If you're a teenager reading this, therapy can offer a private space to talk with someone who isn't a parent, a teacher, or a coach about what's going on, someone who isn't evaluating you or invested in a particular outcome. You can explore what you're feeling without managing anyone else's reaction.
Many teenagers come to my Denver therapy practice because a parent suggested it, but they aren’t sure it will help. That’s a normal place to start. The first job is figuring out if I’m someone they can talk to without feeling judged or handled.
The teenagers I work with are often doing well by most external measures. They're keeping up with school, engaged in activities, and managing the expectations around them, but still experience more stress than they would like. They worry about friendships, college, how they come across, and whether they're measuring up. They may feel they’re performing for everyone’s approval.
These experiences are common among thoughtful, capable teenagers — and they're also easy to miss, because young people don't always signal that anything is wrong.
Adolescence involves figuring out who they are, how much to depend on the people around them, and how much to separate from them. That negotiation is not always easy, and the relationships they have at home, with friends, with teachers and coaches, and in therapy shape how they learn to connect with people. How a teenager is with me, whether they test me, withdraw, or tell me what they think I want to hear, suggests how they handle other relationships, and we can look at that together.
A note for parents: adolescent therapy works best when parents are involved in the broader process while sessions remain private. I meet with parents separately on a regular basis to help you understand what your teenager is navigating and how to be most helpful at home. In my experience, that kind of collaboration helps make changes stick.
If this sounds like your teenager, I’m glad to set up a time to talk.