Teen Counseling
Are You A Teen Who Feels Frustrated And Misunderstood?
Are you a teen or parent of a teen who is experiencing anxiety or depression?
Have worsening symptoms impacted your academic performance, relationships, and daily functioning?
Is a pressure to succeed or fit in creating additional stress?
As a teen, you may feel like you don’t have any power or say in what happens. Not yet an adult but no longer a child, you may feel caught between your parents’ expectations and a desire to be independent. As a result, you may be slowly distancing yourself from your parents or developing resentment toward authority figures. This has probably caused conflict at home or tension with teachers, coaches, and other adults in your life.
Because you’re in a period of growth and individualization, you may be looking to your friends (instead of your family) to clarify your goals and belief system. Maybe you’re starting to feel peer pressure to engage in risky behaviors, or perhaps you’ve begun to experiment with alcohol, drugs, and sex. New experiences have likely caused you to question elements of your identity, including your values, character, and orientation.
Anxiety, Depression, And Other Mental Health Setbacks Are Common Issues For Teens
As you navigate the changes associated with becoming an adult, it’s normal to encounter challenges to your mental health. Conditions like anxiety and depression are common in teens, and they can make this period of life even harder and more confusing than it already is.
You may regularly feel tired, sad, or unmotivated. As you grow and understand more about the complexities of adulthood, you may feel discouraged or intimidated about the future. Or perhaps you struggle with anxious, obsessive thinking that causes you to feel distracted, unconfident, and on-edge.
While these symptoms make life difficult, it’s important to remember that a therapist can help. In therapy for teens at Balance Counseling Center, you can work with a trained clinician who will guide you on the exciting, complicated journey of becoming an adult.
As Teens Individuate, It Can Be Hard For Them To Fully Trust And Feel Comfortable Around The Adults In Their Lives
Parents of struggling teens who may be sad, angry, or defiant often feel helpless when they can’t enforce positive change in their children’s lives. The more they try to engage with their teen, the more the teen might pull away or act out. And it’s painful for parents to watch their children suffer with their mental health.
But individuals of all ages can experience trauma, which means that children, teens, and adults alike can be affected by disruptive symptoms of depression and anxiety. Teens are already going through a developmentally complicated time as is, but when added pressures are introduced to the mix—including alcohol and drug use, social media’s comparison culture, and, most recently, COVID-19—their mental health can deteriorate.
Yet, many teens feel like they don’t have anyone to talk to. Worried they will be judged by their parents, peers, and friends about their struggles, they may turn inward or engage in numbing behaviors (including substance abuse and mindless internet usage) instead of seeking help. Not to mention, teens are often concerned that the adults in their lives are more likely to lecture—than support—them when discussing their struggles.
A teen therapist is trained to understand the challenges and perspectives specific to this population. Together with the clinicians at Balance Counseling, your teen can enhance their emotional awareness, coping strategies, and communication techniques to be more successful in life.
We Specialize In Treating Teens At Balance Counseling
It’s important for teens to have a safe, objective atmosphere where they can feel truly heard and understood. Fortunately, our practice specializes in therapy for children and teens. We know how to facilitate a sense of trust, safety, and exploration so that our teen clients can feel comfortable exploring complex or difficult emotions.
Our Approach
At Balance Counseling, we place our teen clients at the center of the therapeutic process. As our client, we will collaborate with you in a way that honors your individual goals and needs for therapy. However, we are invested in making this a cooperative process for parents and caretakers, who will be involved in the intake process—especially if the client is a minor. Once a regular treatment schedule is set, we will work with our teen clients to address symptoms.
Expressive and body-based trauma therapies are some of our approaches to counseling teens. Our practice owner, Amy Garman, Registered Play Therapist (RPT), has decades of experience working with children and teens, and understands the value of art, sand tray, and expressive activities in treating teens in particular. We also use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which can target symptoms of anxiety and depression in teens.
Teen counseling offers self-regulation, communication, stress management, and emotional awareness skills. And our therapists understand that the most important tool is the therapeutic relationship itself. We know how to approach clients in a way that allows them to feel self-directed and motivated to grow.
By experiencing a genuine, empathetic, and nonjudgmental connection with a teen counselor, you can develop lifelong skills for healthy relationships—with others and with yourself.
Maybe You’re Wondering If Therapy Can Help You Or Your Teen, But Not Sure If Counseling Is Right For You…
As a teen, I am worried that you will tell my parents what we discuss in therapy.
If you—the teen—are our client, that means you are at the center of this process. Everything your teen counselor does will honor your therapeutic goals and needs. Not to mention, confidentiality and privacy are a very important part of counseling.
We will discuss the limits of confidentiality with you. And if we decide there is something we can do to help your parent understand and communicate with you better, we’ll brainstorm ways to involve them in the conversation.
As a parent, I don’t think I can convince my teen to go to counseling.
If your teen is hesitant about therapy, I encourage you to do what you can to convince your child to come to one session. Oftentimes, it only takes one session for our teens to see that this process isn’t an interrogation or as intimidating as they thought. Once they can relax, they can see the value of having open discussions in the nonjudgmental space of therapy.
How do we know if our teen’s therapist is a good fit?
As trained clinicians, we can usually tell if our clients are genuinely responding to us or if they’re having trouble trusting us. However, much of this process is about building rapport with our teen clients so that they can understand that counseling is a way to help them—not a way to be controlled or spied on by their parents. The real progress begins once the teen can feel safe and open up about their emotions.
Learn The Tools You Need For A Successful Life
If you are a teen or a parent of a teen struggling with symptoms of depression, anxiety, or unresolved stress, the therapists at Balance Counseling Center can help.
For more information about teen therapy, contact us so that we can match you with the clinician who will best suit your needs.
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