Starting High School: Finding your people!

10 Aug Starting High School: Finding your people!

Starting High School: Finding your people!

Starting high school can be exciting, or frightening if you don’t have your people. The classes get harder, the social pressures are through the roof. Finding your people is key to teens’ success in high school. Whether their people are the band kids, the jocks, the theater kids, the environmentalists, every teen needs someone who relates to them. Here are three easy tips to helping your teen find the right people for them. So they can have a great overall experience!

Find Your People Who Like You For You

Teens may feel the need to act or do things differently to try to appear “cooler” to fit in with others.  However, if they just work on being themselves they will find friends who like them for who they really are.  In high school there will be a range of different types of people and personalities- so being true to themselves will help to build genuine friendships with the people right for them.

 Find Your People Who Share A Common Interest

If there is a hobby, sport, game, activity or skill that your teen enjoys participating in, another teen will likely similar interest as well. An example, if your child or teen is interested in art, they may be able to find common ground with another student who enjoys theater and can exchange ideas and share their love of fine arts. Above all, finding common interests can help your teen find some amazing friends who they can work on their interests with or share their passions.

 Find Your People Who Like to Spend Time with You

In any case, engaging in conversation with new people can seem daunting to teens. For some teens, bringing something to “do” with friend, can break that barrier and can take the stress away from having a conversation. This can help your teen relate and allow your teen to invite others to participate with them. This can include them bringing a deck of cards, simple craft projects, or even pre-loading, or showing friends an app or game on their phone to play together. By offering an activity to do together, your teen can begin to initiate the start of a friendship.

All things considered, by taking advantage of some of the simple tips mentioned above, your teen can be on their way towards successful and meaningful friendships in high school!

Mehnaz Siddiqui

Mehnaz earned her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 2009, Mehnaz has worked with children, teens, and families in various settings including daycare, healthcare, schools, and community mental health.

She specializes in helping children and teens with anxiety, depression, trauma, learning and academic difficulties, attentional, behavioral, and relational struggles. Mehnaz recognizes that it is crucial to build a safe, warm, non-judgmental, and supportive environment for each client and to work collaboratively towards goal achievement. Mehnaz utilizes a blend of therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), solution-focused therapy, and play therapy to help clients reach emotional balance, cognitive clarity, and find a sense of purpose. She aims to be a culturally competent clinician focused on fostering growth, personal change, and self-empowerment. Mehnaz loves nothing more than knowing that a client and family are able to find new solutions and acquire new skills to achieve positive outcomes through therapy.

Mehnaz is highly trained with working with young adults, couples, and parents in providing them the tools they need to appropriately cope, problem-solve, and achieve emotional awareness. She provides a warm, open, non-judgmental environment to work collaboratively on various issues including life-cycle transitions, family conflict, differences in parenting styles, communication problems, separation, and divorce. Mehnaz believes that by using strength-based approaches and by empowering individuals and couples, they will be able to achieve more satisfaction in their lives and relationships.

Mehnaz loves helping clients of all ages and embraces and acknowledges cultural diversity. When she is not working with clients, Mehnaz enjoys traveling, trying out new restaurants, and spending time with her family and friends.