The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workout for Teens

3.5 stars

This book introduces and explains some potentially useful mental health exercises for young people dealing with mental health issues.

I liked the explanations of harmful thought patterns and how they might impact mental health. It was interesting to read about these harmful thoughts might be processed and how changing one's dealings with them might positively impact mental health.

I'm not quite sure whether this book, on its own, can actually help someone with real mental health issues. Reading about how to improve one's thought patterns might, in my opinion, even frustrate those impacted by mental health issues if the exercises don't work for them.

Overall, this in interesting read with some helpful ideas and exercises.

This is an incredible book. For adults. While the topics covered are ideal for the teens I teach, the book in itself is too wordy. I struggle to get a lot of my students to pick up books as it is; there's no way my kids will digest this.
They need it chunked, the activities that make up the 'workbook' element need to be separate from the bulk of the other writing.
I'll be using it, most definitely. For my own issues and as an inspiration to create my own resources, but I will not be recommending it to my students. Sorry.

As a member of the the pastoral team at a secondary school, I was very interested to see the exercises in this book. I felt that the book covered a good range of subjects. I liked the drawings which helped to explain the main points. I thought the book could have included some opportunities to include thoughts and feelings and some worksheets but otherwise could see how it would be helpful.

Great overview of useful practices for teens and adults. The exercises were presented clearly and should be easy for most teens to put into practice. I liked how Nagel doesn't talk down to the reader and offers useful tips. Even if this book is merely skimmed (which I wouldn't recommend), there is plenty to choose from!
If you have a motivated teen who is looking for help, I would recommend this book near the top of the reading list.

Full review to be published on my blog on 7th March 2019 but can be moved upon request.

I have been up and down with Anxiety and Depression since 2012. I was 16 and I didn't really understand what it all meant. I thought it wasn't possible for me to have it because the only thing happening in my life were exams, nothing too traumatic. My review is based on whether or not I would have found this useful as a teen.

I think that this should be used in secondary schools with all pre-teens and teenagers. It is as much for prevention of anxiety and depression as it is for getting out of it. The language is user friendly and doesn't underestimate the teenagers. It explains the chemical and hormonal reasons for certain feelings and helps to explain how to pick out helpful and unhelpful thoughts.

There are examples from real teenagers that the author has worked with so it is relevant for today's teenagers and the struggles that they are facing. I feel like if all teenagers had access to this then they will be more resilient to handle anxiety and depression If it tries to take over their life. They will be in a better position to recognise what they are feeling, try to work through it themselves and then more likely to seek further ACT or CBT therapy and help if they are struggling to do it alone.