Naperville Clinical Psychologists
Working with Adolescents
Adolescence is a time of explosive social, emotional, cognitive and physical growth. Developing an independent sense of self, navigating complex social dynamics, academic pressures, and family expectations can be difficult combination of stressors to manage. Today’s teens strive to be well-rounded, high achieving, and accepted by their peers.
Sometimes the adolescent years don’t go as planned and your teen experience emotional challenges. Other times, these stressors may cause pre-existing emotional, social, or learning disabilities to become even more problematic. Adolescence is a high-risk time for anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. When these issues arise, your teen needs a safe, supportive place to learn skills to manage their emotions and to explore who they are to become.
When working with your adolescent, our providers are experts at navigating the delicate balance between providing confidentiality for teens, maintaining open communication with parents, and providing support and coaching to parents.
On your first appointment, you can expect that the session time will be divided between parent and teen to allow both of you the opportunity to speak openly with the treating psychologist. After the initial assessment, your teen’s psychologist will review the primary treatment issues and the treatment plan. You will receive on-going updates on treatment progress. Along the way, you and the provider may determine that additional check-in times for parents or parent coaching sessions are needed.
We believe in a flexible treatment approach for teens that respects both confidentiality and autonomy while facilitating better family relationships. For this reason, it may be necessary to adjust parent involvement in the sessions according to your family’s unique needs. Our psychologists use evidenced-based treatment models including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) models to help your teen develop the skills to successfully navigate the journey to young adulthood.