My Services

Psychotherapy: Adolescent-Teen Services

Like adults, children and teens struggle with difficult feelings, undesirable behaviors, and unhealthy relationships. However, unlike adults, when youth are faced with difficult or complex emotional issues, their lack of life experience and coping skills can make those same issues extremely difficult to navigate. Addressing these challenges during your child’s critical developmental years can set the stage for a productive and healthier future.

Before any clinical intervention is attempted, building rapport and alliance with your child comes first. My therapeutic approach when working with adolescences tends to be more cognitive-behavioral oriented to enhance self-control and to improve social skills and emotional awareness; however, I believe treatment is as unique as the individual and that even teenagers are the expert on their own experience. This means that while the work is always centered on collaboration, your teen will be in the driver’s seat, while I am alongside them for the voyage.

I decided to specialize in working with teens and trauma when I learned about the links between childhood stressors and adult behaviors. Through this specialization, I have learned that often, through no fault of their own, parents are unaware that their teen has been traumatized. When it comes to teen trauma, adolescents can be uncommunicative; shame and guilt can be powerful silencers. In therapy, I provide psychoeducation on the wide and varied adolescent responses to traumatic events, uncover and support healing the root causes of the problem, and provide specific skills to minimize maladaptive behaviors and beliefs.

My approach looks at the whole child, their individual development, personality, culture, and environment within the context of the whole family; through this lens, clients are better able to understand their unique strengths and challenges.