Supporting Healthy Friendships in our Young People

The start of a new school year can bring up mixed emotions for students (and parents!) alike.

For many, friendships and sense of belonging will be front of mind when anticipating the year ahead. Friendships can be the source of both significant joy and intense challenge. Given that a sense of connection and belonging with peers is so vital for wellbeing, the matter of friendships is one that must be consistently attended to with our young people.

A task of adolescence is the (often fraught) journey of finding the right kind of friends. So how can we support our young people in that task of discovery?

Dr Brene Brown created the ‘Anatomy of Trust’ to help us understand the seven elements of trust. The acronym BRAVING gives us great framework to ask questions around and encourage reflection on different relationships.

Boundaries (Do they respect your boundaries?)

Reliability (Can you rely on them?)

Accountability (Do they own their impact and take responsibility for things?)

Vault (Can you trust them with personal stories?)

Integrity (Do they do what they say they’re going to do?)

Non-Judgemental (Can you be yourself?)

Generous Lens (Do they give you the benefit of the doubt?)

Asking some of these questions, and opening the space for your young person to think about friendships through this lens might encourage valuable reflections!