If you’ve been asking yourself, “How do I know if my teenager needs therapy?” You’re not alone. We promise.
Especially since 2020, more people are going to therapy than ever before, and the good news is that most people find therapy is very effective. As a parent, you’ve been a teenager before, and whether you’ve ever been to therapy or not, now you might be asking yourself if it’s normal for a teenager to go to therapy.
Teens today live in a different world that includes social media, group texts, busy schedules, high education pressure, while also being part of your own life. Most people would agree that the world feels more complex than it did 20 to 30 years ago, and your teen is growing up in this very different world.
We’re one of the largest private practices in Denver, and we see a lot of teens for therapy every week. Based on our experience, it’s normal for a teenager to go to therapy, especially when there are things that you or they might be concerned about or want some help with addressing. We have teenage therapists in Denver, Lone Tree, and Greenwood Village who specialize in helping your teen work through all of the unique changes, pressures, and identity issues that come with being a teen today.
What we’ve found is that this generation of teens is often proud to tell people they’re going to therapy, and they’re normalizing the importance of taking care of their mental health. Unlike previous generations that might’ve hidden the fact that they’re seeing a therapist, many teens today find it easy to share this information with a friend and find other teens who have also gotten help from a therapy.
Teens might think that they’ll be judged by their friends, family, or even the therapist they’re talking to. However, most teens have a positive experience spending time with an adult who isn’t a parent or family member for some dedicated one-on-one conversation that’s just about them.
When your teenager needs therapy
Even though there are many reasons why a teenager might need therapy, here are some of the most common reasons why teens come to our offices for therapy:
- Problems at school or with friendships
- Performance anxiety and negative behaviors
- Body image issues and eating disorders
- Confidence issues and help managing their relationships
- Unhealthy habits, including substance abuse or body image issues
- Processing stressful events or life changes, like a divorce or death in the family
- A need for perfection or feelings of apathy
- Feeling different from others due to an illness, life situation, or something else
- Sadness, depression, confusion, or stress
- Problems at home, including divorce
- Living with someone who suffers from addiction
- Self-harm or suicidal thoughts
- Understanding sexual identity
Many teens just want an adult to listen and understand them without judgment, and many parents know that teens often hear a message differently when it’s not coming from their parents.
How to find the best therapist for your teenager
As a parent, you want to find the best therapist in Denver for your teenager, and your teen most likely wants to talk to someone who they feel like will understand them. It’s important for you to find a therapist who has extensive experience working with teens, and it’s not uncommon to even look for a therapist who might be closer to your teen’s age than your own.
Experience is important, but it’s also important to find a therapist that your teenager feels comfortable with seeing on a regular basis. For therapy to be successful, it’s important for your teenager to have a good relationship with their therapist. That often can happen a little more naturally when a therapist is someone your teen feels like understands them.
We provide skills for teens to better describe how they’re feeling and what they’re going through. When teens can communicate what’s happening, it’s easier to understand what they need and how we can help. We teach them how to deal with their feelings, of which there can be many during this period of life, including depression, low self-worth, nervousness and anxiety, jealousy, and more.
We’ve worked with countless teens in the Denver area to help them understand and process the emotions and feelings that are shaping how they think about the world and themselves. With offices in Greenwood Village, Denver, and Lone Tree, we have multiple locations to support more teens throughout the Denver Metro area.
If you’re interested in talking with one of our teenager therapists in Denver, contact us. We’ll be happy to match your teen with a therapist in our office who is the best fit for what they’re looking for.
