context: i like to consider myself a pretty caring person. i feel deeply and ask people questions, while trying my hardest to leave space fo them to be truthful and honest. i've echoed that a lot of the teenagers in my life right now are not "well," (you know, struggling with the things that we struggle with. mental health, identity, state of the world, etc.,) i'd say that most if not all of my friends experience dis-ease or mental illness. so, my main question is about how to support other young people with the big things that occupy our lives, while having good boundaries and taking care of myself.
a schoolmate of mine (younger than me) and i were texting about some stuff that's bothering them a lot, like older schoolmates (my age) avoiding talking about sex around them "even though [they've] literally had sex," with comments about how "everyone sucks" and with a comment testing the integrity of our school's conflict resolution system by saying that the school did nothing when their sister was sexually harassed. (harassment that has been unknown to me until now.)
how do i support someone who's so frustrated without feeling so frustrated myself? sometimes when people tell me things, it feels really big and all-consuming and it's hard to balance the part of me that wants to help and the part of me that's scared of consequences. i do work with a therapist and we check-in about my relationships.
how do you guys give care and take care? what's your favorite way to ask for help, and what do you ask for help with most often?
these are questions for staff or teens, because i'm curious about strategies (or lack of strategies?) you use to incite positive change.
