5 Mental Wellness Goals For Teens, According to Therapists

Written by Evolve's Behavioral Health Content Team

5 Mental Wellness Goals For Teens, According to Therapists

January is mental wellness month, and also a time when many of us consider resetting our goals for the year, sometimes in the form of New Year’s resolutions.

While this can be an exciting process, others may be feeling pressured to overhaul their life — whether that’s chasing a fad diet, overexercising in pursuit of a “glow-up,” or cutting out things like coffee, sugar, or social media.

The impulse to use the new year to make changes in your life isn’t necessarily a bad impulse. 

However, it can often be misused by adults and teens alike to change their lifestyles from a place of restriction and shame (“I need to stop X because it’s bad”) rather than a more sustainable and joyful approach (“I’ll try X, one small step at a time, to feel better”).

Teens are not immune to the pressures of our larger society. This is why we’ve developed these “anti resolutions” alongside therapists who specialize in teen mental health

In 2025, we’re focusing on effective mental wellness strategies. Parents can encourage this in their children by centering how they want to feel (“I’d like to feel calmer”), through the addition of healthy habits for teens (like a mindfulness practice).

This is in contrast to how resolutions tend to look in our culture, which are often outcome-oriented goals (“spend less time on my phone”) through taking something away (“so I should put my phone away after 7 PM”).

This helps ensure that the mental health and wellness goals you set with your teen are rooted in self-acceptance and curiosity, rather than self-loathing, suppression, and even punishment.

And remember: Setting goals and mental health planning with your teen isn’t limited to January! You can bookmark this article and revisit it at any point in the year when you’d like to try something new.

1. Uncover your unique self (instead of trying to “fit in”).

Teens today, especially due to social media, are under tremendous pressure to conform to someone else’s idea of what is cool, acceptable, or desirable. 

This makes it more important than ever that teens have the space to discover what makes them unique, and what their values are. Practices that help them reflect on who they are and what they value can strengthen their self-awareness.

Your teen might try: 

  • Starting a journaling practice
  • Creating a vision board for the year
  • Taking a values assessment, like personalvalu.es

How parents can help:

  • Purchase a therapist-approved journal for your teen, like The Big Feelings Survival Guide (written by art therapist Alyse Ruriani, based in Dialectical Behavior Therapy or DBT)
  • Go to a craft store together to get art supplies for vision boarding
  • Take the values assessment together and compare your results (you might even make this a yearly tradition, as our values can shift and change overtime!)

Why it works

2. Practice mindfulness (instead of rushing through your day).

Mindfulness for teens may sound like a trend, but it’s actually an incredibly powerful practice. Mindfulness refers to the ability to focus on the present moment as it unfolds, rather than ruminating on past or future anxieties.

As the pace of daily life can be hectic, parents may forget to encourage their teens to be mindful and to slow down in the moment. However, doing so can be a major boost for their mental and physical well-being.

Your teen might try: 

  • Learning a grounding exercise to practice when stressed, like the 5-4-3-2-1 method
  • Downloading a mindfulness or meditation app for teens
  • Incorporating a mindful approach to an existing habit, like taking a mindful shower (this can be done by focusing on the sensations, like the warm water on your skin, the steam filling your lungs, the smell of your soap, the sound of the water hitting the ground, etc)

How parents can help:

  • Get more familiar with what it feels like to practice mindfulness
  • Resist the urge to rush teens, especially when emotions are high
  • Make “savoring” a part of your routine together (so, invite your teen to share a “glimmer” or highlight of their day with you)

Why it works:

  • Mindfulness has ample research behind it, including benefits like stress and anxiety reduction; stronger mood regulation and less reactivity; improvements in working memory, focus, and cognitive flexibility; better immune functioning; and so many more

3. Feel your feelings (instead of reaching for a distraction).

An important part of adolescent development is learning how to self-soothe independently in times of stress and dysregulation. Learning to calm down when things are emotionally distressing is something teens still rely on parents for, but begin to do for themselves around this age.

With the availability of smartphones and other technology, teens may reflexively grab their phones when stressed, rather than engaging with their emotions. Sometimes a distraction can be a short-term relief, but it’s important to tend to our emotions rather than ignoring them.

Teaching teens how to do this is more important than ever. This might include therapy for teens who struggle in this area, but there are many ways to foster this kind of resilience.

Your teen might try: 

  • Exploring a creative outlet like art, photography, music, or poetry
  • Trying a therapeutic arts program (like drama or art therapy)
  • Starting 1:1 therapy to increase emotional awareness and build skills

How parents can help:

  • Encourage any of the above practices (or try them yourself)!
  • Ask teens to name their specific emotions when upset (rather than accepting “I’m fine” or “I don’t know”) and identify where their emotions are in their bodies
  • Consider intensive outpatient therapy for teens who may need more support

Why it works: 

4. Try a new hobby (instead of another extracurricular).

As teens approach adulthood, many experience the pressure to decide what their future might look like, including what career they may want to pursue, and if college is aligned with their goals.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with extracurricular activities, it’s important to balance them with activities that are just for them. If their participation in an extracurricular is only because it’s in service of their college essay or future vocation, it may mean they’re lacking in self-care.

Hobbies are an important part of mental health, allowing us to unwind, relax, play, decompress, and have fun. They should be encouraged in teens, especially those who may sideline them in favor of their ambitions.

Your teen might try:

  • Exploring a hobby that engages the senses (crochet, baking, clay sculpting, swimming)
  • Trying a hobby that’s related to a favorite TV show, book character, etc
  • Choosing a hobby that encourages social connection (that’s not related to a career path or college application)

How parents can help: 

  • Remind your teen that it’s okay to not be “good” at something in the beginning (or ever!)
  • Make sure your teen has ample, uninterrupted time in their schedule to engage with their hobbies
  • If finances are an obstacle, consider getting supplies secondhand and creatively repurpose them (like painting over something your teen found in a thrift store)

Why it works: 

  • Research shows that leisure activities like hobbies are essential for mental and physical well-being
  • A survey conducted early in the COVID-19 pandemic showed that teens found hobbies — more than any other support, such as friends, social media, self-care, and caring adults — to be the biggest help for their mental health, reinforcing the critical role of leisure activities in promoting mental well-being

Reminder: If your teen had hobbies previously but no longer enjoys them, this can also be a sign of depression.

5. Accept your body (instead of trying to change it).

In the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, research showed that the number of teens seeking out treatment for an eating disorder more than doubled in the United States. This is alarming on its own, but especially when considering that eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of any mental health condition.

Adolescence is already a vulnerable time, as teens undergo changes with their bodies — including weight gain. Despite what social media might leave teens believing, these changes are necessary and important for their health and development.

Promoting body acceptance starts early and at home. Parents have an important role to play in supporting teens in developing a healthy self-image and relationship to food and movement.

Your teen might try:

  • Focusing on movement for enjoyment (like a sport they love or a dance class)
  • Learning how to cook their favorite foods
  • Reading books that feature body positive themes and protagonists
  • Consuming media that features positive representation of diverse body types

How parents can help: 

  • Educate yourself on the signs of disordered eating in teens and how to parent in a “body positive” way 
  • Avoid “moralizing” food (speaking about food in strict terms of “good” or “bad” rather than identifying the value each type of nutrient and food can offer)
  • Make a conscious effort to celebrate things about your teen that are rooted in who they are (like their sense of humor, their intelligence, their strength and dedication, their style or creativity, their kindness, etc) and what their body does for them (allows them to play a beloved sport, hike a beautiful trail, dance with friends, taste a delicious meal) rather than their physical appearance
  • Focus on an additive approach rather than a restrictive approach with health (“I’d like to add more fruits and vegetables to my meals” or “I’m going to take a yoga class” rather than “I’m going to cut out carbs” or “I’m going to lose XX pounds”)
  • Discourage a fixation on numbers (calories, weight, hours of exercise, number of steps, etc) and instead, encourage teens to focus on how they feel when they eat or move their body

Reminder: These suggestions apply to teens with all body types, including teens who are plus-size or in a larger body. Any teen can develop an eating disorder, and any teen of any size can be harmed by restrictive diets and overexercise.

Why it works: 

  • There are many factors that contribute to developing an eating disorder, but it’s important to note that EDs tend to be more prevalent in cultures that emphasize losing weight and thinness as inherently good, whereas larger bodies and gaining weight are always bad
  • Research has shown that de-emphasizing appearance and focusing on function (i.e., what the body can do) supports better outcomes in body image and eating disorder recovery
  • As teens exposed to food restriction are more likely to engage in disordered behaviors around food, focusing on an additive approach to nutrition can help redirect disordered thinking
  • Research suggests that a more intuitive approach, focusing on how food and movement make us feel, may decrease disordered eating behaviors, including harmful dietary restriction

At Evolve, we build better futures for teens and their families.

If your teen is struggling with their mental health, we’re here to help. We only utilize evidence-based, compassionate care with clinicians who specialize in adolescent mental health.

We encourage you to learn more about our unique approach and the different types of support we offer, or get in touch with our team below. We’re here to help!

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