Parents Page:
Maybe your child is asking for therapy, or maybe you’re seeing things that make you wonder, “Is this something we need to look into?”
*See below for more clarification on ADHD support, High School and post-High school, and college therapy support.
Generally, if your teen or young adult struggles with:
Perfectionism tendencies: is your child very anxious or hypercritical about their performance or appearance? Do they struggle to ask for help?
Emotional dysregulation: towards you or towards others, mood highs and lows, reactive or sensitive in their emotions and felt experience. Quick temper, quick to become irritable or “snap.”
Low Self Esteem: negative self-talk, low opinion of self, chronic insults to self
Significant Lifestyle change: grief, loss, divorce, separation, dropping out of school, etc.
Hyper Independence: become easily irritated with you or others when they are struggling or upset, insist on doing things by themselves or insist on having “privacy,” and prefer to be alone rather than with friends.
Anxiety, Depression, Rejection sensitivity in friendship, “people pleasing” tendencies and more!
I can and want to help.
Parent resources:
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First and foremost, as an LPC, I am not qualified to diagnose ADHD. However, as someone who lives with many people with ADHD, has worked in this area of expertise for my entire career, and is very passionate about the misdiagnosis and lack of understanding around ADHD, I can help you identify if these symptoms are present and if an assessment would be beneficial. While this is NOT a comprehensive assessment, click HERE for a symptom checker provided by the Child Mind Institute.
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Now what? I typically find that teens with ADHD often struggle with self-esteem, confidence academically, strategies to succeed at school, in conversation, or even maintaining or making friends. The goal of psychotherapy, for me, is to boost their self-esteem and confidence and help them find strategies to physically regulate their bodies so we can work on what else might be going on for them.
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While everyone can benefit from therapy, I find that college-aged or post-grad clients tend to benefit greatly from having third-party support of a professional to help them navigate the big questions: “Who am I?”, “What do I want to do?”, “What’s next?” Maybe they are also struggling with friends or relationships. It can be especially helpful if your child is struggling with the transition, maybe didn’t follow the same path as their peers, or had to leave college and are now feeling lost or “stuck.”
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