My background as a DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) clinician has provided me with great experience in supporting adolescents develop skills to regulate their emotions, learn how to make self-care a priority and participate by reaching out instead of isolating.  Most adolescents have learned how to regulate their emotions. Some of them have adaptive strategies, which promotes growth and mastery, while others have found maladaptive strategies to soothe themselves using technology, isolation, substances or other means of distraction.  I want to support your teen by helping them develop adaptive strategies to regulate.  However, this is a “parallel process,” meaning, parents also need to become aware of their patterns of self-regulation, side by side with their teen.  I encourage parents to learn skills and explore their own patterns of regulation, so that new responses from parents can create new habits of communication with their teens.