Adolescent and Family Therapy
Mike Chapman
Licensed Professional Counselor
Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor III
The prime undertaking of an adolescent is to become an adult. This transition can be challenging and confusing at times as well as a lot of fun. All of us need guidance at times and adolescents can especially use it because they are making a passage into the unfamiliar world of adulthood. A mentor or adolescent therapy provides some objectivity to the situation that is difficult for parents to achieve who have so much emotional investment in their child.
Teenagers live in the world between childhood and adulthood. They have questions, triumphs, struggles, and stresses and it is helpful for them to have a place where they can discuss these experiences to increase their understanding of their lives and of life.
They also often have difficulty accepting who they are because who they are is often not how they think they should be according to the norms of adolescent and adult society: the "strange" emotions, the "weird" thoughts, the "crazy" desires. Learning that these "peculiarities" are common and not unusual and that every person is an individual with unique qualities can bring them some self-acceptance and confidence.
As they learn more about their lives and life and as they become more knowledgable about and acceptant of who they are, they become more confident and more directed. They move in the world with more ease and with more purpose.
As teenagers individuate, they and their families may also need help to be more connected. Adolescents are trying so hard to become themselves and to be independent that the character of the relationship with parents changes, often drastically. Both sides can make "mistakes" in this high intensity period of life. I guide adolescents and their families to understand each other and communicate better so they can feel more connected and the individual members can be who they are.
By clicking the following link you will go to a webpage with an article I wrote entitled, A Way to Parent a Teenager
