Back to School, Back to Routine: Supporting Youth Mental Health Through Times of Transition

September often feels a little like a fresh start for many people. For children and adolescents, it means returning to school, reconnecting with friends, adjusting to new teachers and schedules, and settling back into routines. For families, it can bring a welcome return to structure, but it can also be a time of increased stress.

Transitions, even positive ones, can be difficult. A new school year may bring academic pressures, changing friendships, uncertainty about what lies ahead, and increased expectations. For some young people, these challenges are manageable and temporary. For others, they may contribute to or amplify anxiety, low mood, avoidance, difficulties with sleep, or challenges with school attendance and functioning.

Against the backdrop of ongoing concerns about youth mental health, September offers an important opportunity to think about how we can best support young people, not only when they are struggling, but also in building skills that can help them navigate challenges throughout their lives.

What Can CBT Offer Young People?

One of the strengths of cognitive behavioural therapy is that it provides young people with practical ways of understanding and responding to difficult experiences. CBT can help youth recognize the connections between their thoughts, emotions and behaviours, develop greater awareness of patterns that may be keeping them stuck, and learn new ways of approaching challenges. These are skills that can support healthy emotional development and well-being.

Importantly, the goal is not to ensure that young people never feel anxious, sad, uncertain or uncomfortable. These emotions are part of life, particularly during periods of change. Instead, CBT can help young people learn that difficult emotions can be understood, tolerated and managed, so that they feel more confident in their ability to cope with them.

For a young person experiencing anxiety, for example, avoidance can provide immediate relief while making anxiety stronger over time. CBT can help youth gradually approach situations they fear and discover that they are more capable of coping than they may have expected. Other CBT-based strategies can help young people strengthen problem-solving skills, develop more flexible ways of thinking, establish helpful routines, and identify behaviours that support their well-being.

These are not simply strategies for reducing symptoms. They are skills that can foster confidence, growth and resilience as young people encounter new challenges.

Supporting Rather Than Removing Discomfort

As parents, educators and clinicians, it is understandable to want to make things easier when a young person is struggling. Sometimes, however, the most helpful support is not to remove the source of the support but to help the young person find a way through it.

That might mean listening and validating how hard something feels while still supporting a young person in taking steps toward returning to school. It might mean helping a young person break an overwhelming task into manageable steps rather than removing the task altogether. Or it may simply mean creating opportunities for connection and conversation while allowing young people increasing independence in solving problems themselves.

Of course, there are also times when distress becomes persistent or begins to interfere significantly with a young person's functioning. Recognizing when additional support may be needed remains an important part of supporting youth mental health.

Looking Ahead

As we begin another school year, I hope we can think about youth mental health not only in terms of preventing or treating difficulties, but also in terms of helping young people develop the skills and confidence to navigate an inevitably imperfect world. CBT has much to offer in helping young people develop these skills.

For those of us working within the CBT community, this is also an important reminder of the value of continuing to make evidence-based psychological knowledge and treatment accessible to young people, families, schools and communities.

As CACBT begins another busy fall, I look forward to the many ways our members will continue to contribute to that work through clinical practice, research, education, training and advocacy.

Wishing students, families, educators and clinicians a healthy and rewarding start to the new school year.