Counseling for Teenagers

The approach to counseling teenagers is Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). SFBT teaches a teenager skill-sets to assess their choices, problems and goals with a view to amplify their strengths, resources and capacity to modify their behaviours.

The emphasis is on a solution focus rather than a problem focus. Therapy is aimed at ing to maximize self-determination, promote normalization and mentor the teen. The goal is to build on his/her strengths to cope with their stressors and validate their competence in solution building.

As adults, most of us are able to put the brakes on impulsive behaviours. It is not as though teenagers don’t have the capacity to modify their own behaviours, however you can’t expect them to grasp consequences and make subtle connections. Their brains are not wired up to do that at that stage of their lives.

Their brains have to settle down into life and adolescents have a lower ability to process negative data than adults, and are therefore less averse to risk .

For example, melotonin which induces sleep, is released two hours later in a teenager and also stays in their system longer. This is why it is so hard to wake them up in the mornings.

To most teenagers, sleep takes away precious time from surfing the net and interacting with their friends. This sleep-wake cycle has an important bearing on memory, processing and learning. It is a time when their hormones are raging, and fitting into the world of schedules and academic pressures, can be stressful based on their brain plasticity. Making rational choices about their own well-being can be difficult as they have a reduced ability to utilize their frontal lobes while young. Their brains are not wired up to weigh distant consequences.

Issues for teenage counseling include:

• Risky behaviours
• Bullying
• Academic performance issues
• Phobias
• Addictions
• Compliance and authority issues
• Self image issues
• Aggression and anger management
• Defiance
• Disrespectful behaviours

If you have a son or daughter in their teens or know teenager who could benefit from counseling, Contact Us.