Adolescent Therapy
The teenage years are the most vulnerable, exciting, and expanding years of a young person’s life.
In counseling at Willow Tree, an adolescent can feel understood, begin to understand themselves, and learn to accept and flourish in their roles in their family and their community. We can provide the honest, supportive and neutral perspective that teens need as they mature and find their own place in the world as well as give them tools and strategies to manage it all.
At Willow Tree, we have a particular focus on adolescent females. We believe helping a girl grow into a strong and self assured woman is an investment in her self, her relationships, and society.
We can help your daughter understand herself, her emotions, her body, and her relationships so that she can manage it all in a healthy way.
We can help if your teen is struggling with
Relationships with peers
Body image
Self esteem
Family conflict
Is withdrawn or isolative
School attendance and performance
Anxiety or obsessive thoughts
Depression or suicidal ideation
Impulsive or risk taking behaviors
FAQ
I can see my child is struggling but they don't want to come to therapy. What do I do?
Let your child know that you see what they are struggling with and that you want to be able to help them. You can acknowledge that having someone other than a parent to talk to can be really helpful at their age. Present going to the first appointment as a chance to see how it feels, not a long term commitment. Most often, kids quickly feel the value of our safe, neutral space.
How do I know if what my teen is going through is normal teenage angst or a problem that needs to be address with therapy?
Teenage years are hard. If you notice that their unhappiness or problematic behavior is continual rather than moments or episodes, therapy may be a helpful intervention. Therapy doesn’t need to be seen as a last resort or a punishment for bad behavior; we are here to help whenever you or your child feels unable to manage all that life expects of them.
Our teenager doesn't want to talk to us but we want to know how to help them. Can you tell us what you talk about in your sessions so we don't feel so helpless?
Our approach at Willow Tree is to both honor the power of confidentiality AND include parents in their teen’s growth and healing. Confidentiality has its legal limits: we MUST share if anyone is at risk of hurting themselves, hurting someone else, or if they are being abused. However, beyond these legalities, one of our core values at Willow Tree is that therapy can help families be closer. We have parents attend sessions on a regular basis to allow parents time to express their concerns, for us to provide feedback on how they can help their child, and to allow their child to share with their parents what we’ve been working on together.
