Parent-Teen Counselling

I specialise in working with parents and teenagers. The parent can be a foster-parent or relative in the parenting role. Much of my interest has been in parent-child attachment and relationships, and parent-teen communication. I often see teens in individual (one-to-one) counselling and can work with many of the common troubles and problems facing young people. Adolescence has always been a time that causes anxiety and depression, with the development of their new body and role in society, and the loss of their younger child-self. In addition to this adolescence finds many teens struggling, due a rise in 'modern problems': social-media; increase in choice; online bullying; busier lives and parent separation.

Whilst my focus is the adolescent’s well-being, I know how important parents (or key caregivers) are to adolescents. Nobody knows their child the way a parent does, and nobody is more important to their welfare than they are. One of the ways in which I can work is to help parents and adolescents keep open, or build, channels of communication and their relationship. In order to effectively help teenagers it is important that I help parents too, and so I ask parents to make every effort to work with me so that we can better understand what is going on and work as a team to help your child.

Adolescence is often a difficult time for parents too, as the young person begins to stretch boundaries whilst still needing, and legally requiring, parent influence. Whilst maintaining the connection between parents and adolescents I aim to empower and enable the young person to grow whilst helping the parent/carer to learn new skills. This means that in addition to individual adolescent counselling we can all work together sometimes.

If you would like to talk to me about adolescent counselling and/or parenting difficulties please get in touch.