The cosmos in which we place youth and through which we insight youth will influence its pattern of becoming.
–James Hillman
My passion for working with teenagers and young people began as the primary therapist for EASA (Early Assessment Support Alliance) providing assessment and therapy for young people at risk for or experiencing first break psychosis in a community mental health setting. This work really cemented my dedication to providing therapy to teenagers and young adults. I have experience supporting young people navigating the challenges of individuation-- which at times can feel like dark and unfathomable depths, containing both exuberance and terror.
In my clinical work, young people want to know and understand themselves, and have deep feelings and thoughts about what it means to be an individual, and a member of a community. At times this can conflict with expectations for behavior at home or school, result in powerfully overwhelming emotional experiences, or overwhelming anxiety. Coming into one's own self brings phase of life challenges and questions around relationships and feeling connected or fitting in, questions of self-worth, and envisioning and finding a path into the future of independence and adulthood. Having a safe therapeutic relationship that can help identify strengths and navigate barriers while preparing for college or work, one who is non biased and a safe still point outside of the family can often support a young person setting out at this crucial point in life. When a teenager is able to have support and develop the ability to bring insight to unconscious inner dynamics, their relationship with family and peers often strengthens.
Depth psychotherapy meets the expansive part of adolescence pulling from dreams, fairy tales, myths, art creating containers for big emotions often experienced by teenagers. Through depth therapy that includes the unconscious, young people are invited to dive deeper into their understanding of themselves and those around them.
In my practice working with teens 15-18 and young adults 19-24 I treat:
General Anxiety and Depression
Self esteem, self worth
Neurodiversity, autism spectrum and ADHD
Developmental considerations related to sexual identity and relationships
Issues with substance use
Perfectionism and pressure to achieve
Processing overwhelming experiences of” too much too soon “
Adolescents have greater access to information about mental health, online support than perhaps ever before. Tik Tok mental health influencers disclose information about their diagnosis, symptoms and treatment. While adolescence can be a time of deep suffering (How can we forget those wounds?!), viewing human experiences as pathological can rob these experiences of their power and at times take away from the teleological function of challenges. Your pain means something, it isn’t silly or dumb. It can be a compass to who you are.
So what does depth psychotherapy have to offer when one can do a kind of “deep dive” on the internet? Or even ask chatgpt questions, or gain support from an AI bot, endless chats with friends and discord servers? Adolescence is a time of passage from childhood to adulthood, it’s a time that even as we leave it, part of us is always there. Adolescence in both liminal and universal. Depth psychotherapy, or therapy that focuses on coming to understand unconscious perceptions, invites dreams, imagination, and is relational with a safe non biased therapist. It holds that big emotions are not always pathological, in fact avoiding them can lead to increased anxiety, and depression. In this constant swirl of information, sometimes our path of individuation (unfolding into the unique person that only we are, and no one else) is held at the surface of the screen.
Depth therapy can be a still point in an ever accelerating world. There is something about being a teen that is a break from our past as a child and the experience of something completely new. Embracing the Puer archetype “it is not the result of anything that came earlier” ( Frankel, 2023, p.8). It is a protected space where we are allowed to put down the phone, where the impulse to google that idea we can’t completely recall is interrupted, where we are invited to just be. Beneath the surface of all the ways other people think of us, or what they want us to be, we can just be and come to know our own dreams, leaning into the questions of what do we want? And what does it mean?
While some of us appear really confident on the surface, some of that might be a false self we’ve developed to get by in the world or peers, parents, teachers. Having a dedicated time and space to reflect and come to understand who we are underneath it all, and what we want our future to be– how we want to be in the world– to really embrace our our process of individuation can allow our roots be our own, and not something that fades away, but leads us on.
YouthLine: call (877) 968-8491, or text "teen2teen" to 839863
Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org