Sometimes teenagers worry that their parents are bringing them to counseling to “fix” them. I think of counseling a little differently. For me, counseling is a chance to have a compassionate adult step into your reality, your world, and learn about what really matters to you. You have a right to be heard, and a right to have an adult in your life who is able to offer unbiased support. It can be helpful to have someone who is not part of your friendship circle or family to help you sort through the feelings, decisions, and challenges which we all face—it provides you with the privacy and safety to discover your own truth. You have important insights and creative solutions to problems, and counseling can provide a place to bring those to light.
Some issues counseling may help with:
- Challenges with parents
- Body image issues
- Problems with friends
- Gossip
- Depression
- Racism at school
- Finding meaning and purpose
- Problems managing school work
- Anxiety
- Coming out
- Self-esteem
- Relationship to sexual intimacy
- Who am I?
- Big decisions
- A life changing experience
- Divorce
- Trauma
- Relationship to alcohol and drugs
“We’ve all got things that are hanging about
Things that make us cool,
Things that make us whack,
Things that make us mad
Things we wish we never had done
But they’re just the things that make us real
Not the maps to guide where we go from here
The road twists and braids our hair
Until we all get there”
One Giant Leap Ft. Speech And Neneh Cherry – Braided Hair