13: Mindfulness skills improve change tolerance with college bound teens

Today’s guest is Marni Goldberg a licensed marriage and family therapist and licensed professional counselor in La Jolla, California. Marni works with college bound teens and their parents in mindfulness skill building to help them manage the transition. In today’s episode she shares her own personal experience in managing anxiety when she was younger to learning new skills when at college. In this episode you will learn: *Marni’s personal experience of working with anxiety when younger *Can be difficult transition from high school to college *Marni began to create programs to teach life skills to ease transition *Teenager may have excelled in high school, but have others in college that also excel and perfectionism can set in *Pressures on having high achievements vs knowing internal strengths and being enough *Coping skills that are taught: *Self-monitoring-how you feel, what are your thoughts *Body awareness-do you need more sleep *Time management *Physical exercise *Relaxation techniques *Getting involved in social events and social support *Raising awareness helps in being more proactive in getting support vs waiting until anxiety or depression symptoms feel overwhelming *Mindfulness can help manage insecurities and “need to know now” thoughts from perceived external drivers *Parents have loving intentions in supporting teens in high school and may not realize doing too much for teen doesn’t teach decision making skills *Role play with your teen regarding getting on public transportation or doing an activity for first time on their own *Exploring your teenagers fears *Create a plan together *Marni shares own stories with her clients regarding having to write her first check and being able to laugh at herself with self-compassion *Explore potential risky situations and what to do *Marni works mostly with families or young adults who are ready to make a change in their life *Psycho-education for parents regarding creating safe container for their teen and confidentiality of a session *Important to have parents involved and help improve relationships between parents and teen *Relaxation techniques *Gratitude journaling *Progressive relaxation and guided meditation *Writing down teens strengths *Self-compassion *Get out into nature *Play/have some fun *Does a strength assessment at beginning of therapeutic process *Reminds teens it is ok to stay connected with high schools and build new relationships at college If you liked this episode I invite you to subscribe on iTunes to receive the weekly updates. This podcast is also available on Stitcher and Google Play. http://launchingyourdaughter.com I want to invite you to join my new FB group called Launching Your Daughter. Here you find not only the weekly episodes, but I share articles and blogs to help encourage and inform. Marni’s Information: http://www.mindfulmatterscounseling.com/