Adolescents
Counseling Adolescents
......The staff at Psychological Consultants and Affiliates understands that a teen is a part of a family system rather than a statistic in a troubled age group. Our focus is on building support and teaching skills to allow youth to develop to their fullest potential. Whether our primary client is an adolescent, parent, or family, the guiding principles of treatment are optimism, hope, and respect. It is our job to help calm the waters for those teens caught in the "storm". The adolescents of today represent the families of our future.
Adolescence is a very important time for growth and rapid change for individuals and can be a challenging time for families. Teenagers must deal with physical changes, increasing responsibility, social demands, separation from authority and identity issues. Adolescents find themselves in a new body with active hormones, volatile emotions, and sometimes, even personality changes. Socially there is peer pressure to separate from parents and explore many new activities which may or may not be healthy.
Developmental psychologists have recognized adolescence as a distinct stage of the life cycle since the early 1900's. G. Stanley Hall, the father of developmental psychology, described the "Sturm and Drang" (storm and stress) of the teenage years in his book Adolescence published in 1904. According to Hall, adolescence is, by necessity, a time of great turbulence during which individuals must cope with change and general conflict.
Therapists are trained to understand these developmental changes and are able to help teenagers and their parents become more educated and communicative. By establishing a relationship with troubled teens and providing a safe place for conflicts to be explored, counselors can assist families in dealing with questions or difficulties that may be encountered. Through counseling, families can find the energy and skill to prevent or deal with a variety of adolescent problems.
Adolescent counseling addresses many common problems such as conduct disorder, general apathy, poor school performance, anxiety, depression and problems with authority figures or family members. Counseling with teens is crucial when there is risk or evidence of alcohol abuse or drug abuse, unsafe sexual practices, pregnancy, shoplifting, anorexia, bulimia, reckless driving, anger outbursts, violence or suicidal thoughts or behavior.
While all these adolescent phenomena are real and appropriately alarming, there is another reality. Adolescence is also a time of rapid growth and promise. Teenagers develop complex thinking ability and are excited about their new skills. They become capable of a new level of communication and can experience a wide range of feeling. Youth are hungry for mature role models and will accept encouragement and structure if their need for growth and the oppoturnity to practice becoming an adult are recognized.
Psychological Consultants and Affiliates, Inc.
60 Messimer Drive, Newark, Ohio 43055
Phone 740-522-2230, 800-522-2457
Fax 740-522-6230
For all of your therapy needs!
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