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Many people who experience stress and anxiety are not sure where to start to begin coping with these feelings. Can you relate? Below you will find a worksheet to help you start building up your "toolbox" of coping skills. This exercise can be useful for people of any age and place in life, including adults, parents, teens and even younger children. I'd love your feedback once you have completed the worksheet and given your new coping skills a try. Please leave a comment below or reach out to me directly! Download the PDF version of the worksheet here: 
*Please note: This worksheet and its contents should not be used in place of professional help. If you are experiencing unmanageable levels of stress and anxiety, notify your physician immediately. If you are having thoughts of homicide or suicide, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy!  Have you had chance to talk to your teen about the definition of consent for sexual activity? If so, what did you learn? If not, what is keeping you from asking? In case you missed it, check out part one of this post to learn more: The #1 Parenting Mistake You Don't Know You're Making. When I ask teen clients about what consenting to sex means, I typically get one of two answers.
The truth is, simply saying yes to sex is not enough. Making an assumption that you know what the other person wants is definitely not enough. Keep reading to learn more about all of the aspects of giving true, informed consent to sexual activity.*
Now is the time to start talking with your teen about consent. If you don’t, who will? *This blog post is meant to be purely informational. The writer is not able to provide legal advice or instruction in anyway. Questions about specific examples will not be answered in the comments. Please contact an attorney if you have questions or concerns. Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy! Start writing with your teen! Directions and prompts are all included on this three page document, created just for YOU and your family! Read about the difference between diaries and journals: Journaling: Different Than a Diary Get 10 more prompts to write about with your teen: 10 Journal Prompts for Teens and Parents Scroll down to download a PDF of this great list! 
Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy!  Need a new way to communicate with your teen? One of the neatest tools I have come across in my years as a teen therapist is a journal specifically made for adolescent girls and their mothers. It is a “back and forth” style book to help young women connect in a meaningful way with their mom. The thing is... not every teen girl has an involved mother, and not every mother has a teen daughter. Plus, boys and fathers are left out of this activity entirely! Below you will find ten journal prompts to share with your teenage son or daughter. These are a mix of fun/silly topics and more serious, thought-provoking prompts. First, choose a book or notebook that you will share. (You can also type documents on a computer, but give the handwritten journal a try first!) Pick a pen to keep with your journal. Agree on a safe place to leave the book for the other to read. It is important that both of you agree that what is written is private and not to be shared without the other person's permission. Okay! Now you're all set! Click below to access TEN prompts to get you writing!
Like this? Click here for a year-long set of journal prompts for teens and their parents! Want to begin writing in your own journal? Go here to get started: Journaling: Different Than a Diary Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy!  The word DIARY takes me back to my childhood. I wrote in a diary off and on for many years. Those books, pretty things adorned with cheap locks, are now gone. Still, I remember them vividly. I wrote about the day-to-day events of my life. My childhood pet, school projects, friends and the names of my crushes all found a home in my diary. My diaries were dear to me. They were carefully protected from prying eyes. Looking back, these books played a significant role in my daily and weekly routine as a child and as a teen. I wrote down events I did not want to forget. These days, I still write, though not as often as I did as a younger person. The habit of writing down daily details and special events is difficult for me to prioritize in my schedule. It simply does not happen on a regular basis. The kind of writing I do more frequently sounds similar, but it is not the same. I journal. How is journaling different than keeping a diary? Simply put, a diary is a record of events. A journal is writing with the purpose of reflection and growth. Keeping a journal is more personal and requires more vulnerability than a diary. A quick Google search will show you that journaling is not only popular, but also beneficial. It is useful as a way to help manage stress, anxiety, depression and grief. It is a tool often used in counseling to help people gain a better understanding of their struggles and their strengths. Where do I start to help my child or teen gain the benefits of journaling? Start with yourself. Get some paper, a notebook or a computer in front of you and start writing. Your experience with journaling can help inspire your teen to do the same. In the meantime, here are three prompts to get you started:
Ready for more? Check out my other posts about journaling. One includes a year's worth of journaling prompts! 10 Journal Prompts for Teens and Parents 52 Journal Prompts to Help You Connect with Your Teen This Year! Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy! Raab Counseling & Consulting Services is now accepting new clients with Denver County Medicaid Coverage through Access Behavioral Care (Colorado Access). I am happy to consult with young adults and families of teens who are covered by Denver Medicaid. I will work only with clients whose needs are within my scope of expertise. Additional resources will be provided to those whose needs I cannot meet. Click here to see the types of clients with whom I typically work! I am thrilled to begin this new journey in my therapy practice. Please spread the word. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions! Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy!
At their core, teens want to be heard. Give them opportunities to talk to you and be interested in who they are becoming. Be consistent in your efforts. Also, understand that sometimes they may need some space before opening up. I want to hear from you! Please share your ideas and stories about communicating with teens! Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy!  Map of U.S. with Magnifying Glass over Charleston from Dollar Photo Club In light of the tragic shooting deaths in Charleston last night, I’ve been thinking a lot… ... about race, about death, about fear, about prejudice, and about hate. The thought that keeps resurfacing: Why can’t we, as humans, offer to others basic human respect? We are all living, breathing and feeling beings. We all have strengths and weaknesses. We all have people we love and people who love us. Why is it so hard to give others respect simply because they are human, even if they look, love or act differently than us? I recognize that this is my ideological social work self posing these questions. It also comes from the brain of a white woman. Maybe it isn’t helpful to the overall debate that is certain to be fueled by this incident. I don’t know. What I do know is that I cannot stop thinking about the lack of basic human respect that seems to permeate our society and our world. I also know we can do better by others if we make it a priority. My heart goes out to everyone impacted by the shootings in Charleston. I hope for you everything you need to heal and rebuild from this tragedy. I also promise to do everything in my power to help create a society where all humans are respected. Period. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave your comments below. Please note that any hateful comments will be promptly removed. Let’s keep this as a place for safe discourse. Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy!  My thoughts on the Duggar family and teens who sexually abuse By now, I’m sure most of you have heard about the Duggar family and the oldest son, Josh’s inappropriate sexual behavior as a teen. I’ve been thinking a great deal about this situation and trying to reserve judgement the best I can as I am not privy to intimate details of the situation. However, I feel compelled to say a few words on the subject. For those of you who are unaware, one of my specialty areas in my therapy practice is working with teenagers who have committed sexual offenses. I have been doing this work for more than five years and have received extensive training in this area. Working with these teens is one of my great passions and an area of therapy that I truly love. I am also passionate about working with people, teens and adults alike, who have been victims of sexual abuse. Often, these two areas of practice intersect. During my nine year social work career and five years of helping teens address inappropriate sexual behaviors I’ve learned countless lessons. Here are four that stand out in light of the Duggar family situation. 1) Sexual abuse is wrong and it is illegal. Sounds obvious, but it is a point worth making. Using statements such as “kids will be kids,” “boys will be boys,” or “they were just playing doctor” is dangerous. These sentiments justify inappropriate behavior and undermine the impact sexual abuse has on its victims. 2) Keeping sexual abuse a secret is harmful to victims and the person perpetrating the abuse. Not only are both parties unable to receive help, but it perpetuates the idea that inappropriate sexual behavior is acceptable in our society. 3) Sexual acting out as a teen does not automatically make you a pedophile. A vast majority of teens I see in treatment who have sexually abused younger children are not sexually attracted to younger children. Sexual acting out by teens is driven by a number of factors including, but not limited to, experiencing sexual or physical abuse themselves, isolation, poor social skills and difficulty connecting with their peers. 4) Therapy works. The type of therapy I practice is called offense specific therapy. It has been specifically developed to help teens who have committed sexual offenses learn about why they committed their offense, help them learn healthy relationship skills and reduce their risk to sexually re-offend. Various studies show that between 87-93% of juveniles who complete this treatment successfully will NOT go on to sexually re-offend. With all of this said, I really don’t know what to tell you about the Duggar family situation. I certainly do not have enough information about what happened to insinuate that I am an expert on the situation. However, I hold firmly to my belief that sexual abuse is wrong and harmful. I also believe that both the victim and the perpetrator in any instance of sexual abuse are deserving of treatment to help them cope with what occurred. Thanks for reading! Please do not hesitate to contact me with comments or questions on this topic. I’d love to hear from you! Bethany Raab is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.
She is dedicated to helping teens and families be happy and healthy!  Not really. Okay, Maybe a little…. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the inspiring quotes I post on my Facebook page. In addition to the ones I post, I see at least twenty mantras and positive affirmations online every day. Some of them give me warm fuzzies, make me laugh or make me think about something differently. Sometimes, however, they just annoy me. The “don’t worry, be happy” brand of attitude sometimes grates on my nerves (sorry Bobby McFerrin). Noticing my own shifting attitude toward mantras and affirmations, I began to wonder.... “do these actually help people who are feeling sad, anxious or bad about themselves?" "are parents the parents I want to reach actually inspired by these quotes?" "do teens reading my page think these affirmations are all a bunch of BS?" I began doing some reading on the value of positive self-talk and affirmations and have found mixed reviews. In fact, some of the research seems to match my “sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t” feelings. Here are a few articles I came across from Psychology Today and The Emotion Machine. One thing the research seems to say is that mantras/affirmations can be helpful to people experiencing depression, anxiety, stress and other distressing situations. This is particularly true if they are used consistently and combined with counseling or coaching services. It is this last piece that is missing with the flood of mantras and positive affirmations that are floating around all over the internet. I am a counselor and, to be honest, I talk with many of my clients about what to do with the barrage of negative thoughts many of them experience. My goal is to add a bit more meat to the affirmations and mantras I post to help them be more meaningful. While this is not intended to replace formal counseling or therapy, I’m hoping it will help some of the smiley faced mantras and quotes speak to you. What do you think about positive affirmations, inspiring quotes and mantras? What is your favorite (or least favorite) quote or saying? I’d love to know and maybe I'll feature it - and you - on an upcoming blog post!
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