Every day, the average teenager encounters various forms of significant stress. Many adolescents successfully cope with this daily reality. However, increasingly, teens across the country are experiencing mental health crises. Such a crisis can directly impact your child’s ability to function—in a worst-case scenario, it can even have fatal consequences. What’s more, a mental health crisis may be accompanied by substance abuse.
A co-occurring intervention can help your child recover from these overlapping problems. This kind of intervention uses a range of techniques to achieve its goals. Call 888.291.2309 to speak with someone from Imagine Fort Collins about our crisis intervention techniques with teens.
What Is an Adolescent Crisis?
As an adult, it’s easy to forget or overlook how stressful life as a teenager can be. Most American teens face several daily stressors, including:
- Peer pressure
- Bullying
- Academic pressure
- Overpacked schedules
- Lack of adequate sleep
- Family problems
- Poor dietary choices
In past generations, many adolescents could find temporary safe harbors from their stressful lives. However, the internet, social media, and constant connectivity make this much more challenging today. If anything, the situation has worsened since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
An adolescent crisis occurs when stress overwhelms your child and leads to certain dangerous behaviors. These behaviors may leave your teen unable to function normally. They may also put them at risk for self-harm or suicide. In addition, they may lead your child to harm others. Everyday life stressors can trigger a crisis. It can also result from extraordinary stress caused by situations like losing a loved one or parental divorce.
What Is Crisis Intervention for Teens?
Crisis intervention refers to the efforts to end a mental health crisis safely. These efforts are usually short-term. They’re designed to help defuse the situation, not provide ongoing treatment. Once the crisis passes, your child may not need any further help. However, they may also benefit from follow-up enrollment in a mental health program.
Some teens start drinking or using drugs during a mental health crisis. The specific goal of this behavior is self-medication. However, it can easily contribute to the following:
- Substance addiction
- Damaging, non-addicted drug or alcohol abuse
- Combined symptoms of each of these issues
In this situation, co-occurring crisis intervention for teens may be needed. This kind of intervention addresses the mental health crisis itself. It also addresses your child’s substance use.
8 Crisis Intervention Techniques with Teens
Crisis intervention specialists use several methods to help your child. The most common crisis intervention techniques used with teens include the following:
- Conducting an assessment of your child’s situation
- Establishing a conversational rapport
- Identifying the specific issues affecting your child
- Helping your child express their thoughts and feelings
- Providing short-term support for coping with these thoughts and feelings
- Exploring ways to cope more effectively in the future
- Creating a plan based on the chosen coping strategies
- Following up on the outcome of that plan
An intervention specialist will also assess your family about your teen’s current situation and needs.
Find Teen Crisis Intervention Techniques in Colorado at Imagine Fort Collins
Want to know more about teen crisis and co-occurring interventions? Speak to the professionals at Imagine Fort Collins. We’ll happily explain in more detail when intervention is needed and how it works.
Imagine Fort Collins offers both crisis intervention and co-occurring intervention services. We aim to help your child weather a crisis and safely reach the other side. We also feature a full slate of mental health programs for teens who need follow-up care. Contact Imagine Fort Collins today at 888.291.2309 for more information, or fill out our online contact form.