Services

I provide one on one counseling for teenagers and young adults whose life is being impacted by anxiety and/or depression.

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Teenagers

Anxiety and Depression have been steadily on the rise for teenagers since the mid 2000’s. I work with teenagers whose life is being impacted by these crippling disorders. Anxiety and depression are manageable and it does not have to hold your child back from being the person they want to be.
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Young Adults

“I am supposed to have my whole life figured out by now.” “I don’t really feel like an adult.” “What am I supposed to do now.” “I thought this was going to be different.” When you think that you are supposed to have your whole life figured out it commonly produces intense anxiety. If you struggled with anxiety or depression as a teenager it can very easily continue into adulthood.
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Parents

I also help parents who are at a loss of where to turn or what to do to help their child. If your teenager is resistant to counseling it does not mean that you are stuck. We can work together to equip you with the tools you need to help your son or daughter.

Our Focus:

Thoughts

Twinkle, Twinkle little ______ . I don’t even have to ask. I know what word you thought of . . . star! Isn’t it amazing that I can control what you think? Yes, that is a little parlor trick but what I want to help people see is that we truly have very little control over our thoughts. Thoughts can hook us and yank us around and bring on difficult emotions and destructive behavior. We will learn how to see our thoughts with enough distance that we can choose how to respond. We are not a slave to our thoughts!

Emotions

Emotions are good, yet they can make horrible masters. The feelings tied to anxiety and depression want to control how we act. We will learn how to feel emotions, understand what they are communicating, and why it is important that we do not shove them down or let them control us.

Behavior

It’s commonly not in our best interest to react based off of our emotions or thoughts. So what should our actions be based off of? We want to act based on our values, the type of person we want to be. We will work together to put words to what we value and what is important to us. We get to decide the person we are going to be; difficult thoughts and feelings can just come along for the ride!

The model that I use is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Research continually shows that it is a highly effective model for teenagers. I love it because it is flexible, playful, and engaging.

If you want to learn more you can visit
https://www.actmindfully.com.au/about-act/.