Does any of this sound familiar?:

• You put a lot of pressure on yourself or feel the pressure from parents, teachers or coaches, and it feels absolutely overwhelming.  You're not sure how to handle it all.

• You feel restless, on edge, or panicky.  It's hard to sleep or you've noticed changes in your appetite.

• You used to enjoy a variety of activities.  Now, they just don't seem fun anymore and you don't feel like doing much of anything.  Maybe you find yourself feeling sad more often than you used to.

• You feel lonely and misunderstood.  Relationships with your family and friends seem really hard.

• You went through something really stressful and scary, and you can't seem to shake it off.  Maybe you feel distrustful of yourself or everyone around you, you have nightmares, or you feel like you're just kind of floating through your day.

• Life is changing, and so much feels outside of your control.  Maybe your parents are divorcing, you lost a good friend, or you feel overwhelmed planning for your future.  

Sometimes working through challenging thoughts, emotions, and events with a therapist can be helpful.  It's very important to me that you feel safe and supported in our work together, and always know your rights in therapy.  We'll work together to figure out what you would like your goals for therapy to be and figure out a path that heads in that direction.  You can always ask me any questions you have along the way.  

Maybe something difficult happened in your teen's or your family's life recently, or maybe your teen hasn't seemed like themself in a while.  You've noticed changes in their energy, school performance, sleep, or appetite.  Or they've been quieter, angrier, or spending more time in their room and you're not sure why.  You want to help, but you're not sure what to do.  Perhaps, your teen doesn't even seem to want to talk to you.

Even when teens have loving families, sometimes they don't want to offend or worry their caretakers by sharing what they're feeling.  Other times, they aren't sure how to communicate what they're experiencing, because they don't understand it themselves.  Therapy can offer your teen a safe, supportive environment to explore tough emotions and questions and learn new coping skills.  As a therapist, I'll work with you and your teen to identify goals for therapy and how we can best walk with them (and you) through challenging times.