Adolescent/Teen Therapy

Adolescence years provide an opportunity to explore one’s identity, take on more responsibilities, and gain more independence and freedoms. However, while being a teenager can be filled with lots of joys, it can also present a multitude of challenges. This time is filled with constant inward reflection and outward comparisons. Am I good enough? Am I trendy enough? Am I pretty enough? Where do I belong? The questions that teens ask themselves about their own self-worth on a daily basis are endless, and now with social media, they truly are endless. You can no longer separate peer life from one’s home life. Comparisons no longer end with the ring of bell. Social media, school expectations, athletic pressures, peer pressures, and countless other factors contribute to a wide variety of issues for teens that could be helped through psychotherapy.

Often these issues can lead to struggles with depression, anxiety, academic problems, eating disorders, defiant tendencies, drug or alcohol experimentation, or other risky or potentially dangerous behavior. If your child is experiencing these symptoms, your child is not alone. The World Health Organization reports 1 in 6 adolescents struggle with some mental health challenges. Similarly, suicide is the leading cause of death among ages 15-19 year-olds. Because of these reasons, it is imperative to take action steps to prevent situations to become serious.

We at Soulwork Counseling offer efficient and effective therapy that gets at the heart of the matter so your teen can work toward becoming a happy, healthy, independent, decision making adult. Through providing a nonjudgmental safe space, adolescents are encouraged to share their challenges, feelings, opinions, while being empowered to make healthy choices.

Our therapists are trained and experienced in working with a variety of challenges and situations. Through collaborating with your teen, we create a treatment plan that is uniquely tailored to your teen’s goals and needs. Along with addressing your teens struggles, we offer a strengths-based approach by celebrating a client’s unique talents progress, and successes.

We offer traditional evidence-based talk therapy techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT,) dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and other non-talk therapies such as Neurolinguistic (NLP) therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and a variety of expressive therapies utilizing various forms of art.

Our therapies encompass a holistic approach aiming to address the integration between body-mind and spirit. For each type of therapy, your child will learn strategies that can be practiced during our sessions and then implemented in real-world situations.

CBT is designed to recognize certain negative thought patterns that have influenced an adolescent’s  mental health and their decision-making skills. After identifying the thought patterns and where they originated from, we teach a teen to replace those unhealthy thoughts with more positive and productive ones. We coach teens to replace unhealthy thoughts and discover good judgement making skills.

DBT has been found to be highly affective with mood disorders and teens who engage in risky behavioral patterns such as drugs, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts.  DBT addresses relational conflicts and coping with difficult emotions. The term “Dialectical” originated from the meaning to bringing together balance of “acceptance” and “change,” which psychologists have found that both are needed for transformation.

DBT focuses on 4 main areas to improve one’s psychosocial wellness and mental health. These 4 areas include:

1. Emotional Regulation-learning to regulate challenging emotions such as anger and fear
2. Distress tolerance-learning to manage stress in a healthy manner
3. Interpersonal effectiveness-gaining communication strategies to foster and maintain healthy relationship,
4. Mindfulness-Coaching clients to live in the present moment while not negatively focusing on the past or future.

In addition to individual therapy we offer some DBT groups as well. This type of therapy can be an opportunity for your teen to relate to others, share their struggles, and learn essential relational skills.

If your child has experienced some form of trauma, EMDR is a technique that efficiently and effectively addresses cognitive beliefs that occurred from the trauma, and aids in helping clients release intense emotions and deep pain.

Sometimes teens may not feel comfortable opening up in traditional talk therapy, so we offer different expressive therapies. Lots of teens really enjoy sand tray, painting, collage, music, board games, or creating poems, as they find these modalities less vulnerable and enable them to express and process their feelings that may be difficult to verbalize.

In addition to these therapies, we believe connection to parents (guardians, or family) is a critical foundation for a healthy, fulfilling life. Often due to the generational gaps and trends, many parents struggle with creating a bond with their teen. Our therapists coach parents in ways to connect with your teen so you will understand your child’s struggles and needs. We provide communication strategies that will help you and your child feel understood, heard, and known. We also teach parents positive discipline techniques and strategies to solve conflicts. We also encourage parents to be present in session to foster a better relationship as well as focusing on individual sessions to encourage autonomy.   

You may be considering teen counseling but still have questions or concerns…

Is teen therapy expensive?

Adolescent counseling may seem like a big investment upfront, but it can provide an important foundation to create a life complete with confidence, happiness, and contentment for both your teenager and your family. Improving one’s daily functioning, relationships, and productivity now can empower them to take control of their lives in the future. By investing in your family, you are creating a chance for your child to live a life with confidence, happiness, and fulfillment. If finances are preventing you from seeking help, we can also work on payment plans to help meet your financial responsibilities.

I’m afraid that people will think our family is dysfunctional if they find out that my child is in therapy.

This is a common fear for people, but it is important to understand that therapy services for adolescents are absolutely confidential. It is our lawful responsibility to protect every client’s right to privacy by ensuring that matters disclosed to a professional are not relayed to others without informed consent. Our sessions will allow you and your teen to express yourselves in a nonjudgmental, confidential, and safe space to work through and understand the issues surrounding your family dynamics.

I’m afraid that having my teen in counseling will make him/her feel worse.

The purpose of therapy is to help your teen feel and perform better both immediately and in the long-term. We want to create an awareness of what is and is not working in your child’s life, allowing them to learn about their behaviors and how to move forward in a positive direction. Working together, your therapist will provide you and your teen with support, while exploring new perspectives, developing creative solutions, and highlighting their progress and success. A customized teen counseling program can help your teen handle stress, overcome conflict, improve their confidence, and foster healthy connections based on trust and respect throughout their lives.