Divorce and unhealthy parental relationships can have a profound effect on young people. They’re linked to emotional and behavioural mental health problems both during adolescence and young adulthood. This means that supporting parents undergoing conflict – and helping young people manage its consequences – should be a priority.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental health disorder that affects the way a young person sees themselves and interacts with the world around them. Young people with BPD often have an unstable or incoherent sense of self, patterns of unstable relationships, and intense emotional reactions. They may experience chronic feelings of emptiness and a fear of abandonment by others.
Dissociative experiences often happen when someone is exposed to a traumatic event. When someone experiences trauma, they may be overwhelmed by stress and detach, in some way, from their experience, emotions, and/or body. People who have experienced acute trauma often describe dissociating from their bodies and watching something happen to themselves.
Despite the mental health epidemic among adolescents and young adults, only a minority access treatment. Barriers to treatment are often institutional: in many places, specialist services do not exist, or spaces are lacking with long waiting lists. But many young people don’t seek help for mental health problems in the first place. Studies suggest that only 18-34% of young people with mental health disorders try to access professional support.
Internal family systems (IFS) therapy is a type of psychotherapy that understands each person – or mind – as having multiple parts. These inner parts are all valuable, but sometimes experiences like trauma can push parts into more extreme roles. This can cause a person to feel and act in negative or harmful ways and pull them away from their genuine, authentic self.
Families play a huge role in child and adolescent mental health. As some of the young people’s closest relationships, families can constitute a support system
For adolescents with BPD, early intervention and timely treatment are crucial to prevent long-term harm such as other mental health conditions or problems in school and social life. But research on adolescent treatment for BPD is still relatively limited and many established treatments for adults haven’t been studied among young people with the disorder.
Young people with all body shapes and weights can have eating disorders. Eating disorders are complex psychological conditions characterised by harmful attitudes and behaviours, such as restrictive eating, binge eating, and body dissatisfaction. Disordered eating behaviours can happen regardless of a person’s weight or what their body looks like.
While eating disorders are complex conditions, they are treatable. With the right support, young people can recover and enjoy a healthy, fulfilling future. Treatment providers who have experience working with autistic people can adapt therapy sessions and other approaches to ensure that treatment is comfortable and welcoming for each individual.
Have any questions or want to get started with the admissions process? Contact our friendly care team – they’ll be happy to answer any questions or concerns you might have and will walk you through how to prepare for your child’s stay at The Wave.
