Parents’ Corner

So you and your child have decided to get some extra support for this difficult and challenging life stage? Congratulations! That's such great news! Why? Because couldn't we all use a little positive reinforcement, skills training, and cognitive challenging/reframing??

However, you may not know what to expect.  Here are some of my priorities and goals:

1. Ensuring that your child feels comfortable and supported

2. Helping them identify negative patterns in thoughts/feelings/behaviors

3. Encouraging them to acknowledge and appreciate their many strengths

4. Educating them about what anxiety is and what it means

5. Learning and applying new skills so that they are in control of their anxiety

6. Maintaining session confidentiality with the exception that safety trumps privacy

Therapy can have a wonderful impact on anxious teens, however, it is important to remember that there are some limitations:

1. Therapy will not get rid of anxiety. We cannot control what happens in life or our immediate, innate response. Our goal is to help kids manage their emotions and reactions.

2. Therapy is not easy all the time; I may ask if a client is looking for support while s/he vents or if s/he is interested in "real talk" when I respectfully challenge a thought or belief (e.g., "my mom doesn't like him because she doesn't want me to be happy")

3. I won't force kids to talk about what they don't want to talk about, boundaries are respected!