Perhaps you are the one who has considered therapy as a means to help your teen cope, or perhaps your son or daughter has approached you asking for the support from a therapist. Either way, this is a big step that can lead to repairing your child’s relationship with his/herself as well as her family as she grapples with the uncertainties of maturing.
When your child attends therapy, she will have the opportunity to disclose what she is struggling with as well as the feelings associated with her struggle.
She has the opportunity to share with the therapist things that trouble her that they might not be telling anyone else,which can be dangerous. Your child will have confidentiality within the therapeutic relationship which means that anything discussed with the therapist is private, unless she is a danger to herself or someone else. Your child will need to be certain that she can trust the therapist and it is imperative that she does not perceive the therapist as another authority figure. In other words, the therapist will not be lecturing your child about unfinished chores or missing school assignments. Instead, the therapist will be helping your child work through her challenges as well as identify self-destructive ways that she might be using to cope with stress.
The role of the therapist while working with your child is to support your child and help her to develop effective methods to deal with adversity.
Most importantly, the therapeutic experience will assist your adolescent to establish a sense of comfort within her own skin. As part of this, your daughter, or son, will learn to articulate her emotions to you, her caregiver, and other important people in her life in a nonconfrontational way. She will also work with the therapist to learn how to tolerate limits that you set for her without shutting you out. Your child may have her own goal for therapy, and that is both wonderful and invited. In addition, the therapist will help your child identify ways to improve the quality of her own life that she may not be capable of seeing on her own.