Wellbeing

Recognising Anxiety in Teenagers 

Anxiety is a common experience in adolescence, particularly during periods of academic pressure, social change, or uncertainty. While some anxiety is normal and even motivating, persistent or intense anxiety can affect sleep, concentration, relationships, and overall wellbeing. Adolescents may not always verbalise worry — instead, it can show as irritability, avoidance, perfectionism, stomach aches, headaches, or difficulty sleeping.

Parents can support their children by recognising signs early and responding with calm reassurance and practical strategies. Understanding that anxiety is a normal part of brain development helps families approach the issue with empathy rather than frustration.

What parents can do:

• Observe patterns: note when your child avoids activities, seems unusually tense, or complains of physical symptoms
• Validate feelings: “It makes sense you’re worried about this test. Let’s think about what might help.”
• Encourage gradual exposure to fears rather than avoidance: start small and increase confidence over time
• Seek professional or school-based support if anxiety persists and affects daily life

What students can do:

• Practise slow breathing or grounding techniques when feeling anxious
• Break tasks into smaller steps to reduce overwhelm
• Keep a journal to track triggers and coping strategies
• Talk to a trusted adult rather than keeping worries private

Learn more:https://www.beyondblue.org.au/mental-health/anxiety

Social Media platforms on notice

From mid-December, eSafety has been monitoring age-restricted platforms to assess how they are complying with their obligations to prevent under-16s from having accounts. It is clear the restrictions are already having an impact. Based on information gathered through legally enforceable notices, many platforms have removed, deactivated or restricted a large number of under‑age accounts. 

However, based on the information gathered, including through submissions from the public, field research with parents and carers and engagement with key stakeholders, children under 16 continue to retain accounts, create new ones, or pass platforms’ age checks.

Because of these concerns, eSafety is now focusing its investigations on five major platforms - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. These platforms have been notified about our concerns and expectations for improvement and warned eSafety will take enforcement action if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent systemic failures that allow children under 16 from having accounts on their service.  

Major reforms like this take time – not just to embed, but to spark a broader cultural shift in how industry designs services to keep children safer online.  It won’t happen overnight, and although we can see some progress has been made, it's clear there's still a way to go.   

This update explains what eSafety has learned so far since the legislation took effect on 10 December 2025. We will continue to provide transparency where we can while protecting the integrity of our ongoing regulatory processes and provide relevant up-to-date information for the community, including children and young people, parents and carers and educators at our social media age restrictions hub. 

eSafety remains committed to holding platforms accountable, and ensuring these restrictions deliver real change for Australian families.

Headspace Newsletter

Headspace have released their first Community Newsletter for 2026, with a quick snapshot of their current intake timeframes, workshop offerings, free family sessions, and how they’re supporting young people following the Bondi terror attack.

Their wait times are currently low, and the intake team aims to respond to all referrals within two business days. Young people and families are also welcome to self-refer directly by phone or email.

• headspace Elsternwick | (03) 9076 7500 | headspaceelsternwick@alfred.org.au
• headspace Bentleigh | (03) 9076 9400 | headspacebentleigh@alfred.org.au

They’re also open for school bookings and always happy to tailor sessions to suit your needs – if you’d like to chat about how they can support, just contact headspace via the details above and they will find a time that suits you.