Guide for middle schoolers and high schoolers

Teddy Bear Talk Support (TBTS) is about helping people process things out loud. Sometimes it can help a lot if someone just listens while you talk. The goal of TBTS is to make it so that all it takes to harness this power of listening is to ask someone to be a “teddy bear.” Agreeing to be a teddy bear means that the listener will do very little talking. The only talking that the teddy bear does happens only when the talker asks for it. For example, the talker might want the teddy bear to

• Paraphrase parts of what the talker said
• Offer some open, honest questions
• Make guesses at what's at the bottom of what the talker is speaking about, for example, make guesses at what feelings and needs are underlying what the talker is saying
• Serve as a scribe who writes down parts when asked