Adolescent & Teen Counseling
As a parent and a former junior high school teacher, I have first hand experience with the concerns and challenges often faced by teens and their families.
The landscape of adolescence is continually changing, both internally and externally and many young people need help in navigating that landscape. I have a special interest in helping teens and have consistently focused on these issues throughout my professional career.
I typically work with teens on a one-to-one basis. My approach is to conduct a first session with parents and the teen to clarify expectations, rules of confidentiality and to determine if the teen is ready to begin individual work. My approach is to serve not as a friend, but as an outside observer. I make clear my respect for each teen I work with and my role is to make every effort to advocate on their behalf and to help them speak their own truth. I create a safe space where teens can develop trust and begin to talk.
My clinical expertise includes issues of adjustment, motivation, depression, acting out, ADD/ADHD, substance abuse/dependency and the tragedy of suicide and homicide. I am familiar with the challenges of single-parenting, blended families, parental limit setting, self-care and fostering personal responsibility and respect among family members.
““On the way home after last week’s session, my 17-year-old son remarked on how you—in kind of an extraordinary manner, in the way you have of telling stories—completely shifted the energy. I personally felt that after listening to you for a while, it was a way of invoking the sacred, and giving our meeting a context where a lot of extraordinary things happened that I think were healing and kind of amazing. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate it personally and how admiring I am of what you do.””