Summary
Today, adolescents are not merely experiencing a mental health epidemic; they are facing a crisis of hopelessness. Despite more mental health services, highly trained professionals, and reduced stigma, nearly half of adolescents have a diagnosable disorder, and 15% report major depression. Psychologists, mental health professionals, medical personnel and ministry will explore how the erosion of developmental wellness anchors such as, spiritual practices, meaningful relationships, and purpose-driven living, which has left teens vulnerable to emotional distress. Drawing on Hope Theory research, participants will identify how hope and mental wellness influence each other and how hope can be cultivated as a skill shaped by early experiences and social support. Participants will examine strategies to assess adolescent wellness with rigor, apply existential and logotherapy approaches, and help young clients build both agency, belief in their ability to act toward goals, and pathways, strategies to overcome obstacles, during this critical developmental stage. Emphasis will be placed on integrating family, peer, and spiritual support to restore protective wellness anchors.
Learning Objectives
Outline how hope and adolescent mental wellness influence each other, recognizing that the breakdown of developmental wellness anchors is driving today’s unprecedented adolescent mental illness rates, not a lack of access to services.
Apply Charles Snyder’s Psychology of Hope framework with adolescent clients, using age appropriate interventions to build agency and pathways during identity formation.
Utilize wellness-based assessment and intervention strategies with adolescent clients struggling with anxiety and depression, bringing in existential approaches to tackle hopelessness and loss of meaning, while working alongside families to rebuild the protective wellness anchors this generation has lost.