Exam stress and anxiety in teenagers

Exam season can take a real toll. Sleep goes, appetite goes, and the pressure can tip into something bigger than nerves. Some young people go quiet and withdraw. Others get irritable or angry. Plenty are trying very hard to look fine while not feeling fine at all.

If you're a parent reading this, you may be watching it happen and not knowing how to help without making it worse. That's a horrible position to be in, and it's a very common reason people get in touch.

I've worked with children and young people for years. Alongside my private practice I'm the Children and Young People's Clinical Lead at The Spark, and I spend a day a week in a local primary school, so this is familiar territory. Teenagers get the space to say things their own way, at their own pace, with someone who isn't going to panic or lecture.

And Buster helps more than you'd think. Young people who'd rather not be there tend to relax around him, and things get easier from there.