Dear Teens and Parents,
Being a teenager is hard. You are learning how to belong, how to feel good about yourself, how to find yourself outside your family, and how to successfully navigate all the challenges of being human. It is everything - it is fun, scary, exhausting, sad, painful, exciting, and vulnerable.
The most important thing you can do during this time is find safe people to talk to - people that have been down this road before and can pave the way. Having at least one safe adult outside your family to explore your feelings with helps you feel less alone and allows you to learn new ways to discover yourself and what you want.
It can be hard to let someone in, to let someone see you in such a raw and unresolved space in your life. It is brave. But, if you can just show up, you might be surprised that what you are feeling is no different than how we all feel. You are just a human after all and the questions you have about life and happiness are the same questions we all have.
A good therapist has navigated this path before and can help you when you feel like there is no way out. There is a way. With your courage, a little bit of humor, and a willing spirit - we will find it together.
Sincerely,
ATX Counseling
Being a teenager is hard. You are learning how to belong, how to feel good about yourself, how to find yourself outside your family, and how to successfully navigate all the challenges of being human. It is everything - it is fun, scary, exhausting, sad, painful, exciting, and vulnerable.
The most important thing you can do during this time is find safe people to talk to - people that have been down this road before and can pave the way. Having at least one safe adult outside your family to explore your feelings with helps you feel less alone and allows you to learn new ways to discover yourself and what you want.
It can be hard to let someone in, to let someone see you in such a raw and unresolved space in your life. It is brave. But, if you can just show up, you might be surprised that what you are feeling is no different than how we all feel. You are just a human after all and the questions you have about life and happiness are the same questions we all have.
A good therapist has navigated this path before and can help you when you feel like there is no way out. There is a way. With your courage, a little bit of humor, and a willing spirit - we will find it together.
Sincerely,
ATX Counseling
10 Reasons Teens Go To Therapy
1. Therapy helps teens build self-confidence, create self-awareness, learn coping strategies, and form healthy relationships with others.
2. Therapy improves your relationship with your family. It allows you to connect with your family in meaningful ways and work together as a team.
3. Therapy prevents minor problems from becoming major ones later in life. Struggles like addiction, relationship problems, co-dependency, body image issues often begin in the teen years.
4. Therapy is about learning to trust - trust yourself and find safe people to support you.
5. Therapy is a place to practice new identities, new behaviors, and new ways of being before going out in the real world.
6. Therapy gives you a space to explore thoughts, feelings, dreams, and hopes.
7. Therapy gives you a safe person to talk to outside your family and friend group. Someone that can help you when you don’t feel comfortable sharing with others.
8. Therapy helps with intense anxiety. While it’s normal to worry, some teens struggle with anxiety that seems to invade every part of life. Anxiety can make going to school, completing academic work, making new friends, or talking with others extremely difficult. Therapy is a place to work through these painful feelings.
9. Therapy helps with feelings of depression which can show up through behaviors like isolation, self-criticism, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or a loss of interest in life.
10. Therapy helps you see the world from a brighter, more hopeful place giving you the confidence to achieve your dreams and make the most of your one and only time as a teenager.
2. Therapy improves your relationship with your family. It allows you to connect with your family in meaningful ways and work together as a team.
3. Therapy prevents minor problems from becoming major ones later in life. Struggles like addiction, relationship problems, co-dependency, body image issues often begin in the teen years.
4. Therapy is about learning to trust - trust yourself and find safe people to support you.
5. Therapy is a place to practice new identities, new behaviors, and new ways of being before going out in the real world.
6. Therapy gives you a space to explore thoughts, feelings, dreams, and hopes.
7. Therapy gives you a safe person to talk to outside your family and friend group. Someone that can help you when you don’t feel comfortable sharing with others.
8. Therapy helps with intense anxiety. While it’s normal to worry, some teens struggle with anxiety that seems to invade every part of life. Anxiety can make going to school, completing academic work, making new friends, or talking with others extremely difficult. Therapy is a place to work through these painful feelings.
9. Therapy helps with feelings of depression which can show up through behaviors like isolation, self-criticism, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or a loss of interest in life.
10. Therapy helps you see the world from a brighter, more hopeful place giving you the confidence to achieve your dreams and make the most of your one and only time as a teenager.