Counseling adolescents and their families
In recent years I have been counseling families of adolescents who face a variety of difficulties among them: alienation and disengagement, dropping out of frameworks, depression, suicidal tendencies and different forms of addictions. I find that the very willingness of a family to reach out for help embodies the first step to dealing with and overcoming these difficulties.
As an educational counselor in high schools, for the past 17 years I meet teenagers and their parents on a daily basis. Over the years I have learned how to position myself and relate to this age group, and how to succeed in openly connecting with them from a place of respect and appreciation but also from a place that allows reflection and direction. This is a difficult and challenging task for parents and professionals alike. Being myself a mother to teenagers I am daily reminded of this challenge.
Therapy is different from educational counseling and involves deeper layers of engagement and introspection, but the nature of the relationship, as well as the lack of awe from this age group, and understanding of the needs and tasks of this age, help me in counseling families with adolescents and adolescents themselves.
As an educational counselor in high schools, for the past 17 years I meet teenagers and their parents on a daily basis. Over the years I have learned how to position myself and relate to this age group, and how to succeed in openly connecting with them from a place of respect and appreciation but also from a place that allows reflection and direction. This is a difficult and challenging task for parents and professionals alike. Being myself a mother to teenagers I am daily reminded of this challenge.
Therapy is different from educational counseling and involves deeper layers of engagement and introspection, but the nature of the relationship, as well as the lack of awe from this age group, and understanding of the needs and tasks of this age, help me in counseling families with adolescents and adolescents themselves.
