By Andy Hale

We are nearing that time of year again, in which a sea of high school seniors will graduate and move on to the next chapter of their lives. Some will go off to college, others to trade schools, some to the workforce, others to travel abroad, and still some to uncertainty.

Thinking back to this period of my life, realizing it is more years ago than I care to admit, there was a lot of anxiety and worry associated with it. There were so many questions as to school, work, friendships, and relationships.

While the human pubescent process has not changed in hundreds of thousands of years, culture has. The challenges that teenagers face today are far more significant than the ones I experienced.

Studies have found that anxiety and depression are up among young adults. The Center for Disease Control found that 75% of young adults report anxiety and depression. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder.

“Anxiety is tricky because it often doesn’t look like anxiety. For younger teens, it can look like more like manipulation and anger,” said Sissy Goff on the CBF Podcast.

Goff is the director of child and adolescent counseling for the Daystar Counseling Ministries. She has authored several books, including Brave: A Teen Girls’ Guide to Beating Worry and Anxiety.

We sat down with the counselor to discuss her book, as well as the challenges parents, ministers, and teenagers face in helping adolescents navigate anxiety and worry.

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This podcast episode is brought to you by The Center for Congregational Health, Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, and McAfee School of Theology Doctor of Ministry program.

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Andy Hale is the creator and host of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Podcast. Hale is the senior pastor of University Baptist Church of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following eight years as the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Clayton and five years as CBF’s church start specialist. Follow on Twitter @haleandy