Therapy with teens can be tricky business. One reason is that teens are largely an involuntary clientele. Many teens are “dragged” into therapy by their exasperated parents with a plea to “please fix my child”.

While many teens acknowledge their need for help with their issues, most would rather get advice from 100 of their closest friends on TikTok or Instagram, rather than talking about it with a therapist. For this reason we recognize that we often have only one shot with these teens to “convince them” that perhaps therapy isn’t “so bad after all”.

For therapy to truly work, the teen has to be invested in the process, and not just be forced to participate. However, getting your teen in the front door can often be the hardest step.

We would love to talk with you about ideas for how to motivate your teen to give therapy a try. We try and integrate art, music, videos, poetry… whatever your teen is into, into our therapeutic approach. We meet them on their terms, and honor their right to make their own decisions about therapy, while at the same time honoring the needs of the family as a whole. We won’t lie. It is a delicate practice! But a challenge that we enjoy immensely.

With over two decades of experience working with teens, we think we have a pretty good chance of making a connection and ultimately helping your teen to navigate the crazy maze of adolescence.

• Sigmund Freud suggested that adolescence is a temporary mental illness
• Anna Freud added, “To be normal during the adolescent period is by itself abnormal.”
• Eugene Peterson- “There are no well-adjusted adolescents. Adolescence is, by definition, maladjustment. And getting adjusted is a strenuous and often noisy process.”
• Earl Wilson- “An adolescent is an adult trying to happen.”