Do You Want To Ensure That Your Child Is Developing In A Healthy Way?
Do you wonder if your teenager is maturing enough to be successful and happy in the world? Are you concerned about their level of independence, social development or relationship decisions? Or, maybe you find it increasingly difficult to have a productive conversation with your teen. Perhaps you feel confused about how you are supposed to respond when your teenager makes mistakes or acts out because they have outgrown past mechanisms of discipline. Maybe you want to avoid or resolve tension in your relationship as they grow into an emerging adult, but you also want to guide them on the best possible path.
Parenting a teenager can be as frustrating and worrisome as it is satisfying. You might be concerned about repetitive patterns of poor decision-making, risk taking, a lack of responsibility or a preoccupation with social media. Or, perhaps they are withdrawing from the family, becoming overly rebellious or acting reluctant to assume ownership of their actions. In addition to navigating all of the other challenges of parenting a teen, you might be struggling to help your child manage existing psychological issues, such as anxiety, ADHD or trauma, and are worried about how it may affect their wellbeing later in life. Do wish you could just make sure that your teenager is on the right track and ready for the real world?
Most Teenagers Need Guidance And Support As They Transition Into Adulthood
Being concerned about your child’s psychological development as they grow into adulthood is perfectly normal and a sign that you are an attentive parent concerned for their needs and personal challenges. For both you and your teen, adolescence can be a very critical, yet rewarding period of your lives.
The world has changed dramatically over the last few decades, and it can be nearly impossible to apply the same lessons you learned during your development to your teen’s life today. The tasks of navigating new technologies and the boundary issues they present, mitigating the effects of an early exposure to sexually explicit material or dealing with a teenager’s preexisting psychological condition all present new and complicated challenges. It’s common to feel as though you don’t have the right answers, and it’s understandable if you and your teen both feel overwhelmed.
How your teenager responds to the challenges they face today can be indicative of how they may respond later in their lives, so it’s important to model healthy behavior and encourage productive coping skills. Fortunately, a skilled and compassionate therapist can give you and your child unique insight into the psychology of adolescence while providing you both with the tools needed to make their transition into adulthood successful.
Teen Counseling Can Help You Understand And Ensure Your Adolescent’s Healthy Development
Therapy for teens can help you understand where your teenager is in their development, identify issues that need addressing and nurture the internal strengths that can help them on their own. Depending on your and your child’s preference we can work in sessions either in the presence of a parent or with your teenager individually. Through our time together, you and your child can gain a greater perspective into their behavior now and identify shifts they may need to make for the future.
Although the challenges adolescents face share many points of commonality, each person has their own story. Because I take time to get to know each person as a unique individual, I am able to target the issues specific to their needs. Usually, there is more than just one area of stress in a teenager’s life. As a result, young people can easily become overwhelmed and unable to articulate what is truly affecting them. During teen counseling, we are able to break down these sources of tension and categorize them in a way that helps teens make sense of their experience and recognize the support and intrinsic competencies they possess to make a successful journey into adulthood.
As your teen and I establish a line of trusting communication, we can begin to define who they are outside the context of their pain and concentrate more on the person they would like to become. We’ll look at the source of their behavior or frustrations and expose what is really going on. Using scaling exercises to rank the intensity and validity of their emotional responses, they’ll be able see challenges and conflicts for what really are and develop healthy responses for dealing with them in the future.
We’ll work on communication skills that can reduce their defensiveness and lead to an exchange of real information instead of eliciting emotional outrage or patterns of isolation. They’ll also learn the importance of making responsible decisions and setting healthy boundaries by playing out hypothetical scenarios and looking at the motivations for and the consequences of everything from drug and alcohol use to managing relationships and internet presence. Furthermore, we’ll be able to identify unaddressed or unresolved psychological issues that may have presented themselves in their early youth and work towards empowerment and relief in the present.
Counseling for teenagers can also act as counseling for parents. I can educate you on child development and how the adolescent and young adult brain works so you can better understand where the friction in your parent-child relationship might be stemming from. I can also give you the tools and resources needed for better conflict resolution, increased empathy and a balance of nurturing with firmness. Whether you feel that you are expecting too little or too much from them, over time, you can gain new ways of looking at your teenager and adapt your parenting approach to their current and eventual needs.
If you are struggling to make sense of your adolescent’s behavior or just trying to prep them for the future, child and family counseling can be an invaluable resource. It may take a little work and patience on both sides, but you both can develop all the skills necessary to maintain a productive relationship. You can help your child prepare for their journey into adulthood.
I am considering teen counseling, but I still have some concerns...
I think counseling could help my teen, however I don’t think they’ll want to participate.
One of my greatest professional strengths is the ability to break down barriers and establish a strong rapport with young people. I provide a safe and compassionate space of understanding, free of judgment, where they can express themselves openly and honestly—even if they need to curse or cry to get their thoughts out. My clients find me to be fun, laid back and comforting, and in this atmosphere of freedom they experience a sense of relief that they often have trouble finding elsewhere. Because young people usually realize I have their best interests at heart, your teenager is likely to return.
I’m worried that teen counseling will automatically lead to a need for medication.
A majority of my clients do not require medication. In most cases, they just need someone to talk to, someone to help sort out what is going on in their lives and offer a little guidance and support. Some teens will make significant changes meeting with me individually, while others benefit more with a parent as a central figure in sessions. Whatever the case, I’ll always recommend a holistic approach whenever possible and never automatically assign a need for medication.
I don’t know if my child needs therapy or if this is all a normal part of growing up.
If you’re curious or looking for explanations at this point in your child’s life, therapy for teens can be an enlightening resource. Through the information and feedback you’ll receive from our sessions, you can learn what is natural behavior and what is problematic. It could be that, through a brief conversation or just a few counseling sessions, you can gain a better grasp on the reasons behind your child’s behavior. You don’t necessarily need to make a long-term commitment to therapy to make sure that your teenager’s development is on the right track.
Support And Guidance For Your Adolescent’s Development Is Available
If you’re concerned for your teen as they grow into an emerging adult, I can offer you the tools and resources for ensuring their healthy development. Please contact me at 443-340-0505 for a free 15-minute consultation. We can discuss any questions or concerns you may have about my practice and approach to child development and the psychology of adolescence.
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