Mental health plays an important role in how we navigate life’s everyday challenges. For teens, it can be stressful juggling school, extracurricular activities, friendships, and family, let alone planning for your future. To help support your wellness, the library offers resources specifically geared toward teens about mental health topics. Read on to learn more.
Please note that while the library can provide helpful resources and information, if you or a loved one need support or treatment or are experiencing a mental health crisis, please reach out to the experts at Henrico Mental Health and Developmental Services.
TEEN HEALTH & WELLNESS DATABASE
With a library card, you can access dozens of Research and Learning databases for free, including Teen Health & Wellness. Teen Health & Wellness provides a ton of great information. If you are taking a health class and need to learn more about the nervous or digestive systems, this platform is a great place to start. In addition to facts about how the human body works, there is information about different mental health topics such as anxiety and depression. For those struggling to focus or relax, there is a “Calm Room” where you can view livestreams of wildlife parks and listen to soothing audio like forest sounds and classical music. There are also resources for managing stress like hotlines and meditation apps. This just scratches the surface of what’s available in the Teen Health & Wellness database. There is a lot to explore!
COLLECTION
In addition to the Teen Health & Wellness database, the library’s collection offers several titles about mental wellness. Below are just a few reads geared toward teens:
- The Self-Care Kit for Stressed Out Teens by Frankie Young
- Self-care can be hard, but The Self Care Kit for Stressed Out Teens aims to make it easier. This easy-to-read book provides different kinds of self-care: from finding the right friends, to changing how you talk to yourself, to skin and hair care tips. If you aren’t sure where to start, the author, Frankie Young, provides exercises you can try. The most important message of the book: everyone deserves self-care, no matter how it looks for you.
- The Book of No Worries by Lizzie Cox
- The Book of No Worries gives great advice for students starting middle school. It helps students get ready for more schoolwork and gives tips for how to handle the new workload. There is an entire chapter dedicated to friendships and all of the challenges they can bring. Each section of the book has helpful tips such as healthy study habits and body positivity. There are also stories from real life teens to help readers see that they aren’t alone. The visual guides and graphics make The Book of No Worries a fun read, not just informative.
- The Stress Survival Guide for Teens by Jeffrey Bernstein
- Stress is a part of life, but that doesn’t make it fun or easy to manage. In The Stress Survival Guide for Teens, author Jeffrey Bernstein gives teens tips on how to manage stress effectively. The first step to managing stress is understanding it. Bernstein shares how stress can feel in the body and how to recognize when it is building up. There are exercises included in the book to help you handle and process stress when it shows up. There are also stories from teens about the stress they have experienced and how they handled it.
- (Don’t) Call Me Crazy edited by Kelly Jensen
- In (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, thirty-three celebrities and authors share their journeys and struggles with mental illness. The book is broken down into five chapters, with each focusing on a different aspect of mental health and how to manage it. The book shows that no matter what you may be going through, you aren’t alone, and there are ways to help your mind feel better. There is an entire chapter focused on the mind-body connection and how mental health can impact physical health. While there are no easy fixes, there is power in knowing others have had the same experiences.
- Mindfulness for Teen Worry by Jeffrey Bernstein
- Worries can stack up. Being mindful can help relieve some of those worries. In Mindfulness for Teen Worry, you’ll learn the power of your thoughts when it comes to handling stress and worries. Being mindful – noticing what is going on in your mind, body, and environment – can help you tackle some of the everyday worries of life. In this book, teens will learn different breathing and mental exercises to help reconnect with their bodies and environment when things get hectic. There isn’t a way to stop worries from happening, but being mindful can make them easier to handle.
- Depression: A Teen’s Guide to Survive and Thrive by Jacqueline Toner and Claire Freeland
- In Depression: A Teen’s Guide to Survive and Thrive, you will learn why some people struggle with depression. There are a number of factors including genetics, life events, and the changes that come with puberty. That doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do about it. The book includes journal prompts, mood trackers, thought exercises, and more to help readers recognize and manage depression. Using the tools in this book, teens can learn how depression impacts their lives and methods for coping.
- When a Friend Dies: A Book for Teens about Grieving and Healing by Marilyn Gootman
- It’s never easy when a friend dies. You may not know how to act, what to do, or what to expect. This book provides tools that can help support you through a difficult time. When a Friend Dies is set up in a Q&A style. It asks questions that you may have when someone dies such as “why can’t I feel anything,” and “is it wrong to go to parties and have fun.” For every question asked, When a Friend Dies gives advice and support. There are quotes from teens who have lost friends and tips for processing grief in your own way.
Additional helpful titles include:
- The Beasts in Your Brain: Understanding and Living with Anxiety and Depressionby Katherine Speller
- How to Handle STRESS for Middle School Successby Silvi Guerra
- I'm Here: A Peer Counseling Guide for Teensby James J. Crist
- Relax: How to Manage Anxiety and Emotions in an Uncertain Worldby Barbara Diggs
- Stress Less: A Teen's Guide to a Calm Chill Lifeby Michael A. Tompkins
- Where to Start: A Survival Guide to Anxiety, Depression, and Other Mental Health Challengesby Gemma Correll