Our counselors offer counseling for teens in Midlothian, VA

April: My approach for working with teens in individual counseling is respect. Teens sometimes believe that adults see them as children and don't respect their opinions and feelings. On the contrary, today's teens are very open minded and insightful. Being respectful to them and asking them to partner with me in their counseling helps teens feel comfortable to talk about what is really upsetting them.

Diego: My go-to approach for helping teens in therapy is helping them feel heard and seen. I find the best benefit comes when the teen gains a sense of identity and ability to express that identity.

April: I like to teach lots of coping skills and interventions to teens, really everyone. No one likes to walk out of therapy and still not feel empowered. With new ideas for coping skills, teens can feel better able to manage their anxiety and worry and, therefore, more committed to understanding the basis of the anxiety.

Diego: In teen therapy, I like to focus on building resilience and communication:

• Respectful and productive expression of emotions: learn to speak about your feelings in a way that trustworthy adults will respond to well.
• Deep breathing and taking breaks: Learn to self-regulate to the best of your ability in an age-appropriate way both to help reduce dysfunctional emotional expression and to increase your own sense of agency and control in life.
• Identity Development: Work in and outside of counseling to self-determine values and identity, leading to less distress caused by unclear identity.

April: Meaning progress for teens and children in counseling occurs when they are better able to manage their intense emotions without becoming emotionally dysregulated. With better mood regulated, teens are better able to function in a healthy manner and manage all of the big decisions they are making in life.

Diego: I know a client is making meaningful progress in teen therapy when they can express a sense of agency and active progress towards self-determining their identity in the present and the future.

April: In their personal time, it is helpful for teens to try learned coping skills so that we can gauge the benefit of each intervention. If it works, awesome! If it doesn't, then we can develop a new coping skill.

Diego: Teens can supplement their time in counseling by working to establish communication systems with their parents or guardians and by practicing coping skills in and outside of stressful situations.

April: To prepare for their first counseling session, teens can make a decision to be brave and give counseling an honest shot. I ask teens to try 3 sessions with me. If they don't feel like it will be beneficial, then they can stop. I am so glad that rarely happens because I love helping teens to better understand their feelings and responses to emotion.

Diego: To prepare for their first counseling session, a teen can write down some desired outcomes from therapy as well as how they view their identity presently.