Join Jake Sparks, Treatment Director of Embark Behavioral Health, as he shares advice for the whole family on boosting your mental health during summer break. Discover practical strategies for maintaining a healthy sleep schedule, managing screen time, and tackling boredom. Jake also shares research on how screen time impacts your brain, why boredom can be disruptive to your emotional well-being, and what strategies you can use to manage them. 

Related Blogs:

• Ask a Therapist: Why Does My Teenager Sleep So Much? 
• Can Social Media Be a Positive Influence on Teens? 
• Intensive Therapy Options for Teens During the Summer 
• Self-Esteem Activities for Teens 

Related Videos:

• Mental Health 101: Your Questions Answered (Part 1) | Roadmap to Joy 
• Gratitude Journal with Me 
• How to Improve Teen Mental Health 

Research Cited:  

• Nationwide Children's. 2021. “Sleep in Adolescents.” Nationwidechildrens.org. 2021.  
• Nederkoorn, Chantal, Linda Vancleef, Alexandra Wilkenhöner, Laurence Claes, and Remco C. Havermans. 2016. “Self-Inflicted Pain out of Boredom.” Psychiatry Research 237 (March): 127–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.063. 
• Mindell, Jodi A, and Judith A Owens. 2015. A Clinical Guide to Pediatric Sleep. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 
• “The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens.” n.d. Accessed June 30, 2023.  

About Jake 

Jake Sparks is a Marriage and Family Therapist who has spent the last decade working with often suicidal adolescents and their parents in their journey toward health and healing. During this time, Jake has been a clinician and Clinical Director of several adolescent programs, and is currently the Treatment Director at Embark BH, where he gets to work with some of the nation’s best and brightest clinicians. Jake’s approach to therapy is centered on the role of relationship and attachment in the context of families. He believes that when authenticity and vulnerability are met with acceptance and empathy people thrive! 

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