8 Benefits of Counseling for Teens

Depending on how you were raised, you may or may not be open to counseling. The idea of it can seem foreign, odd, or perhaps, only for those who are in dire straits. If counseling for yourself – an adult – seems unnecessary, how much more, then, would it be daunting to consider counseling for teens? Or perhaps you grew up in a home that championed counseling, yet you never went for one reason or another.

Counseling for teens: 8 benefits.

The thought of sending your teen to counseling might feel overwhelming, especially if you don’t know what to expect. Here are eight ways your teen will benefit from counseling.

1. Your teen will learn to talk to someone other than you.

If you and your teen have a good relationship, then talking together is probably normal. You share authentic things, and you might know the ins and outs of one another’s lives fairly well. In this kind of parent-child relationship, though, it’s easy to rely on that close-knit bond too much.

Teens who learn to individuate are much better prepared to cope as adults when they’ve left their family of origin. Learning to share with another adult what is going through their minds can be a helpful part of the natural developmental stage that teens undergo — becoming an individual and learning more about themselves.

2. You will learn how to let your child rely on another trusted adult.

Just as your teen needs to learn how to be their own person, adults also need to go through a transition when their children start to get older. Teen years remind parents that their babies are growing up and they’ll need to get used to not seeing as much of their teenagers as they once did. Friends become very important at this stage, and it can be difficult for parents to accept how their role is changing in their teenager’s life.

Counseling for teens becomes a great first step for parents in allowing that individuation process. Learning to trust your teen and the counselor with whom they are sharing, then, becomes as helpful to you as it is to your teen. This is also an important reason to find a counselor you can trust and your teen can connect with.

I usually suggest to parents to find several counselors they feel comfortable with and then allow their teen to choose from those options. This allows the teen to take ownership of their counseling process rather than feel like they “have” to go talk to this adult their parents chose for them. Some teens even feel like they are in “trouble” and it can prolong the trust building process with the counselor.

3. Your teen will learn therapeutic ways of dealing with stress.

It’s easy to forget what life was like when parents were in their teen years. But stress isn’t exclusive to adults. Teens may not undergo the same kind of pressures as their adult parents, but they do feel strain acutely when it comes to schoolwork, friendships, college, and how they’re perceived by others.

Teens can also carry the stress they feel within the household, even if they haven’t expressed this. Simply figuring out who they are and what kind of person they want to be can be confusing and stressful (especially in today’s culture)!

Learning to deal with stress in healthy ways is extremely beneficial to a teenager. Some of the tools that a counselor might use to coach teens include mindfulness practices, keeping a reflection journal, breathing techniques, techniques to deal with intense emotions, and discussing their personal relationship with God. Turning to Scripture for hope is also a tool that can sometimes be received better from a counselor than from a parent.

4. Your teen may more quickly recognize unhealthy patterns in others.

While not all counseling lasts through multiple seasons, some teens find that they enjoy counseling as an overall life necessity — even when they aren’t under any undue strain at the moment. When counseling for teens allows them to see the truth of who they are and how they can cope well with life’s curve balls, they tend to apply those lessons learned to others in their life.

A few markers that a teen may need the help of a licensed professional counselor include sleeplessness, isolating from others, letting go of hobbies he or she once enjoyed, and talking about weighty topics such as death or hopelessness. If your teen has found counseling to be fruitful, they may recognize these symptoms in a friend and be more willing to get help for their friend.

Counseling for teens can also equip them for relationships later in life. Giving teens the ability to see when a potential friend or relationship is toxic is a gift that lasts into adulthood. Being able to spot a person who isn’t healthy gives your teen the kind of wisdom that may keep them from getting wrapped up in a friendship or relationship that is not beneficial, or even harmful to them.

5. They learn how to evaluate their own emotions.

One job of a licensed counselor is to help teens hear themselves. In doing that, counselors can shed light on what a teen is feeling and whether or not that feeling leads to actions that aren’t helpful. For example, if a teen shares that they feel unwanted and unloved, a licensed counselor can ask open-ended questions to help them start to recognize when that feeling comes up and how they are coping with it.

Through this process, teens learn how to self-evaluate not only how they feel but also what they can do in the midst of uncomfortable or negative feelings. Learning to listen to emotions and name them without making a judgment about them is important. Teens start to understand that feelings are not good or bad, but they are clues to what is going on within.

6. Counseling for teens helps them see the good in themselves.

The world in which teenagers are growing up in is vastly different from twenty-five or thirty years ago. Teens today are hearing more negative messages about themselves. Whether it’s through school, social media, or peers, teens tend to easily pick up on negative cues about their appearance, their skill sets, their faith, or their family of origin/heritage. Unfortunately, this often persists even into adulthood, causing a low self-image.

However, teens who engage in counseling learn how to see the best in themselves. The counselor can help the teen notice their strengths and provide encouragement, which is something we all need more of.

7. Teens learn that it’s okay to ask for help.

One of life’s foundational lessons is to learn that we need one another. In Western culture, particularly, it’s frowned upon to need the assistance of someone else.

We’re taught to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps or to DIY everything. Do-it-yourself becomes a hidden motto. But learning to admit when they’re engaging in faulty thinking patterns or when they are coping with emotions in unhealthy ways gives teens a reason to need someone else. This is also the model we see laid out for us in the Bible. Galatians 6:2a, for example, tells us that we are to, “carry one another’s burdens.”

Seeing a licensed professional counselor even a few times can help teens see the value in reaching out for help. The skill of asking for help is a maturing process that many adults still need to grow in, and it can feel daunting and humbling.

Yet the idea in counseling is that someone else can see where your blind spots are and help you. This is so crucial as teens grow into adults and need to have stretched their metaphorical need muscles. That kind of humility also paves the way for truly vulnerable, close-knit relationships later in life.

8. Teens can engage in trauma-informed therapy.

When a teen has undergone some kind of trauma, they need to see a trauma-informed therapist. This is because trauma-informed therapists understand how to incorporate a trauma lens into all the modes of therapy that they use for treatment.

These therapists also specialize in creating safe spaces for teens who have undergone trauma. It allows the teen to focus on healing rather than covering over how they’ve learned to cope (or not cope) with the trauma.

Specialized trauma-informed therapy also reassures teens that they are safe and can learn how their trauma background has informed their behaviors.

If you want to help a teen in your life find a qualified therapist, we’re here to offer the support you are looking for. Counseling for teens can mean the difference between getting stuck emotionally or maturing into appropriate developmental stages. Call our office today to find a counselor that your teen can trust!