Therapy for Teens Colorado Springs
Is Your Teen Struggling With Difficult Thoughts And Emotions?
Do they seem stuck, disconnected, or just generally unhappy lately? Are they somehow not quite themselves and unwilling or unable to talk with you about it? Have you noticed any of the following negative symptoms or patterns:
Anxiety or depression?
Addiction or harmful behavior?
Perfectionism or hopelessness?
Perhaps they’re experiencing an inability to be present or attentive at school. Or maybe they lack the desire to spend quality time with family, friends, or in personal relationships outside of social media or other forms of technology.
Teens Deal With Difficult Mental Health Issues Just As Adults Do
Teens can easily get pushed past their limits to effectively handle life stressors because of a lack of coping mechanisms—even adults can relate to this. Your teen may have meltdowns, panic attacks, or emotional explosions that seem to come out of nowhere.
Their anger may make it difficult for you to talk with them about anything for fear of how they will react. Or they may be totally detached or uncommunicative despite your repeated attempts to connect with them, which can take a toll on your mental health as well.
Therapy can bridge that gap for you by giving teens the tools to build coping skills for dealing with the difficult emotions that can accompany many of life’s challenges. We can assist them with identifying those emotions and developing a sense of self-awareness that can help them overcome these challenges rather than feeling hindered by them.
Have any questions? Send us a message!
Most Teens Need Some Outside Support Along The Way
Just like adults, teens need meaningful relationships that offer support throughout their daily lives. However, often the issues that teens struggle with involve the very peers that they need for support. And while parental support is important, therapy can offer additional emotional assistance and an outside perspective that can prove hugely beneficial.
Many teens, though, are not connecting with these important resources. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), for example, although “in the past 12 months… 20 percent of adolescents reported receiving mental health therapy,” another “20 percent of adolescents aged 12–17 reported having unmet mental health care needs” (1).
Many Teens Don’t Have The Ability To Cope On Their Own Yet
The various issues that teens face can also be worsened by unhealthy family dynamics or stressful situations at home. Bullying at school can make an already insecure teen have low self-esteem or feel depressed or even suicidal. And peer pressure to look or act a certain way can compromise a teen’s true identity, which can undermine their sense of self.
Counseling can give teens a safe space to better explore and develop that sense of self so it can guide them moving forward. This is a case where we can actually help them by teaching them how to help themselves. We want them to be able to identify what they are feeling so they can feel more empowered, in control, and connected in their life and decisions.
(1) https://www.cdc.gov/children-mental-health/data-research/index.html#:~:text=20%25%20of%20adolescents%20reported%20receiving,unmet%20mental%20health%20care%20needs
Therapy Can Help Your Teen Know Themselves Better
It’s easy to feel overlooked or misunderstood when you’re a teen, and many young people don’t even realize that they have outside resources that could help them better cope and even thrive. Simply having a caring and experienced therapist available to listen to their struggles from their perspective can help your teen build self-awareness, confidence, and maturity.
Therapy can offer them a safe space to open up about some of their teenage struggles in a way that they might not be able to with their family or friends. We want to understand their world—what they care about, what makes them tick, what has been bothering them. And over time, we will help them build a greater ability to regulate their own emotions with ease.
An Eclectic, Flexible Approach To Teen Therapy
Sessions with your teen counselor will incorporate various therapeutic modalities, including:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – An evidence-based form of psychotherapy, CBT can help teens identify and reframe unhealthy thought or behavioral patterns.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) – Rooted in CBT, DBT can help teens manage some of the particularly intense or difficult emotions they are experiencing.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) – Another evidence-based modality, IPT can help teens improve their social interactions and form healthier bonds with others.
We typically use CBT to help teens alter negative thoughts and behaviors so they can find healthier ways to respond. We use DBT to give them the tools to handle stress and regulate intense feelings, which can strengthen their relationships. IPT, meanwhile, focuses on improving relationship quality and social skills, which are commonly at the heart of teen struggles.
We want you and your teen to know that there is so much hope for them to find peace and for them to feel seen, heard, and understood. We have seen firsthand how far simply listening and empathizing can go in terms of helping build their emotional intelligence and self-awareness.
You May Still Have Some Questions About Therapy For Teens…
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We’ve tried therapy before and nothing changed or improved—how will this be any different?
We understand that there are a lot of options out there for therapy and that you may have already tried some of them without success. However, we are effective because we do things differently. At Alpine Family Counseling, we seek to unearth the root causes of issues through a mix of curiosity and compassion, which yields noticeably positive results.
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My teen and I have a full schedule and don’t feel as though we’ll have time to consistently attend therapy sessions.
We totally understand, but it’s important to remember that prioritizing therapy is not just about seeking short-term relief but also investing in their long-term future. This may admittedly involve some short-term sacrifice in terms of your schedules, but we do truly value your time and are committed to working toward meaningful and lasting change as quickly as possible.
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As the parent, I’m wondering what role if any I’ll play in the therapeutic process.
Your teen’s privacy is important in therapy, and we can discuss what they’re comfortable sharing with us, as opposed to what they’re comfortable sharing with you as their parent. They ultimately have control over what they want us to know and what they want you to know, and we will all work together so that they can feel safe and valued in therapy.
Your Teen Can Build The Best Version Of Themselves
If your teen is struggling with some of life’s challenges, Colorado Springs Therapy for Teens with Alpine Family Counseling can help them better know themselves and live more meaningfully.
Please call 719-413-6879 or visit our contact page to get started.
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Colorado Springs Therapy for Teens
In-Person & Online Therapy Sessions Available
7680 Goddard St Suite 120
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
719-413-6879