Youth Archives - Heather Hayes & Associates https://heatherhayes.com/tag/youth/ Interventions & Treatment Consulting Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:08:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 https://heatherhayes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-HH_logo-32x32.png Youth Archives - Heather Hayes & Associates https://heatherhayes.com/tag/youth/ 32 32 Before They Leave: What Every Student, and Every Parent, Needs to Know Before College https://heatherhayes.com/before-they-leave-what-every-student-and-every-parent-needs-to-know-before-college/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:00:18 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7761 Every August, millions of parents load up SUVs with comforters, mini refrigerators, laundry baskets, and enough snacks to survive a natural disaster. We make one last trip to Target. We hang pictures on dorm walls. We hug our children goodbye and tell them how excited we are. Then we get back into the car. Some […]

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]]> Parenting Through the Pressure: Supporting Young People in a World Obsessed with Image and Achievement https://heatherhayes.com/parenting-through-the-pressure-supporting-young-people-in-a-world-obsessed-with-image-and-achievement/ Fri, 17 Jul 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7753 We are raising young people in a world that never turns off. It is a world of curated perfection, constant comparison, performance metrics, public identities, artificial intelligence, viral success stories, academic, social, and athletic pressure, unreasonable beauty standards, achievement and productivity culture, and social media algorithms that quietly reinforce the belief that worth is earned […]

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]]> What Is a Therapeutic Consultant in Mental Health and Addiction? https://heatherhayes.com/what-is-a-therapeutic-consultant-in-mental-health-and-addiction/ Wed, 22 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7507 When a family realizes that their child, young adult, or loved one is struggling with serious mental health concerns, substance use, or behavioral challenges, they often find themselves facing an overwhelming and confusing system of care. There are hundreds of programs, including residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, stabilization units, addiction treatment programs, young adult […]

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]]> How Early Attachment Shapes Adult Coping Patterns in High-Functioning Individuals https://heatherhayes.com/how-early-attachment-shapes-adult-coping-patterns-in-high-functioning-individuals/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 07:00:17 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7523 So many of our adult coping patterns are created when we are very young. The various ways we learn to meet the world early in our lives, quite naturally, become a familiar toolkit for negotiating the rest of our lives. Psychological research has shown that there are patterns in our behaviors which can be linked […]

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]]> What’s Actually Happening When Some People Appear “Resistant” to Treatment https://heatherhayes.com/whats-actually-happening-when-some-people-appear-resistant-to-treatment/ Fri, 20 Feb 2026 18:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7294 When a loved one seems to fight every suggestion, skip appointments, or sabotage their own progress, it is easy to feel hopeless. Clinicians may label it non‑compliance, and families may call it denial, stubbornness, or lack of willpower, but what looks like resistance from the outside is almost always a complex, protective response on the […]

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]]> 10 Specific Behaviors You Develop After a Damaging Childhood https://heatherhayes.com/10-specific-behaviors-you-develop-after-a-damaging-childhood/ Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:03:32 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7287 In our work, we meet adults who are capable, thoughtful, and, on the surface, managing well. They may be parents or professionals, or they may come because relationships feel more difficult than they should. Others arrive when anxiety, disconnection, or exhaustion has reached a point that can no longer be ignored. Many do not describe […]

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]]> Realistic Expectations in an Unrealistic World https://heatherhayes.com/realistic-expectations-in-an-unrealistic-world/ Fri, 30 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7268 How do families, schools, and young people keep their footing amid filters, fame, and AI? If you scroll for sixty seconds, you’ll see poreless faces, bodies trimmed by software, bedrooms staged by design apps, and perfect routines packaged for purchase. The mirror has moved from the bathroom to the feed, where it talks back in […]

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]]> Breaking the Legacy of Damaging Childhoods: A Trauma-Responsive Exploration of Jerry Wise’s “Inherited Behaviors” https://heatherhayes.com/breaking-the-legacy-of-damaging-childhoods-a-trauma-responsive-exploration-of-jerry-wises-inherited-behaviors/ Wed, 07 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7246 When we grow up in families where emotional neglect, chaos, enmeshment, addiction, or inconsistency shape the air we breathe, we learn quickly how to survive. Jerry Wise, a well-known family systems expert, often teaches that many of our adult struggles stem not from personal failings but from adaptive behaviors we developed in childhood, behaviors that […]

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]]> TikTok Bans #SkinnyTok: A Step Toward Protecting Mental Health or Just a Patch? https://heatherhayes.com/tiktok-bans-skinnytok-a-step-toward-protecting-mental-health-or-just-a-patch/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 13:46:37 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7169 In a move lauded by public health experts and mental health advocates alike, TikTok recently banned the hashtag #SkinnyTok, along with related content promoting extreme thinness and disordered eating. While this step reflects growing platform accountability, specialists warn it may not be enough to curb the deeper social and algorithmic drivers of eating disorders among […]

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]]> Incongruence in Family Systems: Exploring Covert Contracts and Adolescent Development https://heatherhayes.com/incongruence-in-family-systems-exploring-covert-contracts-and-adolescent-development/ Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:00:18 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7035 Family systems theory, a cornerstone of systemic family therapy, emphasizes the interconnectedness of family members and the impact of these relationships on individual behavior and development. Pioneers like Jay Haley and Salvador Minuchin have profoundly influenced our understanding of these dynamics, particularly how unspoken rules, or covert family contracts, shape interactions within families. One critical […]

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]]> Understanding the Reality of Autism in Teens https://heatherhayes.com/understanding-the-reality-of-autism-in-teens/ Wed, 02 Jul 2025 07:00:13 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=6831 Understanding autism necessitates a nuanced comprehension of this complex and diverse condition. Considering the real experiences of real individuals enhances our ability to create an inclusive and accepting world where autistic people are supported, understood, and empowered. Teenagers are at a special time in their lives, at once navigating an exit from childhood and an […]

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]]> Is “Birth Order” Theory a Myth? Unpacking the Role of Siblings in Family Systems https://heatherhayes.com/is-birth-order-theory-a-myth-unpacking-the-role-of-siblings-in-family-systems/ Thu, 22 May 2025 19:05:15 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=6990 What does it mean to be the eldest daughter, the youngest son, or the “middle child” of a family? These are terms that we often use to describe ourselves and others; their broad and folkloric connotations have even made their way into online meme culture.  Generally speaking, birth order theories are based on the idea […]

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