Mental Health Tag

14 May

Posted at 16:10h in Children, Education, Wellbeing

May can feel like a sprint, a pileup, and an emotional goodbye all at once. I don’t know about you, but the stress levels in my house are pretty high, all due to my teens’ AP exams, end-of-year projects, and finals. They don’t call this month “Mayhem” and “Maycember” for nothing!

One week, a child may be studying for finals, rushing to a band concert, worrying about friendship shifts, and counting down to summer. A parent may be tracking permission slips, late assignments, sports banquets, graduation dates, and changes in mood that seem to come out of nowhere. It is a lot. And for many families like mine, the stress of May is not about one big event. It is about everything happening at the same time.

May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. That makes it a good time to remember something simple but important: mental health is part of health. Support, connection, rest, and recovery matter at every age.

For families, the goal is not to remove every stressor. Some end-of-year stress is normal. The goal is to lower unnecessary pressure, protect recovery time, and give kids support that fits where they are developmentally.

As we mark Fluent Research’s 20th anniversary, that idea feels especially meaningful. For two decades, we have studied how people navigate cultural and technological change. That work has included learning environments, safer digital experiences, youth culture, children’s and teens’ mental health, education, digital wellbeing, and human-centered innovation. Across all of it, one lesson keeps showing up: young people do better when adults understand where they are developmentally, listen closely, and create conditions that support connection, confidence, and wellbeing.

That is why an age-by-age approach matters. A fifth grader, a freshman, a graduating senior, and a college student may all be winding down the school year. But they are doing very different emotional, social, and developmental work. In May, exhaustion can also make kids seem younger, moodier, less organized, or more overwhelmed than they were earlier in the semester. That does not always mean something is wrong. Often, it means their systems are overloaded.

Here are age-by-age ways to help kids and young adults close the school year with less stress and more steadiness.

Why May Is So Stressful

The end of the school year often brings a heavy mix of demands:

  • Final projects and exams
  • Performances, tournaments, and banquets
  • Field days, spirit weeks, and graduation events
  • Friendship changes and social pressure
  • Summer planning and schedule shifts
  • The emotional weight of endings and transitions

Even positive events can add stress. A child may be excited about summer and still feel sad about leaving a teacher. A teen may be proud of graduating and still feel scared about what comes next. Mixed emotions are normal.

Mental Health Awareness Month: A Reminder

May is a natural time to talk about mental health because it asks young people to do two hard things at once: finish strong and let go.

Mental health support does not always mean a major intervention. Often, it looks like:

  • Clearer routines
  • Fewer unnecessary pressures
  • More sleep
  • Better boundaries around digital overload
  • Calm, respectful check-ins
  • Space for recovery

When we make room for those basics, we help kids manage stress before it grows bigger.

Tweens, Ages 10–12: Make the Month Feel Manageable

Tweens often live in the space between childhood and adolescence. They may want more independence, but they still need concrete structure, reminders, and help seeing the whole picture.

At this age, stress may show up as:

  • Tears
  • Irritability
  • Avoidance
  • Stomachaches
  • Forgotten assignments
  • Sudden overwhelm about something that seems small to adults

The most helpful thing adults can do is make the invisible visible.

Create a simple May calendar that shows tests, projects, field trips, performances, spirit days, celebrations, and family events. Then help your child sort what is required, what is optional, and what can be skipped. A visual plan lowers the mental load.

Use small, specific steps. Instead of saying, “You need to get ready for finals,” try: “Let’s put your science papers in one folder, review the study guide for 15 minutes, and pack your calculator tonight.” Tweens are still building planning skills. Clear next steps help them feel capable.

Protect bedtime and decompression. The end of the year often brings later nights, extra activities, and more screen time. A predictable evening routine can help their nervous system settle. Think snack, shower, backpack reset, quiet reading, music, or another calming activity.

Make room for mixed feelings. Some tweens are excited for summer. Others are sad to leave a teacher, nervous about middle school, or unsure where friendships stand. A walk, car ride, or casual errand may open the door better than a direct conversation.

Try saying: There’s a lot happening this month. Let’s look at the week together and make it feel smaller.

Early Teens, Ages 13–15: Offer Choices, Not Lectures

Early teens are often managing rapid changes in their bodies, emotions, friendships, identity, and independence. They may want adult-like freedom while still needing adult help to think through consequences, manage stress, and recover from emotional ups and downs.

In May, stress for early teens often comes from:

  • Grades
  • Social comparison
  • Friendship drama
  • Group chats
  • Performance pressure
  • The feeling that everyone else is handling things better than they are

Offer structure with choice. Instead of “You need to study now,” try: “Would you rather study before dinner or after dinner?” Choice supports autonomy while still providing boundaries.

Use “take a beat” language. Early teens can feel things intensely and react quickly. Help them pause without shaming them. You might say, “Let’s take a beat. What’s one other possible explanation?” or “What would you tell a friend who was feeling this way?”

Help them notice digital stress loops. A teen may be physically home but emotionally stuck in a group chat, a post, a streak of comparison, or fear of being left out. Rather than leading with “Get off your phone,” ask: “Is being on this app helping you feel connected, or is it making tonight harder?” Then talk through options like muting notifications, taking a timed break, leaving a chat, unfollowing, blocking, or asking for help.

Shift the focus from identity to strategy. Comments like “Why are you so disorganized?” can feel like character judgments. Try, “What part of this is still in your control?” or “What would make tomorrow morning easier?”

Keep the door open. Early teens may reject support and still need it. A calm “I’m around when you want help” often lands better than repeated questioning.

Try saying: I’m not here to take over. I’m here to help you make a plan that works.

Late Teens, Ages 16–17: Reduce Future Overload

Late teens are often trying to finish the school year while also thinking about what comes next. They may be juggling exams, AP tests, graduation requirements, prom, jobs, sports, college decisions, summer work, family expectations, and the emotional reality of leaving a familiar stage of life.

By this age, stress is not only about this week’s assignments. It may also be about:

  • College
  • Money
  • Career questions
  • Relationships
  • Independence
  • Current events
  • Whether they are “ready” for adulthood

Treat them like collaborators. Ask, “Do you want help making a plan, or do you mostly need me to listen?” That one question can lower defensiveness and clarify what kind of support they actually want.

Create a next 30 days map. Put school deadlines, work shifts, forms, applications, celebrations, rest days, and family commitments in one place. Older teens can think more abstractly, but seeing the month laid out still helps reduce pressure.

Separate urgent from important. Everything can feel urgent in May. Help your teen sort tasks into what is due now, due soon, emotionally important, optional, and not worth the energy. This helps them conserve effort for what matters most.

Watch the work-school balance. Part-time work can build confidence, responsibility, and real-world skills. But too many hours during the school year can crowd out sleep, schoolwork, family connection, and social life.

Make room for grief and pride. A teen may be excited to graduate and sad about leaving. They may be ready for college and scared of it. They may want independence and still need reassurance. Mixed emotions are part of transition.

Try saying: You don’t have to have your whole future figured out this month. Let’s focus on the next right steps.

Young Adults, Ages 18–24: Support Without Re-Managing

For college students and young adults, May can bring finals, moving out, internships, job searches, financial stress, changing relationships, and returning home after a year of independence. They may need support, but they usually do not want to feel managed like they are back in high school.

The best approach is to act more like a consultant than a director.

Ask before advising. “Would feedback help, or would encouragement help more?” is often more effective than launching into solutions.

Support basic routines without turning them into criticism. Sleep, food, movement, laundry, transportation, and money can all become stress multipliers during transitions. Practical support can help, especially when offered respectfully.

Normalize uncertainty. Young adults may be making decisions about majors, jobs, relationships, identity, values, and where they belong. They do not need to have everything figured out just because the semester is ending.

Encourage connection. When school ends, that built-in community can disappear quickly. Help young adults think about where they will find belonging during the summer:

  • Friends
  • Work
  • Volunteering
  • Creative projects
  • Exercise groups
  • Spiritual communities
  • Neighborhood activities
  • Family rituals

Respect recovery time. A student coming home from finals may need sleep, food, and quiet before they are ready to talk about grades, plans, or responsibilities.

Try saying: I trust you. I’m here as backup while you sort through what’s next.

Stress-Lowering Practices That Help at Every Age

Some supports work across every age group. They are simple, but they matter.

Protect Sleep

May tends to steal sleep first. But sleep is one of the most important supports for emotional regulation, learning, and resilience.

Lower the Comparison Temperature

Awards ceremonies, grades, college announcements, tryout results, and social media posts can make young people feel measured from every direction. Remind them that someone else’s milestone is not a verdict on their worth.

Create Small Rituals of Closure by Asking:

  • What do you want to remember from this year?
  • What are you proud of getting through?
  • Who helped you?
  • What do you want to leave behind?

Reflection can turn a stressful ending into a meaningful transition.

Use Connection Before Correction

Kids are more likely to problem solve when they feel safe, seen, and respected. This does not mean removing limits. It means leading with human connection so limits can be heard.

Celebrate Recovery, Not Just Achievement

The end of the year is not only about grades, trophies, awards, and admissions. It is also about persistence, friendship, courage, repair, growth, and rest.

When Stress Seems Bigger Than the Season

Some stress is expected at the end of the school year. But persistent sadness, hopelessness, withdrawal, panic, major changes in sleep or eating, self-harm, or talk of not wanting to live should be taken seriously.

Reach out to a school counselor, pediatrician, therapist, or local crisis support if needed. Early support matters.

A Brief Workplace Connection

There is also a useful lesson here for workplaces. Young people do better when expectations are clear, recovery time is protected, and support matches the moment. Adults do better under those same conditions. The way we support kids through periods of high demand can remind us what healthy culture looks like everywhere: clear communication, realistic expectations, empathy, and room to recover.

Closing the Year With More Steadiness

With the right support for the right age, families can help kids close the school year with less pressure, more connection, and a clearer sense that they are growing, not just performing.

Written by Stefanie Cousins, Vice President, Marketing & Communications, Fluent Research

10 Oct

Posted at 03:04h in Health, Kids, Wellbeing

In our research with families and children, mental health and wellbeing come up often. The families we work with are often oriented towards addressing the day-to-day logistics and needs within their household. However, parents are constantly reflecting on the broader state of their own wellbeing and that of their children. Likewise, the young people we speak to are not only acutely aware of their own highs and lows, but those of their family members and their household at large.

Children of all ages have a lot on their plates today. More students than ever have aspirations to attend college. Young people’s schedules are packed with extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, family commitments, and social activities. The landscape of opportunities for children to learn, grow, and achieve is ever-increasingly active and competitive. It is no surprise that many of the kids our team works with often talk about experiencing stress from the pressures of school, sports, family, and social expectations.

Across disciplines, scientists and experts have observed increasing rates of reported mental illness in younger populations. This is the reality that all industry sectors have had to reckon with over the past several years and are still learning how to address. The chaos of day-to-day life wears on individuals, as does the mental impact of the various national and global crises that have occurred over the course of the last few years. At Fluent, many of our clients are eager and motivated to design products, services, and strategies that can directly aid parents, teens, and families in navigating stress at all levels.

As a UX researcher working on many of these projects, I have had a direct role in gathering research around mental health-oriented initiatives. As a designer and anthropologist, a few key themes have become clear to me as takeaways that the broader UX and product design world should keep in mind when designing for youth and families. None have become more apparent to me than the restorative and life-giving value of helping individuals connect with their own creativity.

The ability to create and observe the creativity of others has multiple beneficial dimensions, but some of the most important elements include:

1) Creativity is multidirectional, and comes in an infinite amount of forms.

There is no one way to express yourself. Creative pursuits can be individual, but they can also help individuals find community and connect with others. Both the act of creating and consuming works created by others offer individuals the opportunity to experience joy and connection in different ways.

2) Creativity helps individuals express and connect to themselves.

Many of the individuals we speak with talk about how creativity, especially in digital spaces, helps them experiment with who they are, what they value about themselves, and how they want to be known by others. Similarly, finding a piece of art, music, or media that is resonant can be an exciting tool in self-discovery or community building. 

3) Creativity helps individuals alchemize difficult emotions or life experiences by creating pause and facilitating reflection.

During difficult life experiences, many of our participants have talked about turning to art, music, or other creative outlets to give themselves space for reflection and processing time.

Many of these outcomes like multidirectional exploration, positive self expression, and processing difficult emotions, have an overall positive impact on individual mental health and wellbeing. It is no surprise that more and more of our partners and clients across industries are turning to think about how they can support creative expression for individuals. There are a myriad of other ways the mental health crisis in the U.S. can and needs to be addressed. From a product design standpoint, the potential of what can be offered to individuals in terms of creative tools, outlets, forms of engagement, and joy is limitless. Moreover, they may hold the key to making the products and services people use every day more supportive of overall wellbeing.

By Charlotte Beatty, User Experience Researcher

23 May

Posted at 15:00h in Get to Know Us, Kids

May is National Teen Self-Esteem Month. Self-esteem issues affect people of all ages. However, we are particularly at risk of experiencing a low sense of self-worth during our teenage years. At Fluent, we understand the importance of lifting up our young people and helping them to foster a positive view of who they are and what they can achieve. With that in mind, we asked some of our team members to reflect on the advice they would offer their teenage selves. Their answers warmed our hearts and provided us with some valuable self-esteem tools.

 

Charlotte Beatty, User Experience Researcher

Alone time in nature is essential! Alone time (read: no parents, no authority figures, no outside noise or opinions!) affords teens a moment to rest and reset and listen to their own voice without any distractions, but doing something active, like going outside, can really help teens consciously reflect about themselves and their interests. Taking a walk or going for a hike outdoors can significantly help with processing difficult emotions, finding a sense of flow or balance, and sparking creativity. If you’re not a nature person, any solo, meditative activity can have the same benefits. When I was a teen, I connected to my sense of self-esteem best when I was hiking bluffs, walking along beaches, painting, performing ballet, or swimming.

 

Stefanie Cousins, Vice President of Marketing and Communications

It’s okay to make mistakes. Be kind to yourself. Every other teen is figuring it out too.

 

Heath Cozens, Director of Productions

This is my confidence hack for public speaking, but it can apply in lots of socially stressful situations. Focus on the message, not yourself. Think of how you ride a bike: if you only look at your front wheel, you’ll wipe out. But if you look at where you’re going, you’re golden. It’s a lot more fun to focus on communicating your passion, and 99% of the time, people are actually rooting for you. Their attention is on the substance of your message, your actions, and what you bring to the table, rather than superficial aspects like your appearance or how polished you seem. And if you’re bringing positivity/utility/good vibes and they’re still attacking you…? Well, in that rare case, you can probably guess why, and the real reason has nothing to do with you. So when you’re feeling stressed, take a moment to note that feeling, and then put it aside. Shift focus to what you want people to take away from the interaction. This will not only make you more confident but also make your interactions more meaningful.

 

Tom Fuller, Vice President of Business Development 

Take off that silly hat and wear sunglasses instead of those coke bottle horn rims! No, you’re okay — remember you’re smarter than some and faster than most.

 

Nellie Gregorian, Founder and President

Don’t be so hard on yourself, Nellie. Keep that critical inner voice in check! And don’t be shy about acknowledging your strengths and talents. It’s OK to pat yourself on the back from time to time.

 

Mary Meyn, Director of Research 

It’s ok to not have all the answers — keep asking questions and challenge the status quo. I’m proud of you.

 

Anonymous

Every loving thing you do for yourself is practice for loving someone else well. Meditate on your strengths, and focus less on your weaknesses. Not getting everything right on the first try makes you human, leaving plenty of room for growth and discovery. Expect failure, and allow it to serve as transformational instruction; maybe you can even help others learn from your mistakes one day. Get good at identifying your feelings by building a vocabulary for the range of emotions you feel — “amused,” “anxious”, “astonished”! Don’t be scared of your feelings, feel them all, and let them inform you of what is important or valuable to you. Remember that you are deeply loved as an immutable fact and that no one, not even you, can undo that.

 

 

18 May

Posted at 20:00h in Content, Health, Research, Technology

Individuals who may be struggling with loneliness, depression, or anxiety and are in need of immediate relief or support are increasingly looking to apps as a middle-path tool when a mental health service provider may not be the most expedient solution. This BBC article explores the innovative possibilities of a chatbot therapist app called Replika, aimed at providing AI-generated counseling services to its users. Lia Abrams and Charlotte Beatty, two researchers at Fluent, consider the following to be important areas of research to investigate:

1) The consequences of around-the-clock access to chatbots. In face-to-face therapy, skill development often hinges on the time a patient spends away from a therapist; that is, the time patients spend in day-to-day life putting their coping skills into practice. While around-the-clock care could be useful for individuals who need immediate support, it’s important to consider how constant access to a chatbot could facilitate patterns of depending on the resource in times of stress instead of developing personal resilience.

2) The commitment to equitable mental healthcare. The technology described in this article primarily addresses the wider population of individuals with mild to moderate mental health issues. However, it is necessary to consider how the smaller population of people with severe mental illness could utilize the service. These individuals face significant stigma, present a more complex set of challenges, and potentially need more support and funding for their healthcare.

3) The ability of AI to replicate natural human skills and instincts. An important component of therapy is the ability to read a patient’s body language and facial expressions. Will an AI chatbot be able to pick up on the intricacies of a patient’s energy? How will this work if there is no prior knowledge of who the patient is, their personality, or their mannerisms?

4) The security of patient information and the quality of data mining. One important part of therapy is the confidentiality agreement that therapists sign, prohibiting them from disclosing patient information outside of sessions. How can chatbot therapy services ensure that patient data is not misused? In addition, if the data that chatbot algorithms draw on is skewed or doesn’t cover a wide enough demographic of people, then can algorithms truly care for all individuals as they see fit? There is substantial evidence that mental health experiences vary significantly across demographic lines like gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. How can AI and chatbots truly cater to the needs of each individual’s intersectional identity?

Here at Fluent, we prioritize research that amplifies voices of underrepresented communities. While the possibility of AI-generated mental healthcare offers significant benefits for increased accessibility to self-help practices, the above are factors that should be addressed and researched in order to ensure that platforms such as Replika can reach and serve a wide range of individuals.

By Lia Abrams &  Charlotte Beatty

01 May

Posted at 18:54h in Children, Content, Media

In 2021, Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of Viacom-CBS and MTV Networks, launched the Mental Health Storytelling Coalition and the publication of the Mental Health Media Guide. The purpose of the guide is to teach content creators how to develop more positive mental health storylines that include a diverse range of experiences. With the release of “Wolf Pack,” the first scripted series using the guide’s recommendations, Fluent’s UX Researcher Charlotte Beatty shares her thoughts about the impact of media on teen wellbeing and the implications for the guide on developing storylines that change the narrative on mental health.

“Wolf Pack” is the first scripted series from MTV Entertainment Studios to incorporate the guide. The writers room also worked with consultant Courtney Knowles, senior media advisor for The JED Foundation (JED), a Fluent client and a nonprofit geared toward protecting emotional health and preventing suicide that is particularly geared toward teens.

Most of us will never forget the movies, TV shows, music, and media that made an impact on us as teenagers. Adolescence is a period where individuals are searching for meaning and self-discovery, and nothing feels better than finding a piece of art that makes you feel seen. For about half of the population, adolescence is also a period where mental illness symptoms begin to appear, typically anywhere between ages 14-24.

At Fluent, we talk to teenagers every day about experiences with growing up, mental health, and the media for clients such as JED. In recent years, shows like Euphoria, 13 Reasons Why, and Stranger Things have captured the attention of teenagers across the nation because of the different ways the shows tell stories about mental illness. Storytellers have experimented with a range of portrayals — from painful hyperrealism, as seen in Euphoria, to personifying mental illness with monsters and fantasy world building, such as with Vecna in Stranger Things. Reported rates of mental illness among teenagers have been on the rise, so it’s no wonder that these shows have garnered so much attention, whether it be praise or criticism.

In a post-pandemic world where teenagers are more tapped into media than ever before and having an “emotional support show” has become a regular turn of phrase, it’s exciting to dream of new ways that research can support production development in the film and television space. MTV and its collaborators are breaking exciting ground with their Mental Health Media Guide as they broach one of the most prominent and topical areas of contemporary television for teens. This progress builds on the legacy of research in media, initiated by researchers at The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop, but turns the conversation towards adolescence and mental wellbeing with a focus on considering realistic, positive solutions, and problem-solving when it comes to mental health storytelling.

By Charlotte Beatty