Counseling For Teens & Young Adults
Cincinnati, Ohio
The way we speak to ourself plays a huge role in our everyday life, much larger than we often think. This self-talk can come from our beliefs, our prior experiences and even from those around us.
Oftentimes, when our confidence is low, we are being bombarded with unhelpful self-talk. I often call this our inner critic. Our inner critic is the part of us who says that we don’t measure up. When this happens, we are needing a shift of perspective and an understanding of our strengths in order to build ourselves back up.
Together, we will explore your strengths, shed light on these critical thoughts, and compassionately refocus on what we know to be true. If you are ready to learn more about your strengths, click the button below to take a free 10-minute survey.
Finding Your Strengths
Whether you have been increasingly anxious lately, experiencing depression on and off for years or if you are simply curious about how you interact with those around you, counseling can be a great place to find clarity and peace.
The teen and young adult years are full of change, decision making, self-exploration and, most of all, uncertainty. It’s normal for this to lead to increased stress, anxiety and self-doubt. Counseling provides an unbiased and supportive space to learn more about yourself while working towards finding relief. Throughout counseling, I specifically focus on helping teens and young adults build self-confidence while learning healthy coping skills to effectively manage anxiety, depression, perfectionism and OCD.
Whenever you are ready to take the next step, I am here for you.
How Counseling Can Help
Knowing Yourself
We’ve all wondered, “Why am I the way that I am”? This one question sparks many others and leads us to wonder why we think, behave and feel the way we do. In some seasons of life, we become confused, and sometimes very critical, of the way we respond to others and to situations. This is especially so in our teen and young adult years, as we try to figure out who we are, what is important to us and what we want our future to hold.
Being bombarded by conflicting messages and choices every single day makes this season of life particularly stressful. Engaging in counseling during your teen and young adults years will give you a safe place to explore and understand your values, priorities, what you believe in, who you’d like to surround yourself with and even how your life thus far may be influencing what you want out of life.
If you are ready to live out your most authentic self, click the button below to schedule your free 15 minute phone consultation.
How To Support Your Teen or Young Adult
Listen
Teens and young adults wants to know they matter. They want to be accepted for who they are, acknowledged for all of their hard work and respected for their individuality. Take time to really listen to them without providing feedback. This gives you an opportunity to get to know the amazing person they are becoming, and allows them a safe space to explore , and further understand, who they are.
Model Helpful Coping
People of all ages learn through experiences and through observing others. If you notice behaviors or responses you’d like your young adult to change, take a look at how you respond in similar situations. This isn’t a blaming moment, it is just simple human behavior to learn from those around us. If you notice yourself engaging in similar responses, take some time to reflect on how you might want to alter your own behaviors in order to give your young adult an opportunity to learn from you.
Own Up To Your Mistakes
Let’s be honest here. We are all human, therefore we all make mistakes. It’s okay to own up to them. and actually it’s best if we do. Having honest conversations about how we behave and when we get it wrong, allows your young adult to open up when they notice making a mistake of their own.
Offer Alone time
Teens and Young adults these days are BUSY. Oftentimes their schedules are overflowing with extracurriculars, homework, work, family activities and balancing time for friends. This doesn’t leave much time for rest. Think about the last time you were going non-stop without a break for weeks on end…I am guessing you probably were a little irritable. Even though it can be difficult to recognize, young adults have a TON of responsibilities. Honor this by acknowledging their effort, praising them for sticking with their values and making space for them to recharge.
Respect Is Earned
Teens and Young adults are learning to be their own person which means they are learning which actions do and do not earn respect, as well as which actions violate their personal boundaries. Especially in the later years, it’s normal for young adults to pull away from parents as they learn who they are as an individual. This also means that they may begin to see you as a human being, rather than someone who must be obeyed. This is actually a good thing! Cultivate their skills of setting healthy and safe boundaries for themselves in relationships by modeling this in your own relationship with them.