Youngsters are embracing new paths to emotional wellness

AS mental health care sheds its stigma, young people are looking beyond the therapist’s couch and embracing a range of integrative wellness practices for emotional well-being.

- ARYA VIDYA

These include art, yoga, music, dance, theatre, pottery, ice baths, nature-based therapy, and other mind-body interventions. For those dealing with academic stress, anxiety, loneliness, or emotional challenges, these activity-based approaches may provide a safer, less intimidating way to process emotions through non-verbal expression and catharsis. This is particularly helpful for children and adolescents struggling to articulate their feelings. Experts emphasise, however, that trained professionals should facilitate these interventions to ensure safe therapeutic experiences. “Evidence-based psychotherapy remains the most