The teen years often present difficult challenges for both teens and parents. Understanding the teen’s unique developmental stage and how it impacts their ability to interact with those around them is crucial. Teens are going through many emotional, social and physical changes that often impact their sense of identity and self-worth. This can create a level of stress that becomes too much for teens to handle on their own. Relate Counseling Center provides teens and parents a place to receive support and guidance while navigating through these stressful times.

Therapy provides a safe space for teens to share concerns and challenges while feeling understood and supported. Parents can receive parenting support that equips them with tools and skills that can best help their teen. Some of the common issues that teens work on in therapy are: anxiety, depression, anger issues, attention and focusing difficulties, family transition and family relationships, child-parent conflict, chemical use, school refusal, school stress, peer problems, LGBT issues, gender/sexual identity issues, abuse, self-harm, and self-esteem issues.

Relate Counseling Center welcomes all teens and strives to create an atmosphere where everyone feels valued and accepted. The therapy process will involve the therapist working collaboratively with both the teen and parent/s. Problem areas will be identified in therapy, goals will be created and length of treatment time to reach those goals will be discussed. The therapist provides empathic support and guidance, and works with the teen and family to increase self -awareness, learn new skills, and develop healthier coping strategies so that managing stressors and resolving problems becomes easier. There are times during therapy when the therapist may recommend an outside referral if specialized treatment for a specific concern may arise and be considered beneficial. Therapy can be an effective tool for building confidence and courage and increasing resiliency to life’s daily challenges.