Lindsey and therapist Yasamin discuss what is positive self-esteem, threats to self esteem in teenagers and how parents can rebuild their self esteem.
ON THE SHOW
Host: Lindsey Steffen, LMHC
wellspringmiami.org
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Yasamin Nosrati-Shamloo, RMHC, Bounce! Coordinator
wellspringmiami.org
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TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 1: (00:00)
Welcome to wellspring on the air where professional Christian counselors share practical life and Bible insights. Why? Because hearts and minds matter. We’re glad you joined our show today to hear from our host Tova craps president of wellspring counseling in Miami. Tova is a licensed therapist with many years of experience as a Christian counselor to have a teacher’s rights and consults and life. FM is pleased to have wellspring counseling, restoring hearts and minds in our community. Welcome. I’m Lindsey stuff in a licensed mental health counselor at wellspring and cohost for wellspring on the air. Tova is out today, but I’m excited to talk with Yasmine. Shama Lou, my friend and fellow therapist at wellspring. Hi Yasmin. Hi Lindsay.
Speaker 2: (00:41)
Thanks for being with us today. We’re going to talk today about building self esteem in teenagers. So I think we hear a lot about self esteem now maybe in the news or different self-help psychology magazines, but we’re going to talk about what is positive self esteem. How can we notice if there’s low self esteem and our teenagers noticing the things that they’re dealing with specifically today in our culture and how can we help build and rebuild their self esteem. So if you are a parent or if you have a teen in your life who you love or if you work with teens, this would be an awesome show for you. The Yasmin, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself before we get started? Sure. I am a registered mental health counselor at wellspring and I love working with kids and teens and a lot of their issues kind of have a lot to do with their self esteem.
Speaker 2: (01:30)
So I’m glad we’re talking about this because it’s something that parents ask a lot too. They notice it in their teens and they’re wondering what can we do to help, you know, our kids feel better about themselves. Yeah. So Yasmine and I both work with a variety of ages, but we do specifically work with teenagers and I think we get a lot of parents bring their kids and teens in because of depression and anxiety. And almost always there’s some link to low self esteem or anxiety about what others are thinking of them or depression because they feel like they don’t belong or fit in. It don’t feel good about themselves. So we definitely, we have a lot to talk about with this topic. So let’s get started. Well first of all, positive self esteem. It’s important because it helps our teens feel brave enough to try new things, take healthy risks and solve problems.
Speaker 2: (02:21)
A young person with healthy self esteem is more likely to display the following characteristics so they can act mature, independent. They can take pride in the things that they do in their accomplishments. They can help others when it’s possible and they can manage frustration when they’re dealing with something that’s difficult. So yeah, self esteem is really the confidence in their own abilities and having respect for yourself. So self-respect, you see teens who have high self esteem, they feel like they’re accepted, they like themselves, they’re proud of what they do, they believe in themselves. And that’s kind of a contrast to kids that we see with self esteem, that they, they don’t feel good about themselves. They’re really critical and hard on themselves and they don’t think they’re good enough. So that’s really two contrasts thing. Yeah, qualities that they have. And I think we see it a lot even in the body language.
Speaker 2: (03:14)
So if you go to a school, you can tell the kids who feel good about themselves, the way they stand there, eye contact, the way they talk with their peers. And then you might notice the kids kind of more to the side, you know, not really engaging. I’m obviously feel uncomfortable. So just start to notice some things like that about your kids and teens you probably already do naturally, but just noticing that maybe they’re not, oh, they’re shy or a loaner, but really, you know, is there something that’s keeping them from engaging with their peers and really maybe even being involved in certain activities. Maybe they would love to play an instrument or play sport, but they just feel like they’re not good enough or they’ll fail. Something like that. Yeah. And digging more into this topic. I found a site that showed school counselors listing characteristics that describe the students they saw with low self esteem and the top five were withdrawn, shy and quiet, which is what you were saying, insecure under achieving.
Speaker 2: (04:11)
So not doing well in school could be a sign that they have low self esteem or don’t think well of themselves being negative. So just having a negative, pessimistic kind of attitude and showing to be unhappy. Yeah. Yeah. And I think we do, we see kids, they’ll avoid certain things if they, they’re not feeling confident or they have anxiety. So if your kid really starts to fight going to school or no, I don’t want to go to cheer practice or basketball. So learning to ask questions, you know, well how’s it going with your friends there? Or who’s your closest friend? They’re exploring kind of those open ended questions to see are they having a conflict or are they being bullied or is there something even performance wise, if it’s a sport or inquired instrument, do they feel like, oh, I’m not as good as the other kids.
Speaker 2: (04:57)
That’s key for parents to really listen to what their kids are saying. So if they make comments like, yeah, not feeling good enough or comparing themselves to the other kids in their school, putting themselves down like, no, my project wasn’t as good as their project or I got to, you know, I got a lower grade than the rest of the class. So kind of these comments that make it seem like it’s kind of a weird, you know, cause you, you think you think well of your child and then they’re saying all these negative comments and it doesn’t match up with how you see them. Yes. Um, so it’s a good thing to look out for, for parents. How are your kids talking about themselves? I think that’s good. What you just said about it not matching up with what you see. And I think you even see that in adults, adults who can’t take a compliment are very self critical, self deprecating humor.
Speaker 2: (05:43)
You know, obviously they don’t view themselves as perhaps their spouse or friends do. And so really getting to the root of why can’t you have a positive outlook on yourself? And the things you do, why does there have to be kind of that putting yourself piece always come and why is there discomfort with that? So we can go into a little more of signs of low self esteem. We’ve covered a lot of it, but like we said, avoiding new things, not taking new opportunities. Uh, I think a big one is feeling unloved and unwanted. And I hear that a lot in sessions with teens. You might too that they say, oh well she doesn’t want to be my friend or no they don’t really want me to be in their group or sit with them at lunch and it comes out in two ways. So I see kids that will withdraw and not want to be with anyone or you see teams that they are trying their hardest to get people to accept them.
Speaker 2: (06:37)
They’re going above and beyond, you know who they are and kind of acting not like themselves with other kids to fit in. So you kind of see the extremes. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s another sign of low self esteem is just difficulty making friends. But often it’s because like you’re saying, they’re trying so hard to fit in that they come across as ingenuine and authentic and kids pick up on that quickly. I think they’re more intuitive than we give them credit for, but they can tell if, oh, this girl she’s trying too hard or they might say she’s being too extra [inaudible] I’ve been like that a lot. A lot. Yeah, and they don’t like that. I think too, like you said, the negative self talk and comparing to others, that’s a huge red flag to notice your child probably is dealing with some self esteem and often blaming others for their mistakes.
Speaker 2: (07:24)
So if they don’t have confidence, they can’t fail and failure is actually a really normal, okay part of life. Even some of you know, our adult clients really struggle with that and come for that reason to counseling, but failing is just, it’s information, you know, okay, you didn’t do so great on this test, but now you know where you need to study more for the next one. But if you notice your child just, they can’t tolerate it or they’re so frustrated or so down on themselves that they crumble, you might notice, okay, they’re really tying who they are, their identity to what they do and their accomplishments. And to add to that, they kind of internalize their failure. So you know, they get, they, let’s say they fill an exam, like they take it really personally and then when they can’t bounce back or learn from it, they’re really self critical.
Speaker 2: (08:10)
Um, and then they start thinking like, I’m a bad student. I’m not smart enough. Yes. And Yeah, you’re right. A lot of that going into more, it’s not something they did. It wasn’t a mistake, but it’s more who they are. Well, I’m stupid or I’m not smart. I’m, I’m a loser. Those kinds of comments. So one more thing too, with teens I think noticing that they have like a poor self image. So a lot of teams now it’s a lot about body image, not liking how they look, how they feel. So uneasy sign is if your teen is telling you like, you know, I don’t like my hair, I don’t like how my body looks, I’m too fat. A lot of those comments that hint that they just don’t like who they are, their own identity and yeah, they look like, and I think a lot of our listeners will think, oh, okay, well that’s the girls struggle.
Speaker 2: (09:00)
But noticing that you’re a little guys, they feel the same way a lot of the time. So noticing, you know, we work even with young men who struggle with eating disorders or cutting more of those kind of stereotypical traits that people expect from a young female struggling. But there’s a lot of pressure on men to maybe, you know, be fit enough or muscular enough or whatever the case. I think especially here in Miami, there’s such an emphasis on fitness and looking good and appearance. So don’t think that doesn’t trickle down to your teenagers feeling like they have to be, you know, maybe skinny enough or curvy enough. It’s like there’s all these conflicting messages. You can never find the right balance or mix of what you’re supposed to be. So they need to just be them and that’s what we’re trying to teach them. Yeah.
Speaker 2: (09:47)
So we talked a little bit about how teenagers, they might avoid something but even that can often look different than just, oh I don’t want to go to practice anymore, but just kind of a lower level of motivation and interest. So maybe they’re even experiencing some of that depression and anxiety around their low self esteem, but they just all of a sudden, oh I don’t like doing this anymore. Oh I used to love to play soccer in the neighborhood, but now I don’t like to, and just a really quick shift. You notice with anything, any activity that they used to really enjoy, it’s definitely worth exploring. Like what happened here? You know, was there some altercation with friends or did they make a mistake? They missed a goal, whatever. And it’s something that they’ve really just struggled to work through and let go. Like we would in a more of a a normal processing way.
Speaker 2: (10:34)
Yeah. You noticed that they just want to like stay out of the public eye since they don’t have a good view of themselves in their minds they’re thinking everyone else is thinking that I’m, you know, a failure at school or not attractive and they’re just trying to keep out of the way, you know, to like not be noticed. Yeah. They don’t feel good about themselves so they hide, they want to hide. It makes me think of our teenagers who come in and have their hair like covering their eye Hoodie, a hoodie. My Gosh. Yeah. I was like, I’m like how are they wearing these hoodies? And they’re just covering their head and it’s like 80 degrees outside. You’re right though. I sat with a teenager yesterday, same thing in a Hoodie and long pants. I’m like sweating. They’re just hiding. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think too, I’ve noticed with a lot of teens who if they always wear long sleeves, sometimes I do.
Speaker 2: (11:21)
I kind of ask about cutting and look for things like that. Which those type of behaviors come out of low self esteem. So noticing if there’s a lot of pain. And emotional pain, self harm, things can start to come into play. And that’s a whole nother topic. But just noticing things like are there little scratches on arms, legs and things that might let you know, hey, our child’s struggling. You know, they’re not feeling good about themselves or about the world. So yeah. And it’s two extremes. It’s either not keeping themselves, you know, well put together at all. So like disheveled hair, not brushing their teeth, not caring about their appearance or going the other extreme and girls putting a massive amount of makeup, you know, waking up on an hour earlier for school to do their hair and makeup and pick out the outfit. So yeah, both extremes are something to look to look out for.
Speaker 2: (12:11)
You’re right. That’s a good point. So we kind of gave a picture of what low self esteem can look like in young men and young women. So Yasmine, what about other risk factors or things that can come out of low self esteem? So a lot of the research shows that teens with low self esteem can kind of get into abusive situations. And it even leads to female Havoline like teen pregnancy, like, which is really interesting because when you don’t feel good about yourself, you don’t value yourself. And you kind of don’t have that boundary to protect from people harming you. You, you don’t care about yourself. So you kind of opened the door to be hurt by others. It’s true. You feel pure pressure and different things that maybe if you were confident you would stand up and say, no, I don’t deserve this kind of treatment.
Speaker 2: (12:58)
Or, you know, I deserve to be treated in x, Y, and Z way. But if you don’t feel good about yourself, you think, oh, I deserve anything I can get, I guess. Yeah. And even a females opening themselves up to be accepted, they really want to be loved. So that acceptance and coming in, you know, and allowing men to treat them poorly and leads the early, you know, unwanted sexual behaviors that, you know, a lot of the times ends up in pregnancy and that’s rough for, yeah, they’re too young. They don’t have a lot of that education and know what to do with such, you know, adult topics of like protecting yourself. And I think we see, even with guys actually some of our young men will come in and they feel a pressure because they’re being pressured by young ladies to engage in stuff physically that they’re not comfortable with yet. So it kind of, again, we see both sides of that. So that’s why we’re talking about self esteem because if we have strong, independent, confident young men and women, we actually protect them from a lot of really big consequences. Some that can be even lifelong. So changing. Yeah. Yeah. All right, well we’re going to take a quick break. I’m Lindsay Stephan with wellspring on the air and we’ll be right back.
Speaker 1: (14:08)
Wellspring now offers professional Christian counseling at six locations in Dade County. Therapist are now taking clients at two new locations, one at Crossbridge, Miami Springs and Kiva Skein for more information, (786) 573-7010 or wellspring miami.org for more information.
Speaker 2: (14:28)
Welcome back. I’m Lindsay Stephan with wellspring on the air and I’m here with Yasmin Sham allude. Today we’re talking about self esteem and teenagers and how to build self esteem and our teenagers. So the first part of the show we covered some signs of low self esteem, noticing if your teens are avoiding new things, if they’re having difficulty making friends, fear of failure and a lot of other that they might be struggling with confidence and their self worth. Now we’re going to talk more about threats to their self esteem and then how can we build and rebuild self esteem. So we definitely, this is something that it’s not lifelong, it’s not permanent. We can change, we can rebuild and bring confidence to areas of our teens life where maybe they’re feeling shaky or unsure of themselves. So Yasmin, any threats to self esteem and our teenagers? Now that’s a loaded question.
Speaker 2: (15:22)
Yeah, there’s so many. So many and it’s hard when parents come in and they, they want to wonder why, you know, they, they’re asking why, how did my team get like this? You know, what led to this? And there’s so many different factors that research shows. There’s just not one thing. But the major things that we’ve noticed is that poor school performance really affects teenagers and their self esteem. And this is good to look out for, for, you know, for parents to notice, is my teen struggling in a subject? Is there like a learning disability here that we have not caught? That would be helpful for me to get some help for my teen tutoring. Tutoring is really important. If your teen is struggling in school, it’s not about getting A’s, but for them to feel confident that they’re, you know, intelligent and to grasp things in school is really important for teens to feel like they have mastery over what they’re learning.
Speaker 2: (16:12)
Yup. Yeah. I noticed that a lot of the teens now coming in, that the high schools here specifically in the Miami area, there’s so much pressure and they come in. Probably the biggest stressor I’d say my teens say is academic, which is kind of a shift. I think it used to be more, the social components was the number one, but they’re so stressed about getting into the right high school and then getting into the right college. And I don’t know, maybe I’m a little older, but I remember you just applied to a couple of colleges back in the day and now they’re applying to 20 and it’s insane. Just, you know, even the stress in their senior year, junior year having to basically have a full time job of applying to 20 different colleges and all the essays. So yeah, I think what you’re saying with poor performance, they need realistic goals, realistic goals for themselves in middle and high school and then even for their future that it’s okay if you don’t get into all five ivy league schools.
Speaker 2: (17:07)
That’s okay. Yeah. It’s accepting kind of where you are in the process. And I think that the two major areas I see kids get bullied in is school performance. Like you’re dumb, you’re not intelligent and you’re fat. So their appearance. Oh, so appearance and intelligence are two things where I feel kids are the hardest on themselves and where their self esteem really suffers if they don’t feel strong in those categories. Yeah. Which is something that research shows to obesity, like teens that are obese is really leading towards, you know, they’re poor self esteem. So then we start to have bullying and then those feelings of isolation and loneliness at school because like I’m ugly, I’m fat. I have teens say that all the time, especially with social media. Oh, this girl, this guy, they called me fat on Instagram or on whatever and it’s devastating to them because it’s very public.
Speaker 2: (17:59)
It’s not just like, oh, someone said this at school in class and 15 people heard it. It’s like, no. In their world it’s hundreds of people or the whole school has seen it. Yeah. It’s kind of your put out there. Yeah. I think those are two things that kids pick up on the most in school. Yeah. That they tease each other about. And you’re right. Just along with that, it’s their quote unquote friends who are these bad influences are who are really ripping their self esteem apart. So this person, I talk a lot with my teens about what is a true friend. So this person who’s always criticizing you and putting you down, they’re obviously not your friend, but teens, they’re so desperate to not be lonely or not be vulnerable to being bullied by sitting alone at lunch. That they’ll take almost anything they can get.
Speaker 2: (18:45)
It seems as far as, well at least I have a friend group. Yeah, they’re really horrible people. I’ve heard that. But at least I don’t sit by myself. Cause if you sit by yourself, then you might get bullied. And that’s their biggest fear. There’s so much of that now with bullying. And I know a lot of schools are very vigilant trying to eradicate that. But you just see that there’s a lot of, with social media and just kids are slick, you know, they’re gonna, they’re gonna find a way to put other kids down. Yeah. Another thing I noticed was lack of participation in school activities is specially sports. We underestimate the value of being like on a sports team or a team that you know you’re working together, you’re building a community with other people, you’re encouraging one another towards a common goal that is so much for someone’s self esteem in a, in a team setting.
Speaker 2: (19:34)
Yeah, you’re right. Because they do, again, they have that sense of belonging that fights the loneliness and isolation and yeah they also get that positive reinforcement of the physical activity releasing their serotonin. So you’re fighting depression, you’re fighting anxiety and those mood disorders are always linked to a low self esteem. So it’s kind of like which comes first. I mean they can either way depression can breed low self esteem or low self esteem can turn into depression. So you’re definitely, you’re doing your kids a great service when you have them involved in healthy team building activities. Yeah. Parents play a huge role in you know, bolstering their child’s self esteem or you know, taking punches to it. Yeah. Because research does show that unsupportive parents or caretakers definitely are very influential in teenagers having low self esteem, which is obvious. The people who are supposed to be building you up and you know, reinforcing that, hey, you have these awesome qualities.
Speaker 2: (20:32)
I see this in you. If those are the people who are kind of absent or even damaging you by tearing you down, you know you’re going to start to view the world and assume that others view you in the same way that those people do. Yeah. I also found that parents don’t set appropriate limits, actually can harm their child and bring about the low self esteem because kids can feel like, my parents don’t care about me. Yeah. Yeah. That’s really important for parents to know. Like when you’re setting appropriate boundaries for your kids, you’re actually bolstering their self esteem and you’re, you’re giving the message that we care about you. You’re someone that’s important to us, um, and you’re loved by us and we’re going to take care of you. So take heart parents, when they, they hate you and they’re yelling and never want to see you again.
Speaker 2: (21:17)
Really they’re feeling that you love them. Yeah. Parents don’t believe me hearing that, but it’s true boundaries. I’ve actually, I’ve even had teenagers who are a little more mature. Say I wish my parents would tell me no or I wish they would set a boundary because often they, they can’t, they don’t have the emotional developmental age to really self-regulate and to say, no, I’m not gonna go to this party. Even if they know they shouldn’t. Like if I go to this party, I’m going to smoke marijuana. I wish my mom would say that I can’t go because I can’t say no to my friends. So I’ll even tell parents, I say, let them use you as an excuse. Let them say, oh sorry, my mom said I can’t go. You know, because I think sometimes it’s true teens, that’s a lot of pressure. They’re trying to please their friends and fit in and do enough socially.
Speaker 2: (22:03)
But maybe they really do have a pure heart desire to do the right thing, but they need some help. Some support, like you’re saying. Yeah. And the keyword is appropriate. So fostering good relationships with, you know, your teen and their friends is really important. So as parents, you should be looking out to see, you know, what are the good friends that your child has in their life and, you know, allowing your child to hang out with those friends versus, you know, friends who are less supportive and you hear comments when they’re over your house of, you know, them putting down your teen or um, you know, being involved in a risky kind of behaviors. So as a parent you have to guide your, you know, your child to, you know, foster those, those healthy relationships. Yeah. And even being mindful, maybe it’s a stressful time in the family’s life, so maybe there’s a divorce or a separation or even just moving to a new house, you know, different things like this that are going on that’s going to affect your teenager, you know, changed.
Speaker 2: (23:01)
Um, even other traumas and abuses. Anything going on is something that they’re, a little mind is trying to input, figure out what to do with it, but they don’t have all the skills, life skills yet, or even the cognitive development to deal with these really big adult issues. So just being mindful that you know what, if you know we’re going through a divorce or we’re moving something like that, or moving to a new school, probably my teen might feel a little shaky or unsure of who they are and their identity. So let me make sure that I’m helping build their self esteem. Yeah. Just in the general developmental stages, teens are in the stage where they are developing their identity. Yeah. So I think that is why they, it takes the biggest hit to their self esteem because any comments, anything that they do wrong or they feel like they made a mistake or how things are communicated to them, they’re taking that personally.
Speaker 2: (23:53)
And that is what’s forming the foundation of their identity. Yeah. So any positive reinforcement, any a positive experience they can have is helping their self identity grow to be healthy. And you’re kind of, you’re moving into the end of our show really. So that’s a great transition. How to build and rebuild self esteem. So we’ve talked about the threats of what’s threatening the self esteem in our teenagers, but then what can we do about it? So that’s the hard stuff. Where’s this is the positive side. There is hope and there is a chance for you to, even now maybe your teenagers, 16, 17, you feel like it’s too late. It’s really not. It’s amazing how quickly you can give your child a corrective experience and undo some of that old stuff. So we talked about setting appropriate limits. Um, but also I say this to parents because this is one that goes unnoticed, shutting down any unhelpful comments that are going around in the family or even with friends circles.
Speaker 2: (24:52)
So it could be like, you know, your teenagers cousin or even the siblings in the home, you know, those underhanded comments that are derogatory and that just don’t fit in. Sometimes parents can be like, oh, but they’re just teasing. It’s, you know, they’re, they’re having fun. That’s what brothers and sisters do, but really it’s, it’s not positive and it’s not helpful. Um, and those kinds of comments really have to be shut down quickly in the family system because even if you think these comments are just teasing or funny, they’re really being internalized by teenagers and that’s where they’re getting their information about who they are. Yeah, I think you’re touching on not embarrassing them, not shaming them. That’s a huge thing because actually when I sit with adult clients, it’s usually some sort of shaming moment that has really stuck with them, even if overall their experience wasn’t being shamed.
Speaker 2: (25:42)
But those moments really stick with us and hurt us and we carry them. So noticing if you’re having a moment where you can feel your temper flaring up, not to yell at your child, but you need to cool off, you need to go to your room count, whatever. Especially nonpublic shaming your kids in public is really, really damaging. So avoiding criticism that takes the form of ridicule or shame. If your kid does something you don’t like, it’s better to tell them what they could do instead. So don’t use negative language. Don’t name call but say, Hey, no, I didn’t like when you blank instead, could you done, done, done. So that’s very clear. You’re telling them, this is what I didn’t like, this is what I would like. They have a clear expectation. They know what you’re looking for and what you don’t want. We can’t assume our kids know, hey, stop doing that and okay, but what do you want me to do in place of that?
Speaker 2: (26:36)
And also I think it’s important for parents to praise the process and the characteristics of their kids. So it’s not about congratulations, you got an a, it’s congratulations. You put so much effort into this project. I really valued, you know, your effort and how much you, you know, put into it. And even like in sports teams, if you know, they didn’t want to gain, but your bravery, your courage, you know that you went out there and it was a hard team and you stuck it through anyway. So you’re praising their resilience and those characteristics that they’re going to need later on in their adulthood. So when things don’t go well, yeah. So being really generous with that praise and again not always praising achievements like Yasmin saying, but praising their positive characteristics. So I love that you stuck it out to the end do you already, you kind of knew you were going to lose by maybe halfway through but you stuck it out, you didn’t give up, you persevered and then teaching them to make those positive self statements.
Speaker 2: (27:33)
So kids, they take on a lot of what is modeled to them. So if we model anxiety they’re probably going to struggle with anxiety. If we model even with ourselves making positive self statements then they’re going to start picking that up that okay, like that’s a normal thing to do. I can feel good about myself. It’s not prideful, I’m not. Yeah, so if they see you making positive self statements then they know that that’s normal and good for them to do as well and you helping them by modeling positive self statements for them. So you almost having the language around what they’re doing well, what you notice in them and then they can start to pick that up about themselves. You’re right about that point because parents need to also praise themselves for things they do. Well. You’re right. Modeling that to their kids. I mean, parents are the ultimate teachers.
Speaker 2: (28:20)
I don’t think they realize how much, you know, your kids are watching your every move and they’re in in model what you do. Yeah. So parents really need to spend quality time with their kids. So listen to them, help them learn new things, help them achieve their goals. Just being connected to them, being emotionally attuned to them, that gives them that sense of belonging. And really for children and teens, we know that self esteem, it often comes from knowing that they’re loved and that they belong to a family that values them. So the family unit is a huge, huge piece of their self esteem. If they don’t feel that love and acceptance at home, that’s when they start to be at risk for things like gang activity and you know, calling in with the wrong crowd because they need a sense of belonging. All right, well, any last points, Yasmin, before we wrap up for today? Oh Man, I’ve enjoyed talking about this. Yeah. It’s fun for us, I think to work with teens and to bolster their self esteem and yeah. Yeah, and to pass on some knowledge how parents can do it too. It doesn’t take a professional work on self esteem with your kid. There’s so many things that you can do and hopefully this was helpful today. Just teaching them by spending time with them, teach them about decision making, teach them about making positive self statements and teach them that it’s good in normal and healthy to feel confident in yourself.
Speaker 1: (29:42)
So, all right, well we’re going to wrap up for today. I’m Lindsay Stephan with wellspring on the air because hearts and minds matter wellspring on the air as a production of wellspring counseling, a nonprofit professional counseling center with multiple locations in Miami Dade County. Wellspring therapists are licensed by the state of Florida and Christian in their worldviews. They have wide ranges of clinical expertise including marriage, family, anxiety, depression and trauma. They’re a diverse group of therapists, includes several who speak Spanish or Portuguese. If you would like to know more about wellspring services of counseling and education, go to their website. At wellspring miami.org or give them a call@seveneightsixfiveseventhreesevenzeroonezerooremailthemoutontheairatwellspringmiami.org again, you can find a way to contact them@wellspringmiami.org.
