Understanding the Teenage Brain

Understanding, speaking to and interacting with teenagers is often hard. So, how can we understand the teenage brain a little better?

For our students here at St Julian’s, we want to develop the skills, attitudes
and knowledge necessary to recognise and regulate their emotions healthily. The counselling team supports our students in developing the skills to cope with stress, anxiety and other challenging emotions by learning to manage their emotions; young people are better able to deal with the challenges that come with growing up. We support our students in understanding what it takes to build and maintain healthy relationships, solve problems, resolve conflicts and make responsible decisions.

We know that students who develop social and emotional skills can better
manage their emotions and behaviours, leading them to be more motivated and focused and improve their decision-making skills. By learning problem-solving skills, our students can bounce back from setbacks better and build a
growth mindset that helps them persevere through tough times.

We support our students in many ways, through individual and small
group counselling, proactive assemblies and form tutor time where we teach our students about things like coping with exam stress, dealing with conflict, online safety, anti-bullying, etc.... We aim to place the wellbeing of everyone in our community at the heart of what we do to stay true to our values of kindness and compassion.

The counselling program here at St. Julian’s supports our community, including our parents/guardians. Parenting is the most rewarding but challenging role, and we want to be able to support our parent community as much as possible. 

To start our year supporting our parenting community, we will run a webinar on ‘Understanding the Teenage Brain’. In this webinar, we will explore teens' developmental growth, which can cause huge emotional and social changes during adolescence. 

A lot of confusion and tension can be lessened when parents are clearer about why their teenagers act as they do. The adolescent years are a roller coaster of intense ups and downs. They experience many opposite reactions, which cause much of the anxiety and emotional turmoil so common in this age group. We will look at what is happening in the teenage brain and ways you can support your teenager.

Please see all the webinar details below:
“Understanding the Teenage Brain”
Thursday, 28th of September, 2023
6.30 - 7.00 pm
Link to access Webinar
Led by Miss Edele Nolan

This webinar will be recorded and is open to all parents/guardians. You are welcome to attend whether you have a teenager or a younger child.

Miss Edele Nolan, Lead Counsellor in Secondary