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Introduction to adolescent mental health
Introduction to adolescent mental health

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2.2 The importance of professional help

The following activity will take you through an example of how seeking professional help can really improve some people’s mental health.

Activity 5: Understanding the importance of professional help

In the first clip John Goss, a professional counsellor talks about the issues he listens to when a young person comes to see him.

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Video 3: John Goss and the issues young people face.
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Now listen to the following audio and make a note of the things that this mum found to be important about her families work with a professional therapist.

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Audio 2
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Answer

John stresses that within the counselling room it is possible for young people to describe things that they may be hiding from others as they attempt to ‘look fine’ on the surface. This mum initially describes the importance of one the techniques they were taught to use with their daughter as part of the CBT, this was called ‘worry time’ and it was a period of time fenced off from the rest of the day in which they would discuss with their daughter any ongoing concerns she had. But she also highlights how crucial the therapist was in highlighting the progress steps that she was making, and how this was taking her through to recovery. It was this progress that helped the family see what the therapist described as the ‘green shoots’ and how things were improving.

A therapist will find ways of intercepting and challenging the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviours so that different thought patterns are created and reinforced. By encouraging reinterpretation of a young person’s responses to certain triggers, the practitioner can help to break the cycle of unhelpful responses. If CBT doesn’t work, there are other types of therapy available such as person-centred counselling. You can find out more about these different types of therapy via the NHS website [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

Sometimes other forms of treatment are needed. You will learn more about medical interventions in the next section.