Has your teenager experienced a trauma that’s effecting their mental health? Perhaps you’ve asked them to see a therapist but they resist because it takes ‘too long & they can’t fit therapy in with all their studies’ & other commitments.

If this sounds like a problem your family has been struggling with, you’re going to get a lot of ideas during this episode.

Introduction & Welcome

Dr Marie Thompson is a Clinical Psychologist and Medical Director at Vivamus. She specialises in EMDR which is a very effective treatment in helping with all sorts of issues including trauma, bereavement, anxiety and relationship issues.

Today’s Topic - The problem we’re solving

Good morning!

Today I’m interviewing Dr Marie Thompson  from The Vivamus Clinic in Health Care City for the Raising Mentally Fit Kids’ podcast🎙

We’re going to talk about helping teens deal with trauma using EMDR Therapy.

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Has your teen been struggling to deal with something that’s happened to them❓

Are you concerned about them being traumatised and not coping with their memories, emotions and worries? 😳

Are they refusing therapy because they can’t fit it in with school work & they don’t want to talk to a stranger for hours & hours?

Do you doubt yourself or feel guilty that they’re not getting therapy even though you know something is not quite right 🤔

Dr Thompson & I are going to chat about a therapy called EMDR that could be just what you’re looking for.

Please leave any questions you’d like me to ask Dr Marie in the comments before 11am & I’ll make sure your question is answered in the podcast.

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Thank you!

1. Can you explain the basics about EMDR…what it is, what happens & how it works?

2. How does it compare to CBT & other talk therapy?

3. What positive results have you seen in adolescents?

4. Who would this treatment be a good fit for?

5. How can listeners book an appointment with you?

How do we know when headaches, tummy aches & feeling sick have turned into an anxiety disorder? 😷 🤕 🤢

Introduction & Welcome

Dr Devinder Kapoor is a Specialist in Homeopathy and certified in NAET and Functional Medicine. She brings over 18 years of experience specializing in Homeopathic practice, and she believes in Holistic Medicine, all about addressing the root cause of the disease, not chasing the medicine to treat the symptoms. The Homeopathic treatment facilitates the patients with a phenomenal experience of healing which helps them to become “unstuck” from chronic dysfunctional patterns at the somatic, mental, social, spiritual, and developmental levels. It triggers a healing response resulting in greater sense of “freedom” at multiple levels.

Today’s Topic - The problem we’re solving

Good morning!

Today I’m interviewing Dr Devinder from The Chiron Clinic In Sustainable City for the Raising Mentally Fit Kids’ podcast🎙

We’re going to talk about physical anxiety symptoms & when to get an intervention.

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Does your child complain of tummy aches, feeling sick & headaches❓

Do you worry about believing them? 😳

Do you doubt yourself or feel guilty when you send them into school feeling like this? 🤔

Dr Devinder & I are going to chat all about these common parenting worries.

Please leave any questions you’d like me to ask Dr Dev in the comments before 11am & I’ll make sure your question is answered in the podcast.

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Thank you!

Questions:

1. What questions do parents ask you about anxiety related problems in your clinic?

2. What are the most common physical symptoms of anxiety & why do children get them?

3. When is it time to get an intervention?

4. What treatment do you recommend to parents whose children’s anxiety has started to effect their day to day functioning?

5. What reassurance can you give parents who send their children in to school even when they’re complaining about anxiety aches & pains?

Did you know that children's quality of their mental health greatly affects their personal, academic and professional success? How do you think your children cope with conflict, uncomfortable situations, and stress? How can you know if they are getting the right balance?

Welcome to the Raising Mentally Fit Kids podcast!

I am so thrilled to finally introduce you to podcast your kids NEED you to listen to. Tune in to my pilot episode, where I dive deep to help you clarify just how mentally “fit” your child is.

We will be answering some of your most pressing questions to find out if our kids truly have what it takes to deal with the conflict, uncomfortable situations, and stress of everyday life.

Don't forget to like and share, and follow me for more content like this!

Teenagers spend such an enormous amount of their lives at school. It’s where they develop their friendships, grow as people and learn to deal with pressures in their learning environment. Therefore creating a supportive environment and teaching them that they always have a team behind them, they just sometimes need to be brave enough to reach out and get that team support.

In this week’s podcast, I invite Rachel, head teacher of Smart Vision School, an amazing new establishment within the Dubai education system, to discuss the way they are supporting teenagers throughout these unprecedented times of Covid-19, the new digital era of schooling and the physical support that is also provided.

Join in the conversation in the newest episode of our podcast.

School is a stressful experience for teenagers all over the world as they attempt to navigate the educational pressures, home life and difficult relationships all while just trying to simply live their lives and grow into amazing people! That’s why schools like the Dubai English Speaking School employ Student Advisors to support the kids through those tough times, allowing them the opportunity to speak about their thoughts and feelings openly.

Following a tricky year with lots of uncertainty, I chat to Louise and Gemma about the highs and lows of life at school for teenagers and how this incredible support service has helped these kids to thrive in the toughest of times.

Tune into this week’s episode to hear more.

What does being mentally fit really mean to you and your family? Coping with the burden of being a high achieving teen can be a mental and physical drain for your child and can impact your whole family. Guiding and facilitating your child’s journey into self-acceptance and encouraging a new way of thinking is an important task to undertake.

Join Jasmine and I as we talk it out here and chat about the ways we can support our children and teenagers with practical tools and tips to prepare them for the big wide world ahead of them.

Raising kids is HARD. Trying to keep them healthy, help them to keep their grades up, supporting them in the turmoil of teenage relationships and friendships as well as ensuring they are as happy as they can be - it’s no small challenge! You want the best for them, but trying to manage that on top of everything else that life throws at us is never easy. We’re trying to support our children to be the best versions of themselves that they can be, but how can we truly do that if we aren’t the best version of ourselves?

In this week’s podcast, I chat to Lindsey Nash, a dear friend of mine who has recently started a business helping mums step into a better, more calm, more confident, happier version of themselves, so they can inspire their children to do the same! We delve into the highs and lows of raising teenagers and how self-belief and acceptance can play an enormous role in raising mentall fit kids.

Tune into this week’s episode for more!

Join me for a new episode of Raising Mentally Fit Kids with Linda Bonnar, best-selling author of Press Play: A teenager's guide to becoming the drivers of their success. Together, we break down how teenagers deal with issues and insecurities surrounding the constant judgment they feel while at school and how this affects them psychologically. Linda and Claire discuss how best to support young people's mental well-being as teachers, friends, parents, or loved ones and what can we do to help them cope with the stress and struggles of school.

Every day our children feel the pressures of being out in the world, at school, with their friends and things will come up for them. How can you guide them in fulfilling their potential and live full lives with full experiences?

In this week’s podcast a mother of three anxious children, Fiona Cameron, joins us to share her journey. This is an incredibly honest podcast and is essential listening for other parents in a similar position. We hear her battles and her triumphs, we empathise with her yearning for her children to experience all life has to offer despite their anxiety. Join us to be reassured you’re not alone and there are many parents walking in Fiona’s shoes every day.

“One particular time my daughter decided she didn’t want to go to school, she was laid on the bathroom floor and told me she was paralyzed and couldn’t go to school.” Sometimes you have to laugh while you cry! I had to acknowledge that for her she WAS paralyzed - her anxiety paralyzed her. You see the stress response is both physical and emotional and watching our kids live this is a rollercoaster for us as parents too.

In this episode we discuss the benefits of journalling. Does your teenager journal yet? If yes - awesome! It’s a great tool to help your anxious child process their thoughts and feelings and to gain perspective. If not, please buy one they’ll love using and encourage them to start by thinking about the negative thoughts they have in their head — ask them to journal whenever they find themselves mentally beating themselves up and what’s happening in their environment at the time.  They’ll soon start to notice a pattern of what triggers these thoughts, and once the pattern is identified, they can begin to break the cycle and do something specific to change the response. This is called a “pattern interrupt”. The pattern interrupt is telling them to stop in whatever way suits your teenager - whether it's a physical or mental way, meditation, mindfulness, a breathing technique—a grounding technique of some sort. Once they have a tool that works their lives will open up for them in so many ways!