Teens

Adolescence is uniquely difficult—for you and your teen.

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Teens are exploring their identities while also facing hard issues like bullying, body image expectations, intense emotions, and pressure from peers. Social media feeds them lies of who they should be. They're still growing and learning, so they often aren't yet equipped to handle these hardships in a healthy way. In my opinion, many adults wouldn't even be able to navigate the pressures today's teens face!

Therapy provides a safe space for teens to be heard and understood. It's a space where they can learn the skills they need to work through hard things. Therapy also helps to increase their self-awareness and grow their resiliency--both of which are crucial areas for them to grow into healthy adults. Matching your teen with a good-fit therapist can be one of the greatest gifts you can give them.

I've worked with many teens around anxiety, depression, abuse, anger, family conflicts or transitions, school issues, self-esteem, and identity. I've gotten a lot of feedback from my teens about how they often didn't like their previous therapy experiences but now actually want to come to our sessions. That's because my approach to therapy is different. I connect with my teen clients in a way that is genuine, empathetic, and respectful.

I would love to explore how we can partner together to best support your teen. Please reach out to me at therapy@shaeloucks.com

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A note on confidentiality: One of the ways that I earn this connection with teen clients is through trust. We talk about confidentiality from day one, and both my teen clients and their parents are on the same page about my policies. Teens know when I have to disclose something to their parents, and we work through that together. There's black-and-white areas that I absolutely can't keep to myself, such as if they are going to hurt themselves or someone else. And if they're under 18, there's the grey areas--for example, maybe a teen is drinking to excess and putting themselves in dangerous situations. At that point, I let them pick how we are going to tell their parents. Everything else stays between my teen client and myself. I can't tell parents any other details of our sessions together because it would absolutely betray that trust that holds our therapeutic relationship together.