16-19 years of age

The transition from teenage, through adolescence and into adulthood can be a very challenging time for both young people and their parents. Some of the changes taking place will be physical, such as a change of body shape and size, and other changes will be around the young person developing a sense of who they really are, especially in relation to being an individual and separate from their families.

It is a necessary part of a young person’s development to want to become more independent and it is really important that young people are encouraged and supported at this special time.

Young people in this age group will be faced with having to make many choices, these may include;
• Whether to stay on at school or college, or to look for work instead
• What subjects to choose
• Which university to go to
• Which parent to live with
• What career path to follow
• Whether to have sex
• Whether to try drugs

A parent’s or carer’s role at this time is to help their adolescent to trust in their own abilities to make informed decisions. This can be done by keeping the channels of communication open and being supportive in finding out useful information.

Because of all the changes, this can often be a time of conflict, conflict within the young person as well as with authority figures such as teachers and parents. Young people start to assert themselves generally, and also in response to parents’ fear of letting go. Sometimes a family situation can get so bad that it becomes unbearable for everybody.

Counselling (link to our counselling page) can be really helpful at these times, as it provides a space for the young person to explore their feelings and frustrations with someone who is qualified to listen. The young person can be helped to understand their own feelings, gain new insight into their own behaviours and so learn to take responsibility for themselves, which is so important as they move towards adulthood.

If you feel it would be useful to have someone to talk to, you can email sam@visyon.org.uk, if you are in the Cheshire area.

Other places to go for information and help

For particular issues, try our information links.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/mental_health/emotion_index.shtml
The BBC website has a wide variety of information about emotional health and well-being, with more general health information from the BBC, including relaxation and complementary therapies http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ here.

There is a young people’s health site at http://www.thesite.org/ TheSite and more specific emotional health information is on the http://www.youngminds.org.uk/ YoungMinds site.

For more about relaxation, you could try http://www.learningmeditation.com

If you are having thoughts about suicide, you can contact the Samaritans http://www.samaritans.org/ or, specifically for young people, Papyrus, http://www.papyrus-uk.org/

If you have questions about sex and have decisions to make, you could try
http://www.ruthinking.co.uk/ or http://www.maketherightdecision.co.uk/html/helpline.htm maketherightdecision for things to think about.