Mental health resources for teens
October 10, is World Mental Health Day. Discover a series of guided audio meditations from AboutKidsHealth that you and your teen can use to support your mental health. Mindfulness involves paying attention, on purpose, with kindness. It can help you reduce stress and improve your mood and energy levels. Below is a list of eight audio meditations from AboutKidsHealth to help you get started. The videos are linked below, or you can access them all in the meditations playlist on the AboutKidsHealth YouTube channel.
Discover a series of guided audio meditations from AboutKidsHealth that you and your teen can use to support your mental health
5 sense
Connect to the present moment using your senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Use this meditation when you want to ground yourself in the here-and-now or if you are having unwanted thoughts, feeling physical discomfort or experiencing uncomfortable emotions. Watch here.
Dropping the anchor
Connect to your breath. Use this meditation to steady yourself when you are feeling overwhelmed or have any unwanted thoughts, feelings or sensations. Watch here.
The mountain
Find a sense of stillness within yourself. Use this meditation when you are feeling upset or agitated. Watch here.
Dilute the yuck
Identify pleasant or neutral experiences in the middle of discomfort. Use this meditation when you are overwhelmed, feeling pain or discomfort or going through any unwanted experience. Watch here.
Self-compassion
Develop kindness and compassion toward yourself. Use this meditation to acknowledge physical pain or unpleasant emotions without harshness or judgment. Watch here.
Body scan
Practise paying attention to your body. Use this meditation if you want to reset, refocus or bring yourself back to the present moment. Watch here.
Circle of gratitude
Find help with self-talk and to notice nice things about yourself or others. Use this meditation any time, on your own or with family or friends. Watch here.
Tree meditation
Learn to take care of yourself when you feel out of control. Use this meditation when things feel chaotic and while sitting, standing, lying down or even walking. Watch here.
Mindfulness of thought
Slow down your thoughts and meditate on them. Use this meditation when you are feeling distracted with too many thoughts in your mind. Watch here.
Visit AboutKidsHealth’s mental health learning hub for teens for more audio meditations. In addition to the eight audio meditations above, there are guided meditations intended to help teens cope with pain, find calm or cope with stress. Click the Guided meditations tab in the learning hub for the complete list, or explore the learning hub for articles and animated videos your teen can use to learn about various mental health conditions and to support their own mental health and overall wellbeing.
AboutKidsHealth is SickKids’ health-education website and features more than 3,500 articles on a range of health topics. For more information on mental health and other health topics, visit teens.aboutkidshealth.ca.
