Troubled Teens Resources

Karen watched her son Sean walk down the driveway, his shoulders sagging, his gait shuffling, almost like an old man. He stood by the street looking for his team mates to pick him up to go “shoot some hoops”,but, for the first time Karen acts on the long growing suspicion that perhaps her teenager isn’t going to go shoot hoops at all.

Waiting an acceptable amount of time, Karen jumps in her car and winds her way through their pleasant suburban neighborhood to the park where Sean has played ball since he was old enough to dribble. Basketball had always been his passion, but now, as Karen surveyed the park grounds for his familiar figure, her heart sank. He wasn’t there. He had lied. Again.

All of the fears and anxieties Karen had been suppressing engulfed her in tears. Sean never made a habit of lying in the past, and never missed a sunny day when he could hone his game to that level of skill he hoped would eventually bring him a scholarship. But now, well now, his eyes never met hers and more and more the “little lies’ were accumulating. He was irritable with his beloved little sister and avoided all the family functions that he had adored as a child. Karen finally had to ask herself if her teen was at-risk. She hated those words, never thought she’d ever have to apply them to her son. She feared that she was over reacting, that this was normal teen defiance. Nothing more. But what if it was much more?

Karen sighed, wiped the tears from her face and returned home, determined to seek some kind of counseling that could help her evaluate her teen’s behavior.Karen is not alone. It is hard to come to the conclusion that your most cherished notions about parenting are proving, perhaps, to have been wrong. If this sounds like you, and you, like Karen, are just beginning to search for answers, you will find an amazing amount of material on the internet that can help you evaluate if your teen is at risk.

Here are a few evaluative questionnaires to get you started.

How Much at Risk is your Teenager?

Does My Teen Need Help?

Youth At Risk Screening Questionnaire