Life After Quarantine: Helping Teens Move Forward

Due to school closures and stay-home orders related to COVID-19, Washington state youth abruptly went home from school in mid-March – and stayed there for the rest of the school year. Then, even with the stay-home order phasing out, most summer plans were shelved or modified, school won’t be like it was pre-coronavirus, and the world is a much, much different place.

Welcome to life after quarantine, where teen clients are bored, lonely and lethargic. For many, depression, anxiety, substance use, self-harm and other concerns have increased. For some, worries about the future have grown into existential dread. As the pandemic continues, these impacts will surely increase.

We’ll begin this highly interactive training by reviewing the past few months, considering the impact of lost rites of passage, and exploring practical ideas for decreasing the boredom and lethargy. We’ll also explore ideas for helping teens express and ultimately accept feelings of social isolation, disappointment about cancelled events, worries about the safety of family members, and that growing existential dread.

Along the way, we’ll review the latest coronavirus news, identify strategies for managing our own anxieties while helping others, and consider practical ideas for providing the best care possible during this unprecedented time.

EPDC CE Hours: 6
Presenter: Emily Hughes LMFT, SUDP, CMHS

Emily is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Substance Use Disorder Professional and a clinical supervisor with the state of Washington. Emily has a private practice that is telehealth based with an office in South King County. She sees adults, teens and couples. Emily has also been involved in training and teaching and has done so with NW ATTC, the Washington Mental Health Counselor’s Association, City University of Seattle and she has been a guest speaking at a variety of schools in the greater Seattle area. Throughout her career she has worked in crisis management and stabilization primarily with youth and young adults. This work was done in a community based mental health agency, as the lead for a crisis outreach team and as a mental health evaluator at Seattle Children’s Hospital emergency room. In her work with clients, her areas of expertise include working with teens, young adults, adults and couples in life transition and mood-related disorders, and around self-harm/suicide assessment, prevention, intervention, and management, the intersection of co-occurring disorders and in clinical supervision.