For parents worried about their teenager’s mental health, the prospect of finding help can be confusing and overwhelming. Just remember - effective treatment is available, and finding therapy is often the first step toward helping your teen move forward. Here’s how to get started.
Making the Decision to Begin Therapy
It can be difficult to distinguish typical adolescent behavior, blues and attitude from potential mental health challenges. A helpful distinction, and one that diagnoses often hinge on, is whether emotional, behavioral, or social difficulties impair a child’s schooling, relationships or home life.
For example, one teen might stop going to class. Another may stop seeing friends and begin to isolate. Another may start sleeping all the time or be unable to fall asleep. In these cases, it’s worth seeking therapy. Even if changes don’t appear severe, they can snowball over time, because adolescence is a critical period of development. Intervening early is key.
Many times, parents bring their kids to therapy when things already feel out of control. It's important to keep in mind that treating concerns early often makes addressing concerns easier, starting tough conversations more comfortable and curbing an issue from spiraling out of control more manageable.
Where to Find a Therapist
There are several ways to find a therapist for your teenager. One is through directories. The Psychology Today Therapy Directory lists credentialed therapists for children and adolescents that can be filtered by location and specialty, such as anxiety or ADHD. Parents can also solicit referrals from friends, family members or the family doctor.
Seeking resources and recommendations from your teen’s school is another pathway, although some adolescents want to avoid counseling at school to keep their decision to go to therapy at a private counseling center.
Insurance companies may have lists of providers as well who are In-network with their services. Now that mental health treatment has shifted online due to the pandemic, you can expand your search for providers throughout the state, and sometimes out of state as well.
How Adolescent Therapy Can Be Helpful
Adolescent therapy is a powerful and meaningful experience that can help teens in many ways, including:
• Building self-esteem: self-esteem can help teens become more resilient and protect them from anxiety.
• Improving communication: therapy can help teens learn to express themselves clearly and assertively, which can reduce stress and arguments.
• Developing healthy relationships: therapy can help teens learn how to establish and maintain healthy relationships with peers and adults.
• Academic success: therapy can help teens address mental health issues that might be affecting their ability to focus in school.
• Learning coping strategies: therapy can help teens learn healthy ways to manage challenges and discomfort, such as depression, anxiety, and difficult family dynamics.
• Decreasing difficult behaviors: therapy can help teens learn how to deal with frustration and anger constructively, instead of resorting to harmful behaviors.
Questions To Ask a Potential Therapist:
Once you decide which type of therapist and treatment approach may work best for your teen, during an initial consultation, you should ask:
• Are you credentialed and licensed to practice in your state?
• How long have you been in practice?
• What type of practice setting do you work in?
• Which age group do you specialize in?
• What type of counseling methods do you specialize in?
• What will be the treatment frequency, what outcomes can we expect and how long might treatment last?
• What role does family therapy play in treatment?
Be Flexible If You Don't Find The Right Fit
Even after thoroughly evaluating your options and selecting a therapy you like, understand that there may not be a perfect fit between your teen and their provider right away. It may take a few sessions for your teen to settle in with a therapist, so encourage them to give it a bit of time. That said, it’s always OK to stop treatment with one therapist and seek out another. Feeling comfortable with the therapy center, provider and treatment approach the therapist takes is essential for your adolescent (and family unit) to find success with their mental health treatment.
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