Therapy for Teens
Has Your Journey As A Teenager Become Painful Or Complicated?
Are you struggling with the transition between adolescence and adulthood?
Do you wish you could be more successful at school, in your relationships, and with your daily responsibilities?
Are certain behaviors, ideas about your upbringing, or identity-specific worries causing you to wonder what the future holds?
Being a teen is often an emotional and exhausting time of life. Between the constant pressure to do well in school, fit in with your peers, and adhere to your parents’ expectations, you probably feel zapped of your energy.
Maybe you’re sleeping a lot more, eating unhealthy foods, or zoning out on your phone or computer regularly. It might be hard to focus, potentially leading to a dip in your grades or withdrawal from your relationships. Or perhaps issues involving your heritage, sexuality, or gender have you questioning your identity and values.
And despite wanting to be independent, you may have struggled to develop adult skill sets. Perhaps you wish your interpersonal communication was more effective and that you could set better boundaries without feeling self-conscious or getting in arguments with your parents. Social anxiety may keep you from applying for certain jobs, making friends, or having new experiences. Instead of having clarity about your decisions, you might be making choices out of fear, peer pressure, or a need to numb your emotions (as is often the case with alcohol and drug use).
All you want is to feel confident in who you’re becoming and take the necessary steps to achieve your goals, but there is a lot of noise—taking the form of authority figures and constant expectations—keeping you from reaching your destination. Working with a teen therapist, however, you can have focused, individualized counseling to help you clarify your values and make meaningful progress.
If You’re The Parent Of An Adolescent Or Teen, You May Be Worried About Their Ability To Adapt
As the parent of an adolescent or teen, you may have noticed your child develop troubling symptoms. Whether they’re locked inside their room at all hours, uninterested in their activities and relationships, or engaging in risky behaviors, you’re probably wondering if this period is just a teen rite of passage or something more serious. With anxiety and depression affecting teens at alarming rates, you want to make sure that they have optimal mental functioning and the proper support to make healthy, informed decisions.
Fortunately, we specialize in therapy for teens at A New Day Family Counseling. With our guidance, your child can receive individualized treatment that will equip them with lifelong skills for emotional regulation, stress management, and coping.
Many Teens Experience Setbacks To Their Mental Health
Common mental health issues that impact adults can often surface during adolescence. In fact, it’s estimated that one in seven teens will develop a condition affecting their mental health, emotional regulation, and cognitive functioning. ¹ Common diagnoses include anxiety, depression, ADHD, behavioral disorders, eating disorders, and, in some cases, psychosis. If left untreated, these conditions can worsen, presenting serious challenges in adulthood.
What Causes Teens To Struggle?
Even under the best of circumstances, adolescence is a turbulent period—chemical, social, and existential changes are constantly taking place as children become more aware and grow into adults.
Oftentimes, this time of life is made even more challenging by external stressors, which may include separation and divorce among parents, a death in the family, a violent crime, or ongoing bullying. This is also a period of individuation where identity issues come into play, making adolescence even more complicated for teens of color and those who identify as LGBTQ+. Not to mention, social media and the 24-hour news cycle have a tremendous influence on this population, often determining the social norms that teens live by.
And while we as parents are committed to helping our children cope during life’s transitions, we may not know how to effectively support or communicate with them. Sometimes our response comes off as harsh or inflexible when the reality is that teens’ brains are changing at lightspeed and need to be approached with curiosity, understanding, and care.
Fortunately, teen mental health issues are highly treatable with therapy. By working with a therapist who can help your teen build healthy habits for success, your child will experience improved functioning, increased connection, and enhanced self-compassion.
Our Approach To Therapy For Teens
When you’re a teen, there aren’t many safe spaces where you can feel free from life’s pressures to fully process your hopes and worries. But at A New Day Family Counseling, you can collaborate with an experienced, nonjudgmental teen therapist who will give you the space and time you need to explore your past, present, and future.
What To Expect
We take a client-centered, strengths-based approach to counseling, which means that our teen clients set the pace and goals for treatment. Of course, parents are an integral part of this process, and they will be involved during the intake and initial sessions to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
From there, individual counseling sessions will draw from a variety of therapeutic approaches to help teens build skills, strengthen relationships, and improve daily habits and decision-making.
Though therapy is customized to fit the needs of each client, our counselors are likely to draw from behavioral approaches, trauma-informed techniques, and game or art activities among others to help teens increase self-awareness and emotional regulation. In addition, we offer a group therapy option for teens to reinforce skills and help foster community.
By learning to unpack strong negative feelings associated with anxiety, depression, anger, and social setbacks in therapy, our teen clients are able to take control of their lives in a way that promotes self-actualization and independence. With the lifelong skills they develop in counseling, teens can experience a reduction in mental health symptoms, interpersonal conflict, and feelings of overwhelm.
At A New Day Family Counseling, our team of teen counselors understands the adolescent perspective. We have years of personal and professional experience working with younger populations. With our care and support, our teen clients can foster independence, continually building skills and paving the way toward the life they envision for themselves.
Considering Therapy For Teens But Still Unsure If It’s Right For You?
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If you are 12 or older, you are entitled to patient confidentiality by law. This means that we will not disclose anything discussed in therapy without your written permission, except in situations where you are in danger or at risk of hurting yourself or others.
Of course, we believe that this process is most successful when parents are aware of your goals and progress in therapy. However, we will discuss how to incorporate them in a way that feels comfortable for you.
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Therapists are here to listen to and understand your unique feelings and concerns—they are not here to judge you. It’s essential that all of our teens feel comfortable with their therapist at A New Day Family Counseling, which is why we will check in with you throughout initial sessions to make sure you’re feeling safe and comfortable. It typically takes about three sessions to figure out if your teen counselor is a good fit, and we can always match you with someone else if need be.
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There are some insurance providers we work with to offset the cost of therapy. If you’re interested, contact us to find out more. And even if we don’t partner with your insurance company, keep in mind that we offer several self-pay options to make teen therapy more accessible and affordable.
Gain The Skills You Need To Be Successful In The Future
If you’re a teen or parent of a teen who could benefit from the individualized support offered in therapy, we have a team of clinicians at A New Day Family Counseling that specialize in adolescent and teen psychology. To find out more, please email us or visit our contact page.
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