Therapy for Teens
Being a teen today can feel overwhelming. Between school, activities, and planning for the future, it’s easy to feel stressed, anxious, or misunderstood.
I help teens make sense of their feelings, express themselves in healthy ways, and build confidence and self-compassion—all in a safe, supportive space.
Why Parents Bring Their Teen to Counseling
Parents often seek support when their teen is experiencing:
Emotional challenges: Anxiety, depression, mood swings, or difficulty managing emotions.
Life transitions: Moving, starting high school, medical changes, family separation, or loss of a loved one.
School concerns: Drop in grades, difficulty concentrating, or feeling overwhelmed by academics.
Family and communication struggles: Frequent arguments, trouble following rules, or strained relationships at home.
Changes in habits or health: Significant changes in sleep, appetite, energy, or weight.
Social challenges: Changing peer groups, spending too much time alone, or feeling overbooked and stressed.
Other concerns: Intrusive thoughts, grief, trauma, substance use, or difficulty setting and respecting boundaries.
Sometimes, teens simply need a safe, confidential space to share their feelings, reflect on their experiences, and build resilience. Therapy can help them find their own inner strength and tools to navigate life’s challenges.
Helping teens manage strong emotions
Helping our children develop interiority will require us to develop it as well. What we model to our children in terms of dealing with our own distress – and theirs – will in large part determine what they learn about managing emotions. When something upsetting happens, all of us have an immediate desire to make the problem go away as quickly as possible. It may be difficult to stay with upsetting feelings of fear or despair, and so we get really uncomfortable and plunge into action to try to fix things.
While this is an understandable and normal response, it can often work against us. Rushing to fix a problem leaves us with little time to feel our feelings and be curious about them. It encourages our kids to see the inner life as something that needs to be managed rather than experienced. It is easy as a parent to fall into the trap of responding in this way. When children are upset, we feel an urgency to resolve their distress.
There will be times when our teens come to us in distress and some advice and problem solving may be necessary. However, there will be times where listening with openness and curiosity shows respect for the feelings in their own right. It gives those feelings space to just be there, and time to see if those feelings need to transform into something else. Attending to our feelings helps us cultivate an awareness of and appreciation for our inner life.
Parents, I always want to hear from you. Your thoughts and concerns about your teen are an important part of my work.
Please reach out if you are concerned about your teen, I’m here to support you through it.