1. Maximizing the Power of Adolescence
Corie Hebert, Ph.D., LMSW
Southeastern Louisiana University
Louisiana Child Welfare Training Academy

2. Objectives
Develop a basic understanding of the rapid developmental leaps occurring in the teenage body and brain during their teenage years.
Gain insight into the workings of the adolescent brain, how it responds to the world in different ways than an adult brain.
Understand common challenges that are a part of raising adolescents and learn how to manage these challenges.
Be able to care for, interact with, and nurture adolescents in ways that enhance healthy development during this very important time in which they are learning to be adults.

3. What’s your experience?

4. Adolescent Behaviors = Drama
Moody
Alternate between being unreliable and other times being dependable and responsible
Aggressive and sexual impulses
Oppose family rules, values and expectations
Risky behavior

5. Let’s See How Much You Know About Teenagers… Identify the Myths
Impulsive and emotional because of raging hormones.
Rebellious and oppositional because they want to be difficult and different.
Likely to drink and do drugs, but their brains are resilient and will rebound without permanent effects.
Are done developing once they hit puberty.

6. Adolescence is a Period of Complex Development Across the 4 Developmental Domains
Between the ages of 12 – 24 developmental leaps occur
Physical
Cognitive
Social
Emotional

7. Healthy Adolescent Development is Dependent on Healthy Attachment
Remember the 4 S’s
Seen
Safe
Soothed
Secure

8. Focus on the Body & the Mind
Cognitive Development
Social Development
Emotional Development
Body
Physical Development

9. The Body - Physical Development
Puberty – a time in which pre-teens and teens begin to physically mature.
Body proportions change
Growth spurts
Hormones (Estrogen and Testosterone)
Skin problems
Physical attraction to others.

10. The Challenge - Looks Are Deceiving…..
They may look like an adult but socially, emotionally and intellectually they are not.

11. How do they react to changes in their appearance?
Spend a considerable amount of time and energy thinking about their appearance
Concerns about the opposite sex causes them to spend time on their appearance
Ideas about body image are heavily influenced by societal expectations which are communicated through the media, as well as people’s responses to their appearance

12. Everyone in this room survived puberty.
Good News!
Everyone in this room survived puberty.

13. Ingredients for a Healthy Teenage Body & Mind
Sleep - (REM/dream state)
Healthy diet
Healthy relationships
Minimization of risky behaviors

14. Precious Teen Sleep
Teens need 10 hours of sleep or more for healthy development
Teens spend most time in REM sleep, the dreaming cycle, where information is sorted through, stored or discarded
Sleep is the time when connections leading to better decision making are built.

15. What Can You do? Encourage healthy sleeping habits - disconnect
Warn them about bodily changes and what to expect
Have healthy discussions about body image and the media’s distortion of it.

16. The Mind – Cognitive, Social and Emotional Development

17. Cognitive Development
Major Brain growth is occurring… Their minds are changing in the way they remember, think, reason, focus attention, make decisions and relate to others.

18. The Mind – Cognitive, Social and Emotional Development
Shout out…..
BRAIN CHANGE!

19. Major growth in the Cortex helps with transition to adulthood

20. The Cerebellum is also going through a metamorphosis:
Acts as a support system for cognitive functions – recognizing social cues.
Maturation in this area of the brain continues on into the 20s.

21. Identify What’s Going on Here

22. EXACTLY The prefrontal cortex is not fully developed
Good judgement – ability to chose a good over bad action
Controlling impulses
Solving problems
Setting healthy, safe, goals
Influenced by peers.

23. Social and Emotional Development
The Primary Tasks of Adolescence =
Separating oneself from the family, finding their place in society.

24. And That’s Not All….
The teenage brain experiences enhanced DOPAMINE releases – the neurotransmitter responsible for our drive for reward.
The enhanced Dopamine release can make teens gravitate towards thrilling experiences and exhilarating sensations.

25. Can It Get Any Worse?
Teens are often more susceptible to addiction because the Dopamine Release is experienced through drugs – it drives us toward reward and satisfaction.
(Drugs, alcohol and even some processed foods can cause rapid rises in dopamine levels)

26. Here in Lies the Challenge… Based on the stage of their brain development, adolescents are more likely to:
Be impulsive – act without reflecting
Misread or misinterpret social cues and emotions
Be more susceptible to addiction
Engage in dangerous or risky behavior
Have trouble choosing good over bad options
Do things to fit in with the crowd.

27. The years between 12 and 24 are the most dangerous years of our lives.

28. Problem Solving Ways to Approach the Teenage Years
Find healthy ways to harness their risk seeking behavior
Help teens learn to prioritize
Involve in interactive learning – role playing, values clarification exercises and forced choice scenarios
Their brain needs a lot of stimulation but they also need concrete examples, because they are still developing the capacity for abstract thinking.

29. What Else Can You Do?
Help expand their thinking so they can become aware of the many choices between the extremes of either/or thinking. They need to feel safe asking questions
They need a solid base, more than peer approval, for making wise choices…decisions based on values. They need to know the rules and expectations
Parents teach through example, explain values and show how they fit to specific choices
Develop a healthy balance between discipline and control – set realistic rules.

30. New Social and Cognitive Abilities Lead to Identity Formation
Who am I?
How do I fit in?
Where am I going in life?

31. The Good News Regarding Cognitive Development
Deductive Reasoning -the brain can develop an ability for a higher level of thinking (can think logically about a wider range of situations).
Become able to embrace positive goals and values that will help them make positive decisions.
Become more aware and concerned with broad social issues.
Often creative and less restricted by past experiences – opens the door for new solutions to old problems.

32. Cognitive Development in Late Adolescence:
Development of Social Cognition – the ability to think about other people’s feelings and views, try to understand other people’s behavior and recognize the social rules that guide everyday interpersonal behavior. 
An ability for Moral Reasoning – progress from living in a world in which rules are imposed by others to a stage in which they refer to rules imposed from within themselves

33. “What is teenage life to me. That’s a good question
“What is teenage life to me? That’s a good question. If I said what teenage life is to me in one word, it would have to be “hard”. No one really gets you, and you don’t even really get yourself. You’re just starting to figure yourself out, who you are and why you are here.”
High school student

34. Take Advantage of …
Help teens to learn to practice “mindsight”, as recommended by Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, a clinical psychiatrist and author of The Whole Brained Child, Mindsight, and Brainstorm, the Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain.

35. Mindsight
“Mindsight is the key ability at the core of both Emotional and Social Intelligence” (Dr. D. Siegel).
Includes developing insight into experiences, thoughts and feelings of self and others
Helps to integrate parts of the brain and grow prefrontal cortex circuits
Leads to integration in the brain, which helps us to balance emotions, focus attention, understand others and ourselves, and approach problems.

36. Build Mindsight Through Reflective Conversations
Insight comes from first, the ability to reflect on your thoughts and feelings
When a teen is impulsive, he is doing things without thoughtful reflection
Teach her to pause, think about the drive she is feeling to take a risk
Where is it coming from? Desire to look cool? What options do I have?
Exercise the fibers in the higher part of the brain to create a mental space – a pause button between the impulse and the action.

37. Mindsight Activity
Learn to recognize and regulate impulses by creating a pause space
1st – Place one hand over your heart.
2nd – Place the other hand over your abdomen
3rd – Close your eyes and apply gentle pressure
(swap hands to find out which one feels more comfortable)

38. What they need:
Help figuring out who they are and building confidence. When a teen feels good about himself, it improves the odds that he will make good decisions.
Build self–confidence by teaching him to think for himself. Ask his opinion, urge him to make decisions and praise him for making positive choices. Let him know you appreciate him and his achievements.
Model how responsible adults get their own needs met in healthy ways.
Remember - To individuate, they must have parent
figures to oppose, to separate from.

39. Around age 11 the brain starts to go through a pruning process – use it or lose it.

40. The Importance of Parents and Adults
Young people cannot accomplish the developmental tasks of adolescence without parents and adult role models taking an active, helpful and supportive role.
Your greatest power with teens is the strength of your relationship.

41. Resources
“Brainstorm, the Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain” by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.
The Documentary “Miss Representation” for girls and “The Mask You Live In“ for boys – produced by the Representation Project– available on Netflix and on DVD from many public libraries, and partially on YouTube
– “ The drug-like effect of screen time on the teenage brain” video
Shop PBS for “The Secret Life of the Brain: The Teenage Brain- teenagers are different from other humans DVD for $24.99