Teenagers hate therapy for a number of reasons. However, teens love coming to their session at Wisdom Within Counseling. I am an adolescent therapist in East Lyme and I’m Katie Ziskind, LMFT, RYT500. When looking at why therapy doesn’t work for teens, we need to look at a few different reasons. First, therapy at school doesn’t work because teens are afraid of what their friends will think. If they are seen walking to the guidance office, everyone in the whole school knows they need extra help and could get bullied. Therefore, a private practice that focuses on adolescent therapy in East Lyme is your best bet. And, many therapists go about adolescent and teen therapy completely wrong. What they do wrong is have both parents and teens in a session together. As a specialist in adolescent therapy in East Lyme, it is best for an adolescent to have their own safe space. Secondly, many therapist don’t have the proper training or knowledge of what a teen needs in therapy to feel like they belong. Therapist often try talking to an adolescent like they would an adult, which doesn’t create trust or connection. As a teen therapist in Niantic in the Southeastern Connecticut area, I would love to help your distant teen build a positive relationship with him or herself. Read more about questions and answers for teens in therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling, here.
What happens when parents and teens are in the same room? No longer is it therapy
Your teen shuts down because they feel like their therapist is a parent or authority figure. Teens don’t talk when parents are there in the room too. Your teen needs their own person, a professional teen therapist. I work with teens everyday, all day long, and I love it! In other words, I specialize with distant teens in therapy! When you and your teen are in a family therapy session, for your teen, it is like being told what to do all over again. When parents and teenagers are in one therapy session together, conflict arises. It actually makes your teen feel less confidence to share their session.
How do I work differently as a teen expert?
My office is your teen’s safe place to let their feelings out. This means that they will have individual teen therapy sessions on a weekly basis. As a parent, you may want your teen to be less frustrated. And, you may think that you need to be in the session with them to make sure they talk about their issues. However, the best route, which I take at Wisdom Within Counseling, a therapy practice for teens in Niantic, is to offer individual sessions to both parents and teens. As a teen therapist in the Niantic and East Lyme area, I know exactly what your teen needs to feel supported and nurtured in counseling. Therefore, in order for your teen to open up and feel safe, they need to be alone with me in session. Then, the therapy room becomes their safe place.
My office: your teens safe space. I am a teen therapist in Niantic.
They can talk about self-harm, relationships, high school dating, drama, sibling issues, and perhaps, your divorce. As needed, we can schedule meetings, but overall your teenager will have their own individual therapy sessions. As a parent, you will have an opportunity for your own individual sessions as well, which are called, parent only sessions. These parent only sessions give you and I time to talk about your child’s journey. You can bring up concerns and get feedback and techniques to help you teen from home.
“How do I get my distant teenager to talk about her feelings?”
You don’t! That is why I am here. Teen therapy in Niantic becomes an appointment weekly that your adolescent will look forward to attending! And, your teen can pick to do art, yoga, music, and animal therapy along with talk counseling. Your teen may be willing to talk with you about school, but they absolutely need a professional outside the family to fully let go of stuck feelings. Something may have happened to your teen in their young years that was traumatic, so yoga therapy can be healing. Read more about yoga, here. From weekly individual sessions, your distant, depressed teenager, will open up in my office, a holistic, therapeutic setting. Additionally, I run monthly animal therapy groups in Niantic and Old Lyme. And, these animal therapy groups are awesome for teens because they bring out self-confidence.
Why doesn’t talking to adults work that same with teens in therapy?
A teenager’s brain works very differently than an adult’s brain. To start, a teenager needs to feel involved in their own therapy. Adults naturally are more independent, mature, and schedule their own sessions. However, your teen may not schedule their own sessions, or they may. But, they are in a stage fo life that is challenging because they want to be grown up quickly, but are stuck in teen years. Your teenager wants to be seen as mature, yet lacks the cognitive brain development to make mature decisions.
Talk therapy works for the adult brain, but not the underdeveloped teen’s brain.
And, your teen’s brain is not yet developed, and will not be fully developed until 30 years old. The emotional regulation centers are still growing. Therefore, your teen needs a teen specialist and a therapist who is an expert with adolescents and teens. I am a teen counseling specialist in Niantic. I love helping teens learn to love themselves and gain positive coping skills.
Have you tried teen therapy before and has a bad experience?
If you have been through therapy before, you probably had a poor experience. Many parents tell me stories of previous therapists they have tried for their teen’s therapy. For instance, “The therapist tried to talk to my teen about self-harm and the divorce, and she stopped talking. My teenage daughter wouldn’t even talk to the therapist! I saw the whole thing.” Teens who come to Wisdom Within Counseling in East Lyme often report, “The last therapist my parents took me to just kept asking me, ‘How do you feel about that?’ How do you feel now?’ I just wanted to share about my day and get to know my therapist. I am not going to tell my therapist about my feelings until I trust them first.”
What went wrong in this example of teen therapy?
As mentioned earlier, the first mistake was having the parent and teen in the same session. Teenagers shut down when their parents are in their therapy session because they just want to be independent! It is really simple. The second mistake was asking too directly about self-harm and the divorce. So, the moment teens feel confrontation, they shut down. In order to talk about important issues while keeping your teen’s mind open, I use my expert knowledge and training. Teens relate to me because I am gentle, compassionate, and holistic. Call or text to get your teen started in specialized teen therapy in Niantic today, (860)-451-9364.
How does teen therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling work?
When your depressed or anxious teenager comes into therapy, it is all about him or her. If your son is questioning his gender, he gets to share about LGBTQ and his gender orientation when he is ready. If you are bisexual as a parent, I am educated, open, and accepting to LGBTQIA+ families in my holistic, creative therapy practice.
Why making a connection with teens in therapy can only be done in the first session?
Most teens with come to one therapy session because their parent asks it of them. However, if your teen feels like a problem needing to be fixed, they will not have a good experience in therapy. The therapist and the teen need to make a connection in session one. After that, if your teen doesn’t like or click with the therapist, they will refuse to go back. Teens are very perceptive about therapists. Because, until trust is build, a teen sees a therapist as just another adult.
I know exactly how to connect with your anxious adolescent and distant teen.
Not many therapists know how to reach, relate to, and fully understand your teen’s mind, body, and spirit. In addition to being a marriage and family therapist for teens, I bring yoga therapy into my counseling practice. Furthermore, as a teen therapist in the Niantic and East Lyme area, what your teen will get to experience through holistic, creative therapies in unique an different from talk-only counseling. No one else in the East Lyme area offers a combination of art, yoga, music, and animal therapy. And, being a teen therapist Niantic, I know that your teen is feeling unwanted by peers, misunderstood by teachers and adults, and only desires to belong in the world again. Art, yoga, music, and animal therapies are what set Wisdom Within Counseling apart.
Call or text to get started (860)-451-9364.
What Is Yoga Therapy For Troubled Teens?
And, teenagers take really well to yoga because it is a gentle therapy. After doing a five minute guided mediation or trying an anxiety-reduction breathing technique, they instantly feel better. Anxiety lowers, breathing slows down, and your teen’s mind feels inner peace. Meditation is a lifelong skills your teen can take into high school, midterms, and college years. One day, when your teen settles down and has their own family, yoga therapy will prove to be a valuable tool for self-regulation and self-soothing.
Why Get Help Now In Teenage Years?
By getting your teen help now with their anger management issues, they can build a relationship with their whole self in mind, body, and spirit. If anger, depression, and anxiety aren’t resolved in teen years, they snowball and get bigger into adult years. Your teen will have to deal with tough feelings their whole lives, so its best to get them help sooner than later. Without help in teen therapy, your adult child will have an angry, reckless inner teenager. Additionally, as a teen therapist in Niantic and East Lyme, I offer your teen the option of going outside for a walk and talk session as well as talking. Some teens enjoy having one talk therapy session per week as well as a yoga therapy session. Read more about why yoga therapy is a common prescription from doctors, here.
Why don’t all therapists work with teens? A lot of therapist aren’t trained correctly.
I love working with teens, so it perplexes me why many therapist don’t like teens. Further, as a teen therapist in Niantic, I absolutely love seeing teens gain self-confidence, feel stronger from the inside out, and feel nurtured through the process of holistic therapy. However, many therapists who work with adults, work exclusively with adults. And, many graduate programs for therapy, like social work or substance abuse, don’t offer specific courses on working with teens. So, the bottom line is that many therapists don’t know how to work with teens. They simply don’t have the training or knowledge. Therapists who are trained in psychotherapy, psychoanalytic theory, or cognitive behavioral therapy, only focus on adults. Adults and teens are super different! Teens have a whole set of different needs when it comes to success in counseling.
I would love to help you teen get through this difficult time and develop positive skills to handle and release their feelings.
How Does Wisdom Within Counseling in Niantic Helps Teens?
Katie Ziskind LMFT, RYT500 of East Lyme specializes with a variety of issues including teen depression. She also loves helping with frustration and anger management, relationship counseling, LGBTQIA+, and highly sensitive person therapy. She also enjoys working with people looking for yoga therapy, chakra balancing, spirituality, and guided meditation alongside talk counseling. Further, at Wisdom Within Counseling, near East Lyme, Connecticut, Katie runs a marriage and family therapy practice. She uses art, yoga, music, and outdoor therapies woven together with talk therapy. Katie Ziskind also helps teens stop self-harming through holistic therapies and create a life they love. Additionally, Wisdom Within Counseling, a practice for marriage and family therapy in Connecticut is an LGBTQIA+ friendly. Katie advocates for LGBTQIA+ youth and adults in counseling. Read more about LGBTQ support at Wisdom Within Counseling, here. LGBTQIA+ couples welcome!
