When parents are going through separation or divorce, it’s normal for teenagers to feel many emotions and need time to adjust. Although divorce will be tough for you and everyone else in the family, it’s essential to do your best to be present with your teen. Talking to your teen and showing genuine interest in their activities can often go a long way.
Teenagers are more likely to cope with the effects of divorce by engaging in risky behaviours. Drug use and early sexual activity are more common among teens of divorce than their peers.
You can be rest assured that at Skooc, you and your family are in good hands.
Keep a lookout for some of the following signs of divorce-related mental health issues in your teenager:
Academic problems, like poor grades and a marked increase in truancy
Behaviour problems at school - may become less involved with school, responsibilities, and other activities
Defiance and non-compliance - may increase dangerous or self-abusive behaviour
Depression and Increased stress
Difficulty forming intimate relationships or may demand to be allowed to spend more time with their friends to stay away from the house
Sadness or anger at one parent or both - this can result in abusive behaviour such as shouting or name-calling or may take the form of withdrawal
Trouble getting along with siblings, peers, and parents
Trouble sleeping or binge-eating problems
May engage in risky behaviours such as early sexual activity, substance abuse and suicide attempts
May take the side of one parent and “punish” the other with abusive behaviour or by ignoring them outright.
If you notice recurring instances of a few of these symptoms in your teenager, we at Skooc recommend a formal evaluation.
At Skooc, we help you better understand what you and your teenager are going through. If your teen exhibits behaviour problems or is experiencing changes to their mood, seek professional help. They may benefit from talking to a mental health professional about the changes they are enduring. Sometimes, just a few therapy sessions can be instrumental in helping a teen sort out their feelings over a big issue like divorce. Your teenager’s reaction to the divorce may have lasting effects, so the sooner they get help, the better they will cope.
Click here to take an assessment.
Next Steps and Intervention
Our team of professional psychologists at Skooc can help you and your family by providing the necessary interventions. At Skooc, we believe that the design of the treatment plan of the teenager needs to be as individualized as possible, geared toward their specific needs, experiences, and preferences.
When treating teens of divorce, our therapists maintain a special awareness toward ways in which this might serve as a stressor or trigger for other symptoms. They also help to engage teens to address the effects that the divorce has had in their lives.
Throughout therapy, we are trying to help teens learn an awareness of themselves, which includes their behaviours, their feelings, their thought patterns, and their belief systems. This helps them address the main issue they’re struggling with (be it substance abuse or a mental health issue) as well as address their underlying behaviours.
"My daughter lost 11 kgs across the Skooc program which was more than 10% of her body weight and has stayed in the healthy range of BMI since then. She now makes the right decisions regarding her foods and is aware of the effect of what she eats and her exercise on her weight.
Skooc has helped my daughter get into a great shape physically and mentally. She has lost more than 15 kgs and has improved her health metrics enough that she is no longer at risk of chronic diseases. The program worked with my daughter and me to help us understand how to correct what we were doing. Very importantly, Avi and I no longer fight over what she eats and what she does not.
My son has lost 15 kgs and I lost 10 kgs through the Skooc program. It was easily paced and did not ever restrict my child from eating anything that was essential. He had a balanced meal everyday and he and his counsellor agreed on a schedule that was easy for me to cook too. From a child who watched TV all the time and ate junk food, Ayaan is now an active child and a healthy eater who is very happy and confident with how he looks.
Manish was severely obese with a risk of contracting chronic conditions. After joining the Skooc program, he has lost over 15 Kgs and has started to exercises everyday for 45 minutes. He suffered from pain in the knees which has gone now and he is able to run and play with his friends. It has been 1 year since he started to lose weight and he is still in the process successfully losing wight and getting healthy.
Ria was teased very badly in school for being fat and would be very embarrassed about even going out. When we went to the doctor we were shocked to find out that she was very overweight and had high cholesterol. We joined Skooc and both she and I have dropped our extra weight and even after finishing the full course are able to stick with the habits we learnt at Skooc. We are both very happy with our new healthy bodies.
My son suffered from constant digestive issues and obesity. He found it very difficult to run and play due to his thighs being very fat and also he suffered from pains in his knees, hips. He also had trouble breathing after even walking a small distance. We joined Skooc because we had tried to put Jay on a diet before and it had not worked. At Skooc, he dropped 24Kgs and is now a teenager who was healthily and works out everyday. I personally dropped 16Kgs and now we are both very close to entering our ideal weight zone