The Young Person's Guide to Health and Wellness - by Ahron Friedberg & Sandra Sherman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A practical guide setting young people on a path to greater wellbeing

The Young Person's Guide to Health and Wellness grew out of Dr. Friedberg's hands-on role in creating a holistic health, wellness, and athletic program at the Portledge School in Locust Valley, N.Y. Under his continued guidance, the program helps students pursue the best version of themselves in every dimension of their lives. It enables them to develop strong habits that will anchor them as they grow towards maturity. The program is based on ten principles, beliefs:

• You live in your body, so take care of it.
• Good nutrition is essential for health
• Healthy habits strengthen you.
• Self-reflection helps you find your way.
• Core moral values improve your sense of self.
• Healthy relationships are integral to your well-being.
• Empathy is essential to caring about each other.
• Building community helps you grow personally.
• Nurturing a sound mind is important to physical health.
• Making the most of good choices leads to a fulfilling life.

The Young Person's Guide to Health and Wellness elaborates on these tenets, demonstrating how young people can apply them in their own lives. "What is 'good' nutrition for someone with my body type and energy expenditure?" "How do I build community in my neighborhood?" The Guide is designed so that young people can approach the tenets through reading and reflection, augmented by discussion in classrooms or team meetings. Each chapter, explaining a particular tenet, will include questions for reflection and discussion. Ultimately, the Guide encourages young people not to leave health and wellness to luck or chance, but to take responsibility for their psychological and physical wellbeing. By developing an awareness of health and wellness, and making it the basis of sound habits, young people can better prepare for whatever comes next.

Review Quotes

"The Young Person's Guide to Health and Wellness is for smart, ambitious teenagers who want to live up to their physical, intellectual, and psychological potential -- now and into the future. Those of us past our formative years will wish we'd had it (its mind/body approach is astute and perfectly integrated)! Its advice is designed to stay with readers, even as they grow and adapt to new challenges. It's practical, candid, and unflinching, addressing real-life topics that gauzier books just ignore. Readers will feel that the Guide is talking to them, anticipating their concerns, helping them to act responsibly towards themselves and in the world. I have never seen topics as varied as nutrition, empathy, STDs, and choice-making discussed so effectively in one compact volume. Teenagers, as well as their teachers, parents, and health-care providers should read this book."-Heather Berlin, Ph.D., Mount Sinai Health System

"Dr. Friedberg's Young Person's Guide offers so much sane, sound advice that it should be a primary reference for any teenager navigating their life's journey. I will enthusiastically recommend it to all my younger patients. In particular, I like the Guide's emphasis on developing good habits that last a lifetime, since (as I tell all my patients) staying well is just as important as getting well."-Albert Levy, M.D., ​Director, Manhattan Family Practice

"The Young Person's Guide is full of practical wisdom, showing young people how to set their sails towards optimal physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. It will help them take stock of their current health and wellness, and design a strategy to work on each domain of wellness over time. Its approach is nonjudgmental, and it reminds readers that they don't need to tackle every domain of health and wellness at once. Rather, it helps readers identify those areas to focus on right now. From good nutrition to healthy habits, from self-reflection to building sound relationships, the Guide encapsulates much of what I practice in my own life, and offer my patients in my Integrative Medicine practice."-Zachary Mulvihill, M.D., Integrative Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine

"As an educator and a parent, I am confident that this Guide will not only engage readers, but become a lasting part of their journey to health and wellness. Its accessible and practical approach encourages readers to explore key areas such as healthy eating, building meaningful relationships, and fostering a sense of community. The ten tenets at the heart of this book serve as a roadmap for young people to set goals, improve their physical and emotional well-being, and navigate the challenges of making lasting change. As they face obstacles, this guide will be a trusted resource they can return to time and again to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives."-Simon Owen-Williams, Educational Leader

About the Author

Ahron Friedberg, M.D. is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and served twice as past president of the American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians. He is editor of American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis Academy Forum and book editor of Psychodynamic Psychiatry, as well as a regular contributor to Psychology Today. He is the author of five books with Sandra Sherman, including Through a Screen Darkly: Psychoanalytic Reflections During the Pandemic (winner of the 2021 Gradiva Award) and Life Studies in Psychoanalysis: Faces of Love, and Everyday Leadership: Taking Charge in the Real World.

Sandra Sherman, J.D., Ph.D. was a Senior Attorney in the U.S. government and a professor of English at two major universities. In addition to the five books she has co-authored with Dr. Friedberg, she is the author of four books and over 60 peer-reviewed articles on 18th century literature and culture. In collaboration with Professor Donald Pfaff of Rockefeller University, she is co-author of several books on neuroscience, including Laws of Human Behavior: Steps Toward Hard Science. Currently, she is an officer of Childsplay International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the benefits of play to vulnerable children around the world.