Counseling for Tweens & Teens
Parenting can be challenging – it is no joke that kids do not come with an instruction manual! As a society, we are more isolated than ever before and we have less community help than in previous generations. Combine this with technology, developmental changes, and hormones—and well, you have the perfect storm.
Tweens
“Why might my child need therapy?”
- Behavioral issues at school
- Bullying
- Anger issues
- Transitions
- Difficulty making friends
- Grief/Loss
- Sadness
- Isolation
- Suicidal thoughts
- Self-harm
- Mood swings
- High-risk behaviors
“What are the benefits of therapy?”
- Learning healthy coping skills
- Stress & time management
- Gaining insight on how to identify and manage emotions
- Learning communication skills
- Enhancing social skills
- Having a safe place to identify and process thoughts and feelings
Our Approach
Children, especially younger children, may experience difficulty expressing and processing their emotions with words. Younger children do not yet have the language to describe their feelings and tend to express a significant amount of their emotions through play and artistic activities. While you may see us dabble in some play and exploration work, we want to clarify that we are not currently fully trained in play therapy. If you think your child may benefit from a registered play therapist, please contact us and we would be more than happy to give you a list of highly trained play therapists in the community.
Family Involvement
When working with preadolescent children, your therapist may opt to meet with you alone for the first session, without your child present. This provides you with an opportunity to get to know one another and make sure you feel comfortable with your child’s therapist before introducing her to your child.
This meeting also gives you a chance to openly discuss your observations, concerns, and goals for your child, without your child present, as this can be very uncomfortable and overwhelming for younger children to witness.
*Please note that a parent or legal guardian is required to consent to the treatment of a minor. If you are divorced, we will ask you to provide documentation verifying your legal authority to seek treatment for your child; this may potentially involve us seeking consent from the other parent as well.
Teens
“Is this ‘normal’ teenage behavior or does my teen need help?”
You may be feeling overwhelmed and unsure about the best route to help your teenager. The teenage years are naturally filled with complex challenges as teens begin to explore their unique identities while also dealing with pressures from every angle.
Here at Ajana Therapy & Clinical Services, we meet teens where they are at. We know that adolescence is a time of rapid development and the biological, psychological, and social changes that define this time period can feel very overwhelming for teens and for their parents. While it is natural to observe some fluctuations in moods and behaviors as teens navigate through identity formation, certain behaviors and choices can be indicative of potentially more serious concerns.
Do any of the following scenarios sound familiar?
- Does your teen seem less interested in activities that used to bring joy?
- Has your teen started avoiding school or social events? Or perhaps your teen is making more frequent trips to the school nurse?
- Does your teen seem exhausted all of the time?
- Have you noticed an increased preoccupation with grades and perfection?
- Does your teen appear irritable – does it seem like ‘every little thing’ sets them off?
- Are you concerned that your teen may be self-harming or engaging in risky behaviors?
- Has your teen been having a more difficult time remembering things than in the past?
- Does your teen need support while exploring gender or sexual identity?
- Are you worried about your teen’s developing social skills?
- Does your teen seem to be less motivated these days? Have you noticed changes in grades or perhaps behavior problems at school?
- Are you worried about how your teen may be adjusting to recent changes in your family structure due to separation, divorce, and/or remarriage?
- Is your teen struggling with insecurities and self-esteem concerns?
- Are you worried that bullying may be an issue?
- Has your teen experienced a trauma? (*please see more information below regarding our specialty trained adolescent therapists in this area).
Our Approach
Our highly-trained adolescent therapists help teens and families learn how to deal with all the stresses and pressures that come with the territory. Through supportive therapy, teens can find a safe, private place to explore their innermost thoughts and feelings independently. It can be very powerful for a teen to have a neutral, objective person to talk to and share their stresses, worries, and fears with, without worrying about burdening their parents with all of the details.
Through therapy, teens learn how to identify and label their emotions, how to make sense of their thinking and behavior patterns, how to implement effective coping strategies, and how to understand the relationship between their bodies and mind. In doing so, teens also learn healthy ways to express themselves emotionally, how to cope with stress, how to communicate more effectively in their relationships, and how to feel more confident in themselves and their abilities.
Family Involvement
In teen therapy, family involvement is an important part of the process. During the initial session, your therapist will spend time meeting with both you and your teen present. Your teen’s therapist will explain what you both can expect during counseling, explain how confidentiality works, answer any questions that you may have, and begin to gather background information. Following this conversation, your therapist will spend the rest of the time meeting 1:1 with your child as they begin to grow their relationship and feel more comfortable with one another.
As a parent, you may want to understand how best to support your child throughout this process. Over the course of therapy, we may desire to occasionally involve you in sessions directly with your teen or connect separately by phone for parenting support depending on the needs of your teen and your family.
*Please note that a parent or legal guardian is required to consent to the treatment of a minor. If you are divorced, we will ask you to provide documentation verifying your legal authority to seek treatment for your child; this may potentially involve us seeking consent from the other parent as well.
A Note on Trauma
Teenagers, like younger children and adults, may experience a wide range of traumatic events over the course of a lifetime. These can include but are not limited to:
- Experiencing any form of abuse – emotional, physical sexual
- Directly witnessing any form of abuse – emotional, physical, sexual
- Experiencing neglect
- Chaos or dysfunction in the household
- Being involved in a natural disaster
- Coping with the death of a loved one
- Separation from parents or caregivers
- Experiencing any form of bullying
- Witnessing a crime
Traumatic events by nature can severely alter one’s sense of safety and stability, which in turn impacts the lens in which we view the world. It is important for teens (as well as all for all ages) to receive compassionate, safe and effective therapeutic care to process their trauma(s).
Adolescents and adults process trauma differently. Here at Ajana Therapy & Clinical Services, we are grateful to have two therapists on staff trained in an evidence-based treatment approach designed specifically for working with adolescents coping with trauma and / or grief: “Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents”, otherwise known as “TGCT-A”. Please contact us for more information.