In 2020, the Peace and Justice Institute worked with Kenneth Ginsburg, MD, MS Ed, FAAP, pediatrician, professor, and co-founder of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication. After being well-received as the keynote speaker of the Creating a Resilient Community: From Trauma to Healing Conference, PJI brought Dr. Ginsburg back to deliver three additional workshops in a Community Resilience Series.
If you missed the series, you can watch parts 1-3 on our Youtube page:
- Community Resilience Series: Part 1 - Parenting in an Age of Uncertainty with Dr. Ken Ginsburg (For Parents)
- Community Resilience Series: Part 2 - Addressing Risk by Building on Strengths with Dr. Ken Ginsburg (For Healthcare Professionals)
- Community Resilience Series: Part 3 - Building on the Strengths of ALL Young People - with Dr. Ken Ginsburg (For Educators)
With the back-to-school season and many parents, teachers, and other professionals having to navigate the difficulties of teen life, we'd like to share an article titled "The Biggest Myths of the Teenage Brain." A lot of what we learned from Dr. Ginsburg is echoed in this resource from the BBC.
Below is an excerpt from the article:
Parents and teachers of teens may recognise that sensation of dealing with a highly combustible mind. The teenage years can feel like a shocking transformation – a turning inside out of the mind and soul that renders the person unrecognisable from the child they once were. There's the hard-to-control mood swings, identity crises and the hunger for social approval, a newfound taste for risk and adventure, and a seemingly complete inability to think about the future repercussions of their actions.
In the midst of this confusion, adolescents are consistently assessed for their academic potential – with ramifications that can last a lifetime. No one's fate is sealed at 18 – but an impeccable school record will certainly make it far easier to find a place at a prestigious university, which will in turn widen your options for employment. Yet the emotional rollercoaster of those years can make it extremely difficult for teens to reach their intellectual potential.
It is only within the past two decades or so that scientists have been able to chart the neural changes across this core period of development, and decode the mysteries of the teenage brain.
These exciting new insights not only help explain why teens feel and act the way they do. They also show that some of the traits that adults tend to find difficult or baffling in teenagers can be turned into a strength, and used to acquire skills and insights at a time when the brain is still malleable.
You can read the full article at this link.
We hope you find it to be beneficial and timely!
Author: David Robson
Date: September 6th, 2022
Photo Credits: Diamond Dogs
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