| Night Journey of the Sun God through the Netherworld —Image courtesy of ARAS |
Adolescent Psychotherapy and Counseling
I see adolescents in my practice who are preteens, teens, and young adults. Some come weekly and others more than once a week. Most are seen individually while some are seen with their parents. I may sometimes meet with parents individually as well in the course of working with their adolescent son or daughter.
Psychotherapy with adolescents can be both effective and exciting. Changes of significant proportions can happen relatively quickly sometimes due to the fluid psychological state at this time in life.
The most important part of working therapeutically with a teenager is, in my opinion, forming a good working alliance with him or her. It can be challenging to gain trust but this is something I’ve been able to do based on conveying a sense of respect and confidence in their growing abilities and choices. Kids at this stage of life usually have one foot in childhood and another in adulthood. This can be a confusing situation for them and for the others in their lives, particularly their parents. They are working hard to develop a sense of their unique identity separate from Mom and Dad, while also trying to find their place in the world. It can be a time of great distress and suffering, alternating with optimism and euphoria. There is often a great deal of anger directed at others in the family who are closest. Risky behaviors often complicate the adolescent experience as kids are discovering a new sense of freedom and may want to explore aspects of the adult world through trying sex, alcohol, or drugs. It can be a confusing and frightening time for people at this stage and for those who love them and care for them.
I work with adolescents to help address whatever is troubling to them. My goals are to help adolescents articulate how they perceive stresses, to make connections between their feelings, thoughts and behavior, and to support them in the positive choices they can make.
My start as a therapist was as a paraprofessional counselor in the 1970’s working with runaway teens at a crisis shelter near the beach in Southern California. This experience was one part of what led me to go to graduate school to learn how to do this work more effectively. I still love working with adolescents and young adults.I've learned that adolescence is not just a time in life but a state of mind full of possibility and strong emotion. It is often a time of great creativity, openness, and passion. The therapeutic possibilities are enormous during these years.
Contact me for an initial consultation regarding Adolescent Psychotherapy and Counseling.