Counseling FOR Teens

There are many reasons that cause parents to look for counseling help for their children, including family changes, such as moving or divorce, academic struggles, difficulty with siblings and/or peers, dealing with medical issues, nightmares, and behavioral issues, to name a few.

Children are amazingly complex, and they frequently have feelings, both good and bad, that they are unable to address verbally. It is critical to choose a therapist who is skilled in interacting with children at the child's level. Children are not miniature adults, and counselors must adjust any counseling intervention to the child's current level of development. When counseling a child, it is imperative that the therapist approach each child holistically by assessing the child's thoughts, observable behavior, family systems and social/peer systems. 

I work with children from a child-centered perspective, addressing the particular developmental needs of each child.    This focus also takes into consideration the way behaviors change over the course of a child's development and the way play and communication behaviors change when a child is struggling with difficult issues.    I work with each  child with unconditional respect and care.

In working with children, I keep in mind the following objectives:

To help:

• Develop a more positive sense of self and responsible self expression
• Become more self-directing and self-reliant
• Engage in own decision-making and responsibility
• Become more trusting and accepting of themselves
• Experience a greater acceptance of their feelings
• Experience more feelings of control
• Become sensitive to the process of coping
• Develop an internal source of evaluation of their choices.
• Engage in creative, resourceful problem-solving