How to Calm Your Teen’s Anxiety: Tips From a Teen Therapist in Salt Lake City, UT
Do the anxiety symptoms you see in your teen seem to disappear in the summer?
If so, that is a good indication that the anxiety symptoms are due to how they are handling the school environment. Teens who believe their future and their value are riding only on their grades are navigating a lot of anxiety. School comes with a demanding schedule that reduces their sleep time and leaves them with little time to relax and pursue activities that truly bring them happiness.
Supporting your teen through these challenges may involve making practical changes—and, when needed, exploring options like teenage anxiety treatment for additional support. In this blog, we’ll cover key tips to help your teen find more balance, reduce stress, and feel more confident navigating school pressures.
To resolve your teen's anxiety during the school year, start by looking at how demanding their daily and weekly schedules are. If it cuts into sleep time and leisure time, then start exploring ways to bring those into balance. Teens have growing brains that need more sleep and unpressured time to grow and process all that they are experiencing. When a teen does not get what we start to see more anxiety, irritability, and black and white thinking.
They may resist these changes out of fear that they will fall behind their peers. To address these fears, start discussing their beliefs about success and their future.
Why School Can Trigger Teen Anxiety
Many teens have distorted beliefs about what school success means to their value as a human being or to their future success. A distortion is a thought that does not match reality. Anxiety notoriously thrives on distortions. For example: “If I don’t get straight A’s, I will never get into college, and then I will become homeless.” Or “If I don’t do well on this test, all my friends will think I am stupid if I get anything less than an A.” Or “If I don’t get an A on this test, my parents will think I didn't try.”
These are not made-up realities, but I have heard these fears multiple times!
Where These Fears Come From
To address this distortion, it is important to be aware of the conversations of fear and competition about college and their future that teens confront every day. They are aware of challenging economic times or high competition, and expenses to get into college. But they don’t understand all the nuances of how the world works and that there are actually many paths to becoming a successful adult. So some teens in a panic will push themselves to take on too many AP or Honors classes at once. While it can be helpful to perform well, it is a fallacy that to get into a good college, one must have all AP classes and all A’s plus extracurricular activities.
When a teenager has thoughts like these, they often set up their life in a way that creates a constant cycle of stress. This results in less sleep, constant worry, and persistent fatigue.
How You Can Help Reframe Their Perspective
You may be on the outside, only seeing a very motivated and committed teen who makes you feel proud. But if they are having panic attacks, difficulty sleeping, or are verbally impatient or disrespectful to you. They may be pushing themselves too hard and truly believing that they will be homeless soon!
What you can do:
Express your value and love for them in a way that speaks to their character and not their accomplishments. Example: I admire how hard a worker you are. Vs. Nice! You got another A. You are so smart.
Discuss and highlight adults in your lives who are successful adults and how they got there. It is likely that not every one of your family members or friends got all A’s and went to top colleges. In fact, there are likely a few people who are happy and have made their way to adulthood stability by not going to college or going to a community college.
Explore other life paths or interests other than college that they could pursue
Discuss your value for their health over being a top performer in school. Take action and invest in activities that are just for fun and not the production of a skill.
Try to find distortions when you are talking to them. Your kid may believe that they will not be valuable if they don’t get into their top college choice. Or may have a deep fear of being homeless.
Your Support Matters
Your words won’t likely change their actions overnight. But the message that you value them for who they are, versus what they produce, will begin to sink in. People who understand their value beyond their productivity tend to be happier and experience less anxiety. If your teen continues to struggle, working with a teen therapist can offer them the tools and support they need to feel more confident and grounded. At Shade Tree Counseling, we’re here to help teens and their families navigate these challenges with care and clarity.
Support Your Teen's Emotional Well-Being with Teen Counseling in Salt Lake City, UT
If your teen is feeling overwhelmed by school, expectations, or constant worry, know that help is available. At Shade Tree Counseling, we offer compassionate, evidence-based support tailored to teens and their unique challenges. Reach out today to learn how teen counseling in Salt Lake City, UT can help your child build resilience, reduce anxiety, and thrive. Follow these three simple steps to get started:
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to see if Teen Counseling is right for your child.
Begin meeting with a skilled teen therapist.
Start seeing your teen manage their anxiety in healthy ways!
Additional Services Offered at Shade Tree Family Counseling
At Shade Tree Family Counseling, we’re here to support your entire family’s journey toward healing and connection. In addition to helping your teen manage anxiety through teen counseling, we offer EMDR Trauma Therapy for those working to heal from past trauma, Family Counseling to strengthen relationships, and Teen Group Therapy for teens who benefit from connecting with peers facing similar challenges. Want to learn more about teen counseling and how it can help? Check out our blog for helpful insights and resources!