Oakridge consultant discusses teenage emotional crisis
Column by Penny Newton-Hurley
NETFLIX'S Adolescence is striking a national nerve — sparking urgent debate among parents, schools, and government.
Writers Jack Thorne and Stephen Grahame shine a spotlight on the harsh realities teens face today.
The series shows how, in just a few harrowing moments, one life is extinguished, another's potential lost, and trauma ripples outwards.
Thorne's overriding concern is: "how do we stop this growing crisis?"
He believes conversation and legislation are the first steps — including accountability for social media platforms, exploring a 'digital age of consent', banning smartphones in schools, and promoting healthier role models.
"...Openly talking about changes in how they communicate, the content they're seeing, and exploring the conversations they're having with their peers is vital..." - Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer
The show also raises urgent questions about parenting in a digital world.
Despite our best efforts to raise happy, confident kids, we're up against forces beyond our control — social media, peer pressure, and teens' search for identity and belonging.
"Jamie is not a simple product of the "manosphere". He is a product of parents that didn't see, a school that couldn't care and a brain that didn't stop him" - Jack Thorne, co-writer of Netflix series, Adolescence
Teenage brains aren't fully developed until their mid-20s.
The underdeveloped prefrontal cortex affects emotional regulation — often triggering reactive behaviours with tragic outcomes. Yet neuroscience is barely taught. PSHE is non-statutory and inconsistent. There ought to be a whole new compulsory subject on emotional and psychological development — taught with the same priority as English, maths, and science — from primary school onwards.
If this was standard education, imagine who today's children might become.
About Penny Newton-Hurley
Oakridge-based communications expert Penny Newton-Hurley is launching a new series of online courses designed to help people navigate difficult conversations with colleagues, family members, partners, teenagers, and toddlers.
Find out more at www.foryou.commpassion.co.uk
Penny trained under renowned American psychologist Marshall Rosenberg in the art of nonviolent communication — a transformative process for fostering partnership and resolving conflict in relationships, workplaces, and wider society.
Penny has delivered training for leading organisations including the central government offices, Lloyds Bank, and the Ministry of Defence.
She lives in Stroud with her family.
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