Resources
Disclaimer: The contents of this page are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.
Home Strategies
1. Create Safety First
Your child cannot open up where they don’t feel safe. Safety comes from your tone, your consistency, and how you respond when things go wrong.
2. Look at Your Child
Young people carry everything in their body language. Notice shifts in mood, energy, and withdrawal before they become crises.
3. Go to Them First
My research shows that 96% of young people want adults to approach them first. Knock. Sit beside them. Offer presence without pressure – even when they push back.
4. Listen Without Fixing
Stop what you are doing and receive what they are saying. Ask: “Do you want me to just listen, or are you looking for ideas?”
5. Redefine Success
Children do well when they can. Praise effort, celebrate micro-success, and watch your own language around achievement and failure.
6. Keep Showing Up
Connection is built in a thousand small moments. You don’t need perfect words – you need to show up.
Anxiety
Anxiety Canada
Canada’s leading evidence-based resource for anxiety. Free CBT tools and guides written for families.
Kelty Mental Health: Anxiety
BC’s trusted hub for child and youth mental health – what anxiety looks like and how to navigate support.
Kelty Mental Health: Tuned In – Worried and Distressed (TWD)
Practical tools for families whose teen is visibly struggling – worried, distressed, or not coping.
Book: 110 CBT Tips and Tools – Judy Belmont
An accessible introduction to CBT and self-compassion strategies, written for parents and professionals alike.
Podcast Episodes
CBT and Self-Compassion: Taking Back Control from Anxiety – with Judy Belmont
Judy Belmont and Dr. Suzanne on how CBT and self-compassion tools can help teens and parents break the anxiety cycle.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
What GAD looks like in adolescents and what parents can do to support without making anxiety worse.
Social Anxiety – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
Understanding the fear underneath the behaviour, and how to respond in ways that build confidence rather than avoidance.
5 Hidden Anxiety Signs Parents Miss (And How to Respond with Compassion)
The anxiety signs most parents overlook, and the small shifts that make a real difference.
Talking Social Anxiety with a Teenager – with Ianna Simpson
Ianna shares her lived experience with social anxiety – what helped and what she wished adults had known.
Depression
Kelty Mental Health: Depression
Clear, compassionate information on teen depression – what to look for, how to talk to your child, and when to seek help.
TherapistAid: DBT Worksheets and Tools
TherapistAid is a clinical resource built for mental health professionals, but many parents and educators find its worksheets a genuinely useful window into the tools therapists use with youth. Browse with curiosity, and bring anything that resonates to your child’s counsellor or school support team.
Podcast Episodes
Talking Depression with Darian Hooshi
Darian shares his lived experience with depression and what he needed from the adults around him.
Major Depressive Disorder: Speaking with Dr. Jordan Cohen
How teen depression develops, how it looks different than in adults, and how parents can stay connected.
Hidden Struggles of Confident Teens | Mental Health & Parenting Insights with Darian Hooshi
What it looks like to carry depression into early adulthood – for parents whose children are in the next chapter.
Supports for Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation – with Liz Kay
How to create safety at home and what to say – and not say – when your child is in serious crisis.
Classroom Strategies
1. Create Emotional Safety
Students cannot learn where they don’t feel safe. Your tone, your consistency, and a predictable routine tell them they are in good hands.
2. Really Look at Your Students
Body language, energy shifts, and who sat alone today are your earliest signals. A student who feels genuinely seen knows they matter.
3. You Reach Out First
My research shows that 96% of students want adults to approach them first. A quiet 30-second check-in during seatwork can be the moment that changes everything.
4. Listen Authentically
Put down the marking and receive what they are saying. Students know the difference between being listened to and being managed.
5. Redefine Student Success
Not one participant in my research named a grade when they described success. They named finishing the work, grasping a concept, showing up. Celebrate that.
6. Be Willing to Try
You don’t need all the answers. Students remember the teachers who leaned in anyway – your effort is the message.
Anxiety
Anxiety Canada
Free, evidence-based CBT tools – useful for building your understanding of anxiety before working with anxious students.
Kelty Mental Health: Anxiety
Includes resources for educators on identifying anxious students and navigating difficult conversations with families.
Book: 110 CBT Tips and Tools – Judy Belmont
An accessible introduction to CBT strategies useful for understanding what your anxious students may be working on in therapy.
Podcast Episodes
CBT and Self-Compassion: Taking Back Control from Anxiety – with Judy Belmont
For educators managing their own anxiety, and for understanding the CBT lens your students may be using.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
Recognising GAD in students – especially the presentations that look like disengagement rather than fear.
Social Anxiety – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
Understanding social anxiety in students who appear avoidant or excessively teacher-dependent.
Depression
Kelty Mental Health: Depression
Resources for educators on identifying depression in students and knowing when and how to refer.
TherapistAid: DBT Worksheets and Tools
TherapistAid is a clinical resource built for mental health professionals, but many parents and educators find its worksheets a genuinely useful window into the tools therapists use with youth. Browse with curiosity, and bring anything that resonates to your child’s counsellor or school support team.
Podcast Episodes
Talking Depression with Darian Hooshi
Darian’s lived experience – what he needed from the adults around him and what actually helped him feel seen.
Supports for Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation – with Liz Kay
Essential for any educator working with adolescents. How to respond when a student discloses self-harm or suicidal thinking.
For Parents
Home Strategies
1. Create Safety First
Your child cannot open up where they don’t feel safe. Safety comes from your tone, your consistency, and how you respond when things go wrong.
2. Look at Your Child
Young people carry everything in their body language. Notice shifts in mood, energy, and withdrawal before they become crises.
3. Go to Them First
My research shows that 96% of young people want adults to approach them first. Knock. Sit beside them. Offer presence without pressure – even when they push back.
4. Listen Without Fixing
Stop what you are doing and receive what they are saying. Ask: “Do you want me to just listen, or are you looking for ideas?”
5. Redefine Success
Children do well when they can. Praise effort, celebrate micro-success, and watch your own language around achievement and failure.
6. Keep Showing Up
Connection is built in a thousand small moments. You don’t need perfect words – you need to show up.
Anxiety
Anxiety Canada
Canada’s leading evidence-based resource for anxiety. Free CBT tools and guides written for families.
Kelty Mental Health: Anxiety
BC’s trusted hub for child and youth mental health – what anxiety looks like and how to navigate support.
Kelty Mental Health: Tuned In – Worried and Distressed (TWD)
Practical tools for families whose teen is visibly struggling – worried, distressed, or not coping.
Book: 110 CBT Tips and Tools – Judy Belmont
An accessible introduction to CBT and self-compassion strategies, written for parents and professionals alike.
Podcast Episodes
CBT and Self-Compassion: Taking Back Control from Anxiety – with Judy Belmont
Judy Belmont and Dr. Suzanne on how CBT and self-compassion tools can help teens and parents break the anxiety cycle.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
What GAD looks like in adolescents and what parents can do to support without making anxiety worse.
Social Anxiety – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
Understanding the fear underneath the behaviour, and how to respond in ways that build confidence rather than avoidance.
5 Hidden Anxiety Signs Parents Miss (And How to Respond with Compassion)
The anxiety signs most parents overlook, and the small shifts that make a real difference.
Talking Social Anxiety with a Teenager – with Ianna Simpson
Ianna shares her lived experience with social anxiety – what helped and what she wished adults had known.
Depression
Kelty Mental Health: Depression
Clear, compassionate information on teen depression – what to look for, how to talk to your child, and when to seek help.
TherapistAid: DBT Worksheets and Tools
TherapistAid is a clinical resource built for mental health professionals, but many parents and educators find its worksheets a genuinely useful window into the tools therapists use with youth. Browse with curiosity, and bring anything that resonates to your child’s counsellor or school support team.
Podcast Episodes
Talking Depression with Darian Hooshi
Darian shares his lived experience with depression and what he needed from the adults around him.
Major Depressive Disorder: Speaking with Dr. Jordan Cohen
How teen depression develops, how it looks different than in adults, and how parents can stay connected.
Hidden Struggles of Confident Teens | Mental Health & Parenting Insights with Darian Hooshi
What it looks like to carry depression into early adulthood – for parents whose children are in the next chapter.
Supports for Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation – with Liz Kay
How to create safety at home and what to say – and not say – when your child is in serious crisis.
For Educators
Classroom Strategies
1. Create Emotional Safety
Students cannot learn where they don’t feel safe. Your tone, your consistency, and a predictable routine tell them they are in good hands.
2. Really Look at Your Students
Body language, energy shifts, and who sat alone today are your earliest signals. A student who feels genuinely seen knows they matter.
3. You Reach Out First
My research shows that 96% of students want adults to approach them first. A quiet 30-second check-in during seatwork can be the moment that changes everything.
4. Listen Authentically
Put down the marking and receive what they are saying. Students know the difference between being listened to and being managed.
5. Redefine Student Success
Not one participant in my research named a grade when they described success. They named finishing the work, grasping a concept, showing up. Celebrate that.
6. Be Willing to Try
You don’t need all the answers. Students remember the teachers who leaned in anyway – your effort is the message.
Anxiety
Anxiety Canada
Free, evidence-based CBT tools – useful for building your understanding of anxiety before working with anxious students.
Kelty Mental Health: Anxiety
Includes resources for educators on identifying anxious students and navigating difficult conversations with families.
Book: 110 CBT Tips and Tools – Judy Belmont
An accessible introduction to CBT strategies useful for understanding what your anxious students may be working on in therapy.
Podcast Episodes
CBT and Self-Compassion: Taking Back Control from Anxiety – with Judy Belmont
For educators managing their own anxiety, and for understanding the CBT lens your students may be using.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
Recognising GAD in students – especially the presentations that look like disengagement rather than fear.
Social Anxiety – with Dr. Jordan Cohen
Understanding social anxiety in students who appear avoidant or excessively teacher-dependent.
Depression
Kelty Mental Health: Depression
Resources for educators on identifying depression in students and knowing when and how to refer.
TherapistAid: DBT Worksheets and Tools
TherapistAid is a clinical resource built for mental health professionals, but many parents and educators find its worksheets a genuinely useful window into the tools therapists use with youth. Browse with curiosity, and bring anything that resonates to your child’s counsellor or school support team.
Podcast Episodes
Talking Depression with Darian Hooshi
Darian’s lived experience – what he needed from the adults around him and what actually helped him feel seen.
Supports for Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation – with Liz Kay
Essential for any educator working with adolescents. How to respond when a student discloses self-harm or suicidal thinking.