Adolescent/Parenting counseling

 Adolescence is a time of change, growth, and seeking independence.  When dealing with the pressure of school, parents, friends, and fitting in with peers, teen-aged life can feel overwhelming.  Some of the signs an adolescent may not be coping well are depression, anxiety, excessive worry, anger outbursts, isolating, compulsive behavior, alcohol and /or substance abuse, friendship issues, family problems, eating issues, problems in school, suicide thoughts/attempts, and self-harming behavior. 

Something to note: Teens show that they are depressed differently than adults and in addition to low mood will also show heightened anger, outbursts, irritability and isolation from friends. 

When working with adolescence sometimes it is necessary and important to bring in the parents and or family to help the individual in counseling. This is done at the beginning of the first session to gain insight as to the perceptions of the presenting issue or issues. After having had built up a rapport and trusting alliance with the client, the parent(s) and or family may be invited to a session if deemed necessary. The idea is to help families learn how to communicate effectively, resolve conflict, and understand their family dynamics in order to elicit positive change. Other reasons they may be invited to a session includes the client's desire to repair frazzled relationships, learn coping skills, or share information with the family with the help of a therapist. The overall goal is healing.  

When working with adolescence it is important that the adolescent feel they are in a safe and confidential space, or they may not open up completely with their therapist. Working with this group of individuals I will have the parents sign a right to confidentiality disclosure. This is not to shut parents out of the process but rather as a way for teens to feel safe to open up. The only time information would be disclosed would be if the individual is harming themselves, harming someone else, knows someone that is getting harmed or will be getting harmed, or if the teen would like information shared with the parent. If there is information that a client shared with me that would be of benefit to their healing, I will encourage them to share information with the parent or family.  

Fun fact: Children do not like to open up to their parents at times not because they do not trust them or not love them, but because they don't want to hurt their parents, see them sad, don't want to disappoint them, think their parents cannot handle the information or the teen does not know how to articulate their feelings and or process their emotions. I help them process this information and teach them interpersonal skills. 

I am not a licensed family therapist and do not do family counseling as a practice, but I do work individually with parents to help them work through parenting issues by providing strategies, coping skills, and communication skills that may help change the communication and dynamics in the family to help facilitate change. I help parents navigate through their frustrations, feelings of failure, or feelings of hopelessness, and replace them with the tools necessary to help bridge the gap between teens and adults.