Our dd is 16, doing her assessments that will form her gcse grades, working hard, doing well, has friends etc etc.
We thought we were coming through the whole covid/ exams thing well, I know so many who are not but she seemed ok.
Last night we found several empty wine bottles under her bed (most of which were ours!) plus cider cans. She says there was stuff going on during lockdown which we don't know about, she was low, made a misjudgement (several!), lockdown was soo hard, thought would help etc.
She is contrite, has repaid the cost of stolen wine, apologised, we've had a good chat but we had no idea even though we thought we have a good relationship- I know and totally accept (maybe too much) that teenagers want privacy and can be secretive but she is such a closed book.
She says so herself, doesn't share her problems/ concerns with us or her mates.
This doesn't feel great for her mental health in the future, I worry about kids and suicide (2 in her school this year alone).
What can I do to help her? Counselling? Are there skills I can learn to draw her out a bit?
In all truth I think I'm similar, I certainly understand how she feels.