The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workout for Teens presents some interesting and valuable ideas for monitoring and improving mental health and wellbeing. It is a bit wordy and complex in some areas, but these ideas are definitely relevant to both teens and adults.

While I am more than a decade removed from being a teenager, I have been interested in mental health in recent years, and this book was an accessible way into the subject.
It's divided up into a handful of categories of the types of "unhelpful thoughts" that easily get you stuck in a negative and debilitating cycle. Then it offers some mental exercises to help you challenge those thought patterns and develop a healthier perspective. It got a little repetitive by the end, since the formula for dealing with each type of negative thought is approximately the same, but the repetition probably helps cement the technique in your mind.
I think especially for a teenager or for anyone who isn't yet in the habit of analyzing their own thoughts, this would be a great introduction to the concept of mental health. It's important for everyone to realize that just because your thoughts and feelings tell you something, it doesn't mean it is so. Especially if those thoughts and feelings cause you to freeze up or give up.
If a book like this helps anyone to view mental health as a valid thing to spend time on, then it's doing its job.

As a school counselor, I was excited to get my hands on this book. It has been extremely useful in my small groups and the students are engaged in the activities!

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workout for Teens is a phenomenal book. Filled with exercises to help a teen learn to identify and deal with the flurry of emotions and thoughts that bombard our brains every single day.

The only problem with this book (as with most self-help books in this genre) is that by the time someone needs this information, it's too late. In addition, the information within is likely going to be inaccessible to someone who is already in the wrong frame of mind.

I would love to see book as part of a mandatory health unit in all schools for kids somewhere between the ages of 12 and 14. The lessons within are not easy to learn on your own and would be much better if presented as classwork just like math or language skills. Building these skills may not be fun, but they are necessary, and learning them before they're needed is key.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for providing me with a DRC of this book that will be available for purchase on March 21, 2019.

Full review to be published on my blog on 7th March 2019 but can be moved upon request.

I have been up and down with Anxiety and Depression since 2012. I was 16 and I didn't really understand what it all meant. I thought it wasn't possible for me to have it because the only thing happening in my life were exams, nothing too traumatic. My review is based on whether or not I would have found this useful as a teen.

I think that this should be used in secondary schools with all pre-teens and teenagers. It is as much for prevention of anxiety and depression as it is for getting out of it. The language is user friendly and doesn't underestimate the teenagers. It explains the chemical and hormonal reasons for certain feelings and helps to explain how to pick out helpful and unhelpful thoughts.

There are examples from real teenagers that the author has worked with so it is relevant for today's teenagers and the struggles that they are facing. I feel like if all teenagers had access to this then they will be more resilient to handle anxiety and depression If it tries to take over their life. They will be in a better position to recognise what they are feeling, try to work through it themselves and then more likely to seek further ACT or CBT therapy and help if they are struggling to do it alone.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workout for Teens by Paula Nagel was a book I read more for professional curiosity. This book focuses on exercises and strategies grounded in therapy techniques. What I liked about this book was the way it defined certain mental health struggles. It did a really good job of framing up what these thoughts could feel like and how they could manifest. I think this book could be a good starting point for self-work, but oftentimes these work best with a professional involved. I know that was true in my own experiences. This is perhaps going to sound weird, but I also wish this book had more pictures. There were some comics that explained a "Before" and "After" in the book, and I felt like there should be more of that. I think these are heavy topics that require lots of words to explain, and pictures can help break some of this down further. Overall, I think this has potential as a "companion" piece, but not as a standalone. This is another one I owe a thanks to NetGalley for the preview as this is due out in February.

This is a well-rounded, well-researched, and approachable item on a difficult topic. It includes worksheets, mindfulness exercises, practical scientific information about mental health, and insights from real teens. It has a relaxed tone which many teens will appreciate. I would confidently hand this item to any parent or teen looking for a mindfulness or mental health resource. I believe it would be best received by ages 11 - 16.

3.5 stars

This book introduces and explains some potentially useful mental health exercises for young people dealing with mental health issues.

I liked the explanations of harmful thought patterns and how they might impact mental health. It was interesting to read about these harmful thoughts might be processed and how changing one's dealings with them might positively impact mental health.

I'm not quite sure whether this book, on its own, can actually help someone with real mental health issues. Reading about how to improve one's thought patterns might, in my opinion, even frustrate those impacted by mental health issues if the exercises don't work for them.

Overall, this in interesting read with some helpful ideas and exercises.

This is an incredible book. For adults. While the topics covered are ideal for the teens I teach, the book in itself is too wordy. I struggle to get a lot of my students to pick up books as it is; there's no way my kids will digest this.
They need it chunked, the activities that make up the 'workbook' element need to be separate from the bulk of the other writing.
I'll be using it, most definitely. For my own issues and as an inspiration to create my own resources, but I will not be recommending it to my students. Sorry.

As a member of the the pastoral team at a secondary school, I was very interested to see the exercises in this book. I felt that the book covered a good range of subjects. I liked the drawings which helped to explain the main points. I thought the book could have included some opportunities to include thoughts and feelings and some worksheets but otherwise could see how it would be helpful.