Here's an article I've just written, featured in YourDocMedical.co.uk

Having just attended a one day workshop on the Challenges of Teenagers, I’m keenly reminded of the difficult position this age group occupies.  Caught in the middle of Childhood and Adulthood, this age group, which can begin as early as 9 and go on somewhere past 19+, is in the insecure position of ‘transition’.  The brain and body is undergoing a rapid period of growth, rivalled only by the early stages of infancy and toddlerhood.  Indeed theorists call this period the ‘second individuation’, the first being when a toddler begins to assert his/her independence from parents both physically and wilfully. 

Individuation
As we know this is exactly what a young person must do in order to develop into a fully fledged adult in life.  Move away from Mum and Dad, Care Home or Foster Parents in order to become independent.  But what are the conditions from which this independence must form?

Research has shown that the seeds for successful independence are sown in the first individuation or toddler stage of life. If a...