Its 7 a.m. on my alarm clock. But while the rest of us are getting ready to face a new day, Liam (name changed for confidentiality) is in bed facing his bedroom wall. Hes been staring at it for hours, exhausted, but unable to fall asleep.

Liam is 16. Hes been struggling with insomnia for weeks. Hes anxious, frustrated and just cant cope anymore. Like many of the teenagers I work with as a registered social worker specializing in sleep counselling at Straight Up Health, Liam feels like he is living his life in slow motion during the day, only to have his mind jump into overdrive at night.