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Your teen can talk about what makes them anxious, but still can't get out of the car and go into school. They know withdrawing makes depression worse, but getting out of bed feels overwhelming. They can name coping skills in therapy, yet those skills disappear during an argument at home. As a parent, you may […]

The number of individuals identifying as non-heterosexual orientations or identities has increased by 25 times compared to the oldest generations still living. According to Gallup polls, since the Silent Generation born before 1945, each subsequent generation has seen the rate of non heterosexual identification double. The CDC’s 2023 survey on youth reports that slightly over […]

We hear this all the time. When my child is told “No,” they lose it. Maybe it’s an emotional meltdown, maybe it’s anger and lashing out, maybe it’s flight and self-isolation. Whatever the case may be, many of us parents have all struggled with a child who doesn’t like to be told, “No,” “You can’t,” […]

Watching your teen lie isn’t just frustrating……it’s often confusing and hurtful.And it can leave you wondering if something deeper is going on beneath the surface.  When dishonesty becomes repetitive or feels compulsive, most parents don’t just see a lie.They see a pattern.A breakdown of trust.A behavior that just does not seem to make sense with […]

If you’re parenting a teen right now, it can feel like everything is changing at once…  Moods. Motivation. Interests. Reactions. That’s not failure. That’s brain development. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change, adapt, and rewire itself based on new experiences.  During adolescence, that ability is especially strong – which means the teen brain is highly responsive to routines, […]

If you’ve watched your teen melt down over something that seems small (a lost earbud, a B-minus, a text that didn’t get answered), it’s easy to think they’re being “dramatic.” But it isn’t a performance. It’s biology. Stress is a switch that flips on the nervous system, and when it stays on day after day, […]

1 in 6 Texas teens experience a major depressive episode each year. 1 in 9 have serious thoughts of suicide. According to teens, school is one of the biggest contributors to their mental health. We can’t pretend these things don’t influence one another, but we often fail to address it. We talk even less about […]

Constantly changing medications or dosages? Yet another professional with yet another new diagnosis followed by more new medications? A medication to combat the side effects of the other medication which was a supplement added when the first medication didn't work? Do any of those sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. This is a very […]

1-in-5 Texas youth experiences a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral concern.  Some teens will receive a diagnosis due to their symptoms, but others won’t. What you might not realize is that the reason behind the symptoms is far more important than fitting them in a box to suit diagnostic criteria.  You can think of a […]

“You just need to make them go to school. What’s so hard about that?” If you have a teen experiencing school avoidance, you’ve probably heard something similar before.  School avoidance is exactly what the name suggests: a child avoiding going to school. A life impacted by school avoidance includes an abundance of absences, missing out […]