Therapy for Teens
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Therapy for Teens
Are You Worried About Your Teen’s Mental Health?
Is your teen struggling to keep up in school? Do they have difficulty forming healthy relationships with their peers? Has your teen seemed anxious or depressed, especially if they’ve recently gone through a distressing or traumatic experience?
Perhaps your teen has been angry or irritable at home. Their grades might be slipping, and you may have noticed that they’re sleeping for long hours, having trouble concentrating, or expressing hopelessness about the future.
Your teen might be isolated from their old friends and quitting extracurricular activities—or they might have gotten involved with a social circle that encourages risky behavior. Maybe you suspect that your teen is turning to substance abuse or other harmful coping mechanisms to deal with their symptoms, and you’re not sure how to intervene.
Teens Can Be Reluctant To Ask For Help
Even if you’ve encouraged your teen to open up about their struggles, it can be hard for them to share their complicated emotions with their parents. Furthermore, they might be dealing with issues that you’re not equipped to address on your own, like substance abuse. Perhaps you’ve broached the idea of therapy to your teen before, but they’ve pushed back.
Sometimes, it’s easier for teens to express themselves honestly in therapy, even if they’re initially apprehensive about the idea of working with a counselor. With your gentle encouragement and support from an empathetic therapist, your teen can replace risky behaviors with healthy coping mechanisms, learn how to handle disagreements and conflicts gracefully, and start paving the way for a brighter future.
Today, Teens Face Intense Pressure To Succeed
Teens have always dealt with problems like bullying and social exclusion, and the fear of judgment or rejection from your peers at a vulnerable age can contribute to social anxiety and depression. But today, teens are exposed to bullying in person and online, which makes it harder to feel emotionally safe and secure in any environment.
Additionally, the societal pressure to achieve academic and extracurricular success can feel overwhelming for today’s teens. Coming of age in a hyper-competitive, individualistic culture is especially difficult for teens dealing with mental health conditions or trauma-related difficulties such as concentration issues or low motivation.
Teens Are Still Learning Emotional Regulation And Impulse Control
Teens often struggle with decision-making, planning for the future, and accurately judging risks because the areas of the brain that govern emotional regulation and impulse control are still developing. Therefore, they can be prone to making rash decisions and experiencing mood swings.
This is a normal part of growing up, but it also means that teens are vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions, and they can have a particularly hard time processing traumatic experiences and overcoming conflicts within friendships and family relationships. To cope with these situations, teens might fall into patterns of substance abuse, self-harm, or other detrimental behaviors that might be glamorized in their peer groups.
The right therapist can provide the support your teen needs to let go of guilt and shame, uncover the causes of their symptoms, and find healthier ways to process complicated emotions. In therapy, your teen’s counselor will help them determine their goals and guide them as they move towards the future they want.
Therapy For Teens Provides A Safe Place For Self-Expression
It’s natural for teens to feel a bit nervous about going to therapy for the first time. At Channeling Growth Therapy, our counselors create a safe space for teens to share their feelings away from the judgment of their peers. Additionally, our diverse therapists understand that cultural, generational, racial, and gender issues can affect teens’ mental health and take all of these societal factors into consideration in counseling sessions.
What To Expect In Therapy For Teens
Overall, your teen’s therapist will help them rebuild their self-esteem, express themselves with clarity, and tackle challenges with confidence so that they can reach their full potential. Their therapist will let them open up about their symptoms and experiences at their own pace. They will help your teen understand how their mental symptoms affect their daily life and explore healthy outlets for their feelings, like journaling and exercise. Your teen will also improve their interpersonal communication skills and emotional regulation techniques.
Mental Health Treatment Approaches For Teens
Your teen’s treatment plan will center around their unique needs and goals. In our practice, we emphasize solution-focused therapy to help your teen implement practical strategies for managing their symptoms, recovering from anxiety, depression, or other conditions, and achieving their goals outside of sessions.
Some teens struggle with the feeling that they lack agency in their own lives, or that their futures are outside of their control. Narrative therapy provides a chance for your teen to write their own story and define their identity beyond their trauma or mental health symptoms. Furthermore, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can equip your teen to accept their emotions, establish their own personal values, and prepare for addressing future challenges with these values in mind.
It can be challenging for teens to share how they’re feeling or advocate for their own needs. In therapy, your teen will work on communication techniques that will enable them to navigate difficult conversations while staying calm. For example, your teen will learn about the importance of using “I” statements to express their feelings without blaming others.
Additionally, many teens struggle with insecurity and low self-esteem fueled by endless comparisons to their peers. During sessions, your teen’s counselor will guide them in practicing self-compassion and creating a positive self-image by focusing on their own strengths and celebrating progress.
Therapy will help your teen overcome short-term challenges and build a foundation for long-term fulfillment. With guidance from a counselor, your teen can start improving their academic performance, foster healthier relationships, and begin to view challenges as opportunities for positive growth.
But You May Still Have Questions About Therapy For Teens…
I want to help my teen get the support they need, but I’m concerned about the costs of therapy.
At Channeling Growth Therapy, we want to ensure that mental healthcare is not cost-prohibitive. We are in-network with several major insurance providers, which can significantly reduce the cost per session. Our team will verify your coverage and review any out-of-pocket expenses to avoid surprise charges. Additionally, we can provide documentation for out-of-network reimbursement from your insurance company.
What if my teen isn’t interested in going to therapy?
Teens often need some encouragement before they’re ready to attend counseling. Let your teen know that they’re free to share anything they want with their therapist, and counseling will move at a pace that feels comfortable for them. Additionally, they will never be punished or face negative consequences for regressing in certain behaviors. We will still support your teen on the road to healing.
What are your policies regarding confidentiality and parental involvement for teen clients?
We ensure that teens feel comfortable being honest in counseling without facing judgment. If your teen’s counselor feels that it would be beneficial to share specific information with you, they will ask for your teen’s permission first. It can be hard for teens to directly share their feelings with their parents, so a therapist can serve as an advocate in this regard. We also provide information on how to better support your teen at home.
With Therapy, Your Teen Can Gain Confidence And Start Thriving
If you’re ready to reach out to a therapist on behalf of your teen, we invite you to fill out the contact form or call our office at 408-634-6506 to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation or book an appointment for your teen.
