Adolescent Therapy in Salt Lake City, UT
Jamie can’t explain her anger – even to herself.
After being sent to her room for the millionth time for arguing with her mother, Jamie is in a rage. She thinks about how unfair her mother is treating her.
She flops on her bed and starts scrolling through Insta, but she only feels worse because everyone’s lives are so perfect compared to hers.
She wonders about her mom, “Why does she always think I’m such a monster?” “It’s not like I’m going out killing anyone or shooting up. I only want to hang out with my friends. They’re the only ones that get me.”
Except for each time Jamie thinks this, she knows it’s not true. No one gets her – not her parents, teachers, friends. No one gets she feels so angry, scared, or numb all the time. Even she doesn’t know why this is going on.
Jamie’s life is coming apart at the seams.
Everything feels like it’s falling apart. Jamie’s friends for years started ignoring her this year, her acne and weight are worse than they’ve ever been no matter how hard she tries, and she is failing almost all her classes. She used to kind of like school, but she can’t seem to focus or care anymore.
“Why am I so screwed up? Maybe everyone would be better off without me.”
She’s had this thought before. It terrifies Jamie but also seems like the only option. She’s even tried acting on this thought, but she chickens out each time.
Sometimes, Jamie hurts herself to escape what she’s feeling (or to feel something when she’s numb). Hurting herself becomes another secret she keeps to herself. She doesn’t know what can make things better. “What’s going to happen to me?”
Jamie’s mother is at the end of her rope.
Krystal, Jamie’s mother, shakes her head while Jamie huffs up the stairs.
As she slumps onto the couch, discouraged again that she can’t seem to get through to Jamie, Krystal thinks to herself, “What am I doing wrong?”
Jamie wants to spend more and more time away from home, and she almost seems to take pleasure in breaking rules like curfew and throwing it in her mother’s face.
Krystal’s not in love with the new kids who Jamie has been hanging around, but she doesn’t know what happened with Jaime’s old friends. She knows there must have been some falling out, but Jaime won’t talk to her, won’t let her in. “How am I supposed to help Jamie when she stonewalls me all the time?”
Concern over Jamie rules Krystal’s life.
Worrying about Jamie now consumes Krystal’s life.
Krystal has noticed the smell of smoke on some of Jamie’s clothes and even thought she heard her coming home drunk one time. Krystal tells herself it was a typical teen experimenting and that she raised Jamie better than to get caught up in that stuff, but not knowing kills Krystal.
Krystal sees Jamie wearing different clothes, not caring as much about her hair or how she looks. Krystal knows something is wrong, but she doesn’t know how to bring it up without Jamie blowing up.
Krystal wants to help her little girl, but she doesn’t know how to begin. Krystal thinks, “What’s going to happen to her?”
Teenage years have ups and downs.
Being a teenager sucks sometimes, and that’s probably putting it lightly.
Especially now, teens are bombarded with expectations, rules, and requirements.
From the teen’s perspective, it feels nearly impossible to get anything right and please parents, peers, teachers, and everyone else. Let alone trying to figure out for yourself who you are as you’re slowly becoming an adult.
Teen years are sometimes scary and confusing for everyone involved, and at Beacon Therapy of Utah, we strive to help bring some calm to the adolescence hurricane.
Therapy helps bring things into perspective.
Our approach in working with teens as professional therapists focuses on getting to know them in their world. We spend most of the time working from the teen’s perspective on problems they see and want to change to feel more confident navigating this time of their life.
We’ll focus on identifying ways to help teens feel more in control of their emotions and interactions with friends and family. We’ll focus on building self-esteem and confidence in who they are and who they’re becoming.
When appropriate, and only when the teen feels comfortable, we will include parents in some sessions to help improve communication and understanding, and translate progress in session to progress in the home.
Teens rarely have the decision-making power in their homes to change everything needed to help them be successful. Parents must be on board and make changes that allow their teens to feel better understood and to gain a sense of control in directing where they want their life to go.
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is challenging.
Adolescence is a time for learning independence and how to be an adult.
One of the best ways to help with this transition is for parents to negotiate wants and needs in the home and model compromise in healthy ways.
Establishing the right model helps the teen feel empowered and helps them understand their current balancing act of respecting expectations at home and building their own expectations as an individual.
More harmonious relationships are possible.
Finding ways to honor a teen’s independence and let them have their own experiences while staying safe can help lead to a more harmonious home experience.
Such harmony helps change teen years from frustration and fear to a time of growth and happiness.
Contact Us today to set up your first session.