Counseling for Teens

For many young people, becoming a teenager is an important rite of passage. It is often seen as a time of increased opportunity and freedom, of legitimacy, and a welcome graduation from the dreaded designation as “child”.   Most teens will tell you, though, that this unique period also comes with more than its fair share of confusion and stress.

The task of the healthy teen is to solidify a sense of who they are – and importantly, who they are not. While this has always been an appropriately rigorous challenge, the heightened pressure to achieve, to have clear direction, to show well on social media, and to understand sexuality, for example, has only intensified the complexity of the task. Issues of body image, unexpressed anger and unhealthy coping continue to burden our young people as well. Many of our teens, longing to feel successful and worthy, find themselves depressed and anxious instead.

Teens in counseling often tell me how much they appreciate having a safe place to explore their thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment or censure. Though it can be intimidating to get started, most young people can benefit from the confidential and uniquely egalitarian relationship that counseling offers. I encourage teens to be good consumers when it comes to their mental health - to take ownership and responsibility for determining whether or not any particular counselor is a good fit for them. Even in this small act, a sense of agency can begin to grow…