Teen Therapy at MindWell NYC

Does your teen have a hard time managing their emotions or friendships?

Does it seem like they are stuck in feelings of anxiety, sadness, or anger? Are they having a hard time figuring out who they are? Is it difficult for your adolescent to create and maintain relationships with their peers? Perhaps your teen has trouble listening to their teachers, family members, or other adults. Are you concerned about the pressures they are facing from social media? Is their competitive school environment stressing them out? Perhaps your teenager is struggling with challenges related to physical maturation. Are they engaging in impulsive behavior in an effort to manage their emotions, such as self-harm behavior? Is your family feeling frustrated or burnt out by what is happening at home? When your teen feels overwhelmed by difficult emotions, do they seem to shut down entirely?

It is common that teens experience intense levels of emotions, some of which can feel distressing and be difficult to manage effectively. If your teen is feeling overwhelmed or that they cannot manage these emotions, they may respond to them in ineffective ways by communicating impulsively with family members, shutting out their friends, posting troublesome content on social media, using substances, or engaging in self-harm behavior. They may be unable to get out of a steady negative mood state, be sensitive to comments from others, and be concerned about perceived judgments from their friends or peers. Given the troubles faced by teens today, it is important for them to learn strategies to identify, manage, and change their emotions when appropriate. It may be important to you to help keep them on track to meet their goals in the classroom, in their extracurricular activities, and in their relationships.

Teens often struggle with emotions and relationships.

As teens begin to mature physically and to explore their identity, social difficulties, social media pressure, and academic responsibilities, they can start to feel an overwhelming amount of stress. Whether or not your teen is aware of all of the stress they are under, many parents will notice changes in their child’s behavior. Some teens may spend more time in their room and other teens may pull back from parental relationships or friendships. They may experience frequent and/or intense displays of emotion, some more intensely than others. Your teen may notice many ups and downs in their friendships or feel left out by their peers. They may not come home by curfew, begin to perform less successfully in the classroom, or seem preoccupied by managing their own emotional experience. Over time, your teen may learn to use behaviors and strategies to regulate their emotions that may be problematic. On top of all of the social pressures teens are facing today, they also go through a period of physical, developmental, and hormonal changes that can leave them feeling confused and frustrated.

In addition to typical emotional, social, and developmental obstacles faced by teenagers, a busy life in New York City may present them with some additional worries. School environments can be challenging, competitive, and have high expectations. This can lead to increased social pressure to measure up to peers, difficulties fitting in, and tension in friendships when it comes time for standardized tests or admission to high school or college. There are also pressures to engage in multiple extracurricular activities while maintaining healthy relationships with friends and family. Difficulty managing these understandable challenges can result in symptoms of anxiety, depression, disordered eating, additional tension in relationships, and difficulties regulating emotions.

Thankfully, we have many therapeutic tools available to help your teen learn new skills and strategies to manage their emotions, relationships, and behaviors. These can help them to become more productive and effective in managing their everyday stressors. This in turn can positively impact your home environment and interactions in the family. A trained therapist with experience working with teens can help guide you through this process and specify the treatment plan that will be the best fit for your family.

Therapy For Your Teen Can Help Them Identify Goals, Provide Them With Structure, and Give Them A Toolbox They Can Use Anytime

MindWell NYC is uniquely suited to welcome your teen into therapy, to answer their questions, and to start a collaborative relationship with your family. Our team of therapists is trained and equipped to manage and work with the stressors commonly present during adolescence. We will teach your child and your family the skills, strategies, and tools necessary to help them succeed.

During sessions, your therapist will help you and your teen identify the challenges they are currently facing as well as goals for treatment. Whether you and your teen are seeking treatment for anxiety therapy, depression therapy, eating disorder therapy, or therapy for self-harm behavior, your therapist and teen will collaboratively define specific goals they would like to work towards. During this time, your therapist will also work with your teen on building motivation and structure to work towards achieving these goals.

We offer numerous treatments for teens, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based therapy. Using the treatment that will be the best fit for your teen, we can help them learn to identify and manage problematic thoughts, identify and experience emotions in a healthy way, build and maintain effective relationships with others, and become more mindful of the positive experiences they have in daily life.

In session and as your teen learns new strategies and skills, they will learn to apply them at home, at school, and in other environments in their lives. Your therapist will encourage the practice and incorporation of these skills, as well as teaching and involving family members in learning and practicing the skills. Through this experience of learning and practicing, MindWell NYC can help your teen to become more assertive and trustworthy of their own experiences. This is an essential part of your teen developing their strengths and knowing what skills they can use from a growing number of choices based on what they’ve learned in therapy.

We are aware of the numerous challenges facing teens and their families in New York City and have the experience and knowledge necessary to help them to do well. With any difficulty including troubles identifying or regulating emotions, engaging in problematic or impulsive behavior, having difficulties managing changes in physical maturation or relationships, negotiating shifts in moving towards more independence, or just needing additional support around what may be stressful, MindWell NYC is prepared and ready to work with your family to create change and movement in a new direction.

You may have some questions about therapy at MindWell NYC for your teen.

-How do I know if my teen’s behavior is normal for this stage of development or if it is problematic? This is a question we often hear from parents, and this line of questioning makes sense given the unique developmental changes that occur during adolescence. Many behaviors that may alarm parents can be considered normative during adolescence. For example, your teen may test boundaries around rules in the home. This can be normative if your child is navigating becoming more self-sufficient, learning more about what tasks and work can be expected of them, and clarifying their values. However, if your teen is routinely refusing to participate in expected tasks, is communicating in a disrespectful fashion, or is having a hard time regulating their emotions around following instructions, this could become something to address in therapy. Your therapist, while working with your teen, can provide you with information about typical and atypical behaviors during adolescence. They can also help your teen to identify and improve upon behaviors that are problematic.

-How involved should I be in this process? My teen seems to not want me involved in their therapy. Throughout our experience, we have found that there is a delicate balance between giving your teen a safe space to explore their thoughts and feelings and also having parents involved in a supportive way. We work to build a collaborative alliance with your teen while also keeping the door open for parent skill acquisition so that you can help your teen to learn and practice skills at home. We speak more about this during our initial consultation session and find that telling your teen about this process and allowing them to ask questions decreases their sense of anxiety about participating while also having their parents involved.

-How can I be sure that my teen will participate? They say that they are not willing to come in. Most teens are at least initially apprehensive about going to meet a new provider and at some time or another, have said that they will not go. We find that once teens come to the office, they feel comfortable, relaxed, and more interested in participating in individual therapy. In addition, they may also have the opportunity to participate in groups with other teens having similar difficulties, which can help foster a sense of community and lead to feeling more connected in their therapy. We are happy to introduce ourselves to your teen over the phone if they are expressing concerns about starting the therapy process. Please reach out and let us know if you have any further questions about this.  

Your Teen Can Learn to Enjoy Moments in Their Life And to Behave More Skillfully

We offer many therapeutic options that have been found to be effective in creating change in teenagers’ and their family’s lives. During this process, we can offer support to both teens and parents or caregivers to make the transition to more skillful living as smoothly as possible. If you would like more information about the teen therapy programs that we offer or are interested in learning more about the therapy process, please feel free to be in touch at 646-809-5440. We also offer complimentary 15 minute phone consultations that can be scheduled below via our online system or through the phone number listed above.