Have Your Teen Help Somebody
If you notice that your teen is feeling out of sorts. Sure you should make an appointment to see your pediatrician, a therapist or counselor, but something else your teen can start doing before then is to help somebody.
Lending a hand to someone in need is an awesome way to get some love back. It is a perfect way to ease pity that someone has for themselves. And, it is a great way to learn a new skill. Just ask any teen who was lucky enough to spend a summer helping New Orleans’s natives rebuild their homes, or went to Africa with Oprah’s Angel Network to help a school for one village and a well to provide clean water supply to another remote village. Wow! The stories they shared and the maturity and insight they gleaned from their unique learning experience, truly incredible. 
So sure you could look at those websites that promise military types of environments to get your teen on track, but violence begets violence. And although no one is naïve enough to think your teen simply needs a hug, no it will take more than that for certain, you can’t escape that there is a phenomenal feeling that someone gets when they have done good by someone who needed it. Just consider for one moment what happens to a teen that has been made to feel useless and possibly dumb but discovers they can and have built a home with their own hands. The possibilities open up before them. Their power opens up to them that they are not useless, they are not dumb and no one patronized them about something they did to boost their self-esteem because they’re looking at a real home that someone needed, a well that will keep the village healthy and a school that will rebuild a youth’s nation. With this feeling they can begin to do the work of therapy and realistic insight.
There is no way a teen can pity themselves after doing something that amazing. And that feeling of self worth is home grown in them and no one can take that away.
Opportunities to help:
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