Alcohol and Drug Counseling for Adolescents and their Families
Mike Chapman
.Licensed Professional Counselor
Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor III
Are you worried or even scared about your teenager’s drug and alcohol use? Is your relationship with your drug and alcohol using teenager filled with tension, conflict, and/or distance? Does your drug and alcohol using teenager lack direction and disengaged from meaningful activities? I have counseled adolescents with drug and alcohol issues and their families since 1986.
Parents and others are rightly concerned about adolescent drug and alcohol use. Teenage drug and alcohol abuse impedes adolescent development, leads to poor decision making, and can eventually devastate lives. I work with teens with a wide range of alcohol and drug involvement: from those engaged with the justice system and/or addicted to those abusing drugs and alcohol or using "experimentally."
I counsel teenagers both individually and with their families when I deal with drug and alcohol issues. I aid parents and teens to have a conversation about drugs and alcohol in the adolscent's life and also about the life of the family. An important outcome of this process is teaching families how to talk with each other in therapy so that they can talk more easily outside of therapy.
In working with adolescents individually, I look at a wider picture than at just the alcohol and drug issues and am interested in what teenagers desire from their lives. The drug and alcohol issue is addressed in part by talking with the client about how drug and alcohol use and its consequences may be getting in the way of what they want out of life.
In general, I aid adolescents in their passage to adulthood by guiding them to better understand their lives, to be more acceptant of who they are, and to make some decisions about how to live--all so they feel more confident and directed. I also help adolescents and their families to understand each other and communicate better so they feel more connected and the individual members can be who they are.
NORTHWEST PASSAGES
503 858-8770
