chapter 65), perfectionism (Chapter 68), and eating disorders (Chapter 69) are also explored in Section 9. Although these chapters will help you better understand these conditions, they are not designed to help you make a diagnosis or to offer a specific treatment plan. Rather, they focus on how a strength-based approach can help you interact with a young person with these conditions or circumstances. They will also help you guide a young person to deserved services.
• Two other chapters suggest strength-based approaches to working with young people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Chapter 66) and other learning differences (Chapter 67).
• One chapter addresses an environmental force that could have a positive or negative effect—the media (Chapter 74). You might read this chapter alongside Chapter 19, “The Virtual World of Adolescents”, because media use and influence has dramatically shifted in recent years toward the internet and social media.
• Another set of chapters focus on circumstances that produce trauma or present serious adversities, such as divorce (Chapter 75); bullying (Chapter 76); unhealthy relationships (Chapter 77); emotional, physical, and sexual abuse (Chapter 78); and navigating violent communities (Chapter 79).
• Section 9 also includes discussions on selected behavioral morbidities: substance use (Chapter 70), including opiate use (Chapter 71); teen pregnancy and parenting (Chapter 72); and driving (Chapter 73), which is a healthy developmental milestone toward independence and the leading contributor to teen deaths.

Youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) are young people first, and every chapter applies to them. The following chapters, however, are of focused interest.

Primary Chapters

• “Youth Who Are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Queer/Questioning” (Chapter 82)
• “Serving Youth Who Are Transgender and Gender Diverse” (Chapter 83)

Supportive Chapters

• “Understanding and Supporting Healthy Adolescent Development” (Chapter 13) offers a whirlwind tour of the social, cognitive, emotional, and moral development of youth, but it focuses on those points that affect our ability to effectively interact with youth.  
• Female and male sexuality are covered in "Sex(uality) Happens: Fostering Healthy, Positive (Female) Sexuality” (Chapter 17) and “Male Sexuality (Chapter 18)”. These chapters offer a deeper dive into the key developmental adolescent task of developing a healthy sexuality. The sexuality chapters simultaneously address avoiding perilous risk behaviors sometimes associated with sexual awakening.
• Spirituality and religion are integral parts of the lives of many of the teens we serve. “Spirituality and Resilience in Adolescence (Chapter 20)” discusses how a better understanding of these elements of young people’s lives can better prepare us to support them as they seek meaning and purpose.
• “Working Toward a Healthy Masculinity” (Chapter 21) acknowledges that many young men feel pressure to fit into a box, and in the effort to live up to these externally imposed standards, they give up a piece of themselves. This chapter prepares us to support young men to be a complete version of themselves.
• “Examining Our Unconscious Biases” (Chapter 29) looks at thinking patterns and assumptions we may have that can interfere with our ability to objectively draw the most appropriate conclusions and even to guide people toward their most positive futures.

Because of the undermining forces in the lives of too many youth who are LGBTQ, there are outcomes that affect them at disproportionate rates. While you deepen your skill sets to work with these young people in this unit, you may want to revisit these topics. The topics include depression (Chapter 62), anxiety (Chapter 63), serving youth who are homeless or are unstably housed (Chapter 89), and youth living with HIV (Chapter 88). We, however, are intentionally not including these chapters within the proposed unit; we wish to draw a distinction between something linked with being a youth who is LGBTQ and the negative outcomes that follow discriminatory practices against them. Those negative outcomes are created by challenges to their healthy identity development.  If the adults in their lives supported them to see themselves as perfect and whole just the way they are, they would have the same rates of these problems as all other young people.  And, like most other young people, they would thrive precisely because they are surrounded by caring, supportive adults.

Primary Chapters

• “Boundaries” (Chapter 24) is a critically important chapter in a body of work that states “absolute respect and unconditional love” are key to reaching youth. We must not be afraid of the word love, but we must be very clear about what it means and must practice love with boundaries, to be protective of our own emotions and to prevent youth from becoming reliant on us in a way that could interfere with their own autonomy. This chapter is a cornerstone of this work and should be continually reflected on as part of your organizational culture and individual practice. Boundaries are what allow us to serve over a lifetime while we maintain our personal lives. They are not what separate us from the youth we serve; they are what allow us to draw nearer.

Supportive Chapters

• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5) covers how recognizing teens as the greatest experts in their own lives—one of the core principles of positive youth development—better positions adults to engage in a shared decision-making process with adolescents.
• “Setting the Stage for a Trustworthy Relationship” (Chapter 23) offers a strategy to initially address some of the major issues teens and families consider as they extend their trust to you.
• “Healing-Centered Engagement” (Chapter 31) underscores that our goal is to form relationships, not to gain information.
• “Trauma-Sensitive Practice” (Chapter 37) summarizes in detail the Reaching Teens Trauma-Sensitive Model and contextualizes it in the existing trauma-sensitive literature. As the anchor of the trauma-sensitive practices in this work, it is likely your starting point.
• “The Power of Safe, Secure, Sustained Relationships in the Lives of Youth” (Chapter 40) reviews the role of consistent and caring relationships with adults as a stabilizing force in the lives of youth who have endured trauma.
• “Radical Calmness” (Chapter 41) discusses the importance and approaches to remaining calm even in the face of challenging youth behavior. Calm begets calm, reinforces “felt safety,” and therefore lowers hyperarousal and the need for hypervigilance. It is key to co-regulation.
• “Focusing and Building on Existing Strengths” (Chapter 44) is the heart of Reaching Teens. It is about both seeing young people the way they deserve to be seen and leveraging their behaviorally operational strengths to drive their forward progress. This strategy can be useful with all young people, but it can be key to engaging youth who feel demoralized and may have internalized disempowering messages.
• “Motivational Interviewing” (Chapter 46) is a strategy rooted in the transtheoretical model of behavioral change that facilitates youth to consider advancing to the next stage of change. It demonstrates trust in them as the experts in their own lives and lets them guide their own progress.
• “Helping Adolescents Own Their Solutions” (Chapter 48) offers an approach to facilitate youth to make their own decisions. The strategies covered in this chapter both facilitate healthy development and are central to trauma-sensitive practices because they increase youth self-control. The chapter offers communication strategies to use in lieu of the dreaded lecture, which backfires by triggering and disempowering youth. It also offers a strategy for working with youth who have grown to view themselves as powerless in their ability to move away from worrisome behaviors. It allows them to contemplate alternative futures and take simple steps toward desirable behaviors.
• “Healer, Heal Thyself” (Chapter 90) builds the case for the importance of caring for yourself and offers concrete strategies to do so.
• “Advancing Adult Compassion Resilience in Youth-Serving Professionals” (Chapter 91) speaks to the imperative of serving with compassion throughout our careers. It addresses the barriers to doing so and the strategies to ensure we can.
• In “Creating Healthy Organizations” (Chapter 92), Sandra L. Bloom, MD, author of multiple books on the subject, speaks to the organizational structures and processes that can be healthy or unhealthy. Without the scaffolding of healthy organizations, none of us can reach our potential to serve others while remaining whole ourselves.
• “Supporting Frontline Staff Who Bear Witness” (Chapter 93) addresses the toll that this work can take on each of us and the necessity of processing our triumphs and our challenges with those who can best relate to our experiences: our coworkers.
• “Have I Really Made a Difference?” (Chapter 95) reminds us that although we sometimes wonder whether we have made a difference, we need to trust that our guidance can have a lasting effect—even after our visits are a distant memory. Our knowledge that we are planting seeds restores us daily.

Primary Chapters

• “Boundaries” (Chapter 24) is a critically important chapter in a body of work that states “absolute respect and unconditional love” are key to reaching youth. We must not be afraid of the word love, but we must be very clear about what it means and must practice love with boundaries, to be protective of our own emotions and to prevent youth from becoming reliant on us in a way that could interfere with their own autonomy. This chapter is a cornerstone of this work and should be continually reflected on as part of your organizational culture and individual practice. Boundaries are what allow us to serve over a lifetime while we maintain our personal lives. They are not what separate us from the youth we serve; they are what allow us to draw nearer.
• “Vicarious Resilience” (Chapter 25) reminds us that, in fact, this work itself is life-affirming and that we benefit from the privilege of working with young people.
• “Have I Really Made a Difference?” (Chapter 95) reminds us that although we sometimes wonder whether we have made a difference, we need to trust that our guidance can have a lasting effect—even after our visits are a distant memory. Our knowledge that we are planting seeds restores us daily.
• “Advancing Adult Compassion Resilience in Youth-Serving Professionals” (Chapter 91) speaks to the imperative of serving with compassion throughout our careers. It addresses the barriers to doing so and the strategies to ensure we can.

Supportive Chapters

• “Youth Are Experts in Their Own Lives” (Chapter 5) covers how recognizing teens as the greatest experts in their own lives—one of the core principles of positive youth development—better positions adults to engage in a shared decision-making process with adolescents.
• “Trauma-Sensitive Practice” (Chapter 37) summarizes in detail the Reaching Teens Trauma-Sensitive Model and contextualizes it in the existing trauma-sensitive literature. As the anchor of the trauma-sensitive practices in this work, it is likely your starting point.
• “Focusing and Building on Existing Strengths” (Chapter 44) is the heart of Reaching Teens. It is about both seeing young people the way they deserve to be seen and leveraging their behaviorally operational strengths to drive their forward progress. This strategy can be useful with all young people, but it can be key to engaging youth who feel demoralized and may have internalized disempowering messages.
• “Restorative Practices” (Chapter 45) is about including rather than excluding youth. It allows us to hold young people accountable to being their best selves in a way that supports, rather than disrupts, our relationships with them.
• “Health Realization” (Chapter 47) assumes that humans have a natural predisposition to be healthy and that professionals can be more effective when we assume the role of facilitating youth back to that state of equilibrium.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) helps youth live fully in the moment while they forget the past and not worry about the future. It relieves stress and allows focused thinking.
• Section 9, Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health, begins by underscoring the importance of healthy lifestyle choices in promoting resilience to challenging situations. Chapter 59, “The Role of Lifestyle in Mental Health Promotion”, and Chapter 60, “Finding Resilience in Sports and Physically Active Recreation”, speak of the preventive power of wellness and the capacity of health-promoting strategies to restore health and wellness, even in the face of extreme stress or trauma.
• “Healer, Heal Thyself” (Chapter 90) builds the case for the importance of caring for yourself and offers concrete strategies to do so.
• In “Creating Healthy Organizations” (Chapter 92), Sandra L. Bloom, MD, author of multiple books on the subject, speaks to the organizational structures and processes that can be healthy or unhealthy. Without the scaffolding of healthy organizations, none of us can reach our potential to serve others while remaining whole ourselves.
• “Supporting Frontline Staff Who Bear Witness” (Chapter 93) addresses the toll that this work can take on each of us and the necessity of processing our triumphs and our challenges with those who can best relate to our experiences: our coworkers.
• In “Getting Out of the Fast Lane” (Chapter 94), Renée R. Jenkins, MD, FAAP, one of the most respected and beloved leaders in pediatrics and adolescent health and medicine, discusses how to remain satisfied and continue to contribute late into your career and even after formal retirement.

Primary Chapters

• “Healer, Heal Thyself” (Chapter 90) builds the case for the importance of caring for yourself and offers concrete strategies to do so.
• “Advancing Adult Compassion Resilience in Youth-Serving Professionals” (Chapter 91) speaks to the imperative of serving with compassion throughout our careers. It addresses the barriers to doing so and the strategies to ensure we can.

Supportive Chapters

• “Boundaries” (Chapter 24) is a critically important chapter in a body of work that states “absolute respect and unconditional love” are key to reaching youth. We must not be afraid of the word love, but we must be very clear about what it means and must practice love with boundaries, to be protective of our own emotions and to prevent youth from becoming reliant on us in a way that could interfere with their own autonomy. This chapter is a cornerstone of this work and should be continually reflected on as part of your organizational culture and individual practice. Boundaries are what allow us to serve over a lifetime while we maintain our personal lives. They are not what separate us from the youth we serve; they are what allow us to draw nearer.
• “Vicarious Resilience” (Chapter 25) reminds us that, in fact, this work itself is life-affirming and that we benefit from the privilege of working with young people.
• “Focusing and Building on Existing Strengths” (Chapter 44) is the heart of Reaching Teens. It is about both seeing young people the way they deserve to be seen and leveraging their behaviorally operational strengths to drive their forward progress. This strategy can be useful with all young people, but it can be key to engaging youth who feel demoralized and may have internalized disempowering messages.
• “Health Realization” (Chapter 47) assumes that humans have a natural predisposition to be healthy and that professionals can be more effective when we assume the role of facilitating youth back to that state of equilibrium.
• “Stress Management and Coping” (Chapter 50) allows you to move beyond telling youth what not to do and instead prepares you to suggest positive coping strategies that also alleviate stress. The comprehensive coping strategy presented will aid youth to choose healthy means to deal with discomfort rather than reach for potentially dangerous quick fixes.
• “Mindfulness Practice for Resilience and Managing Stress and Pain” (Chapter 51) helps youth live fully in the moment while they forget the past and not worry about the future. It relieves stress and allows focused thinking.
• Next, “The Importance of Self-care for Parents” (Chapter 57) reminds us that parents of this generation often sacrifice themselves to give to their children. We professionals have a critical role in reminding parents that they need to put their oxygen masks on first. They are the role models of healthy adults, and the greatest gift they can give their child is demonstrating wise decision-making, healthy coping strategies, and living a balanced life that cares for others along with self.
• In “Creating Healthy Organizations” (Chapter 92), Sandra L. Bloom, MD, author of multiple books on the subject, speaks to the organizational structures and processes that can be healthy or unhealthy. Without the scaffolding of healthy organizations, none of us can reach our potential to serve others while remaining whole ourselves.
• “Supporting Frontline Staff Who Bear Witness” (Chapter 93) addresses the toll that this work can take on each of us and the necessity of processing our triumphs and our challenges with those who can best relate to our experiences: our coworkers.
• In “Getting Out of the Fast Lane” (Chapter 94), Renée R. Jenkins, MD, FAAP, one of the most respected and beloved leaders in pediatrics and adolescent health and medicine, discusses how to remain satisfied and continue to contribute late into your career and even after formal retirement.
• “Have I Really Made a Difference?” (Chapter 95) reminds us that although we sometimes wonder whether we have made a difference, we need to trust that our guidance can have a lasting effect—even after our visits are a distant memory. Our knowledge that we are planting seeds restores us daily.