Adolescents are at a critical stage in their lives when they may need large amounts of support but at the same time may be resistant to too much support from authority figures, which can include parents, teachers, and therapists. Regardless of how they might attempt to dissuade adults from participating in their lives, it is important that adolescents get the support that they need in order to develop into adults. This support can range from kind words when times are tough for the child to seeking therapy for adolescents who are excessively troubled.

Therapies Commonly Used with Adolescents:

Art therapy
Drama therapy
Music therapy
Play therapy

It is important for you to remember that in your relationship with an adolescent, regardless of whether it is your child or a child that you teach or have another relationship with, that you are the adult in the relationship.

While the adolescent might use aggression and even violence to dissuade you from participating in his or her life, it is important for you to keep your composure so that the situation can remain calm. You will find that sometimes adolescents can be very loving and that other times they might be very cold and seem to pull away from you. You should not take this personally. It is a phase that many children go through as they are growing into adults.

If you need to find therapy for your adolescent child, you need to find one that has experience working with children. You should also make sure that the therapist has experience dealing with your child’s specific problems. There are many types of therapy that you might want to consider. Drama therapy, art therapy, music therapy, and play therapy are all common forms of therapy that are used with adolescents. These types of therapies might be necessary because adolescents are often resistant to parental figures.

Often, therapists will be seen by adolescents as parental figures, and the children will try to shut them out. If a child is shutting the therapist out, obviously talk therapy will not be the best course of action.

Supporting children is important no matter what stage of life they are in. Get involved in their educational and extracurricular activities by helping them with their homework, attending their sporting events, and giving the moral support that they need to develop the self-esteem that they need to develop into happy, healthy adults. By being involved in your adolescent’s life, you’re helping to ensure that they will be able to support themselves in the future and to form loving relationships with other people.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 3:49 pm and is filed under counselor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.