Adolescence is a difficult phase of life. Teens face constant changes—both internally in their own bodies and brains, and externally as they navigate school, friendships, and family relationships. According to a nationwide survey, over 85 percent of young people deal with mental health issues like anxiety, depression, or trauma on a regular basis. If left untreated, these issues can become worse and impact all areas of a teen’s life.
Teen talk therapy is designed to help teens process hard things and cope with the turmoil of their lives in positive ways. If your teen is struggling, learning about teen therapy options can help your family understand the available options for support.
Key Takeaways
- Conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common among teens, and school and life stressors can add to a teen’s struggles.
- Both online and in-person teen talk therapy can help adolescents navigate mental health challenges and prevent crises.
- Types of teen talk therapy at Newport include individual, group, and family therapies, each designed to support the teen in their healing.
- Modalities of talk therapy for teens include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Exposure and Response Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing
What Is Teen Talk Therapy?
Teen talk therapy, also known as psychotherapy, refers to a variety of treatment approaches that help teens understand and change unwanted behaviors. Counseling helps teens to:
- Identify and acknowledge their feelings
- Understand the connections between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
- Learn how to pause before reacting
- Take accountability for their role in their own mental health
- Reframe troubling thoughts and emotions
- Learn coping mechanisms for difficult emotions
Teen talk therapy can take place individually, as a family, or among a group of peers. Regardless of the setting, the teen gets to go at their own pace, explore their internal world, and incorporate new ways of thinking and behaving—within a safe, supportive environment.
Why Is Therapy for Teenagers Important? Reasons for Teen Counseling
Stress, genetics, personality, history of trauma, beliefs, and individual coping skills all impact mental health. Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common among teens. Both online and in-person therapy for teens help adolescents navigate mental health challenges and prevent crises.
Reasons for a family to seek out teen counseling include:
- Trauma/PTSD: Experiences that reduce a person’s sense of safety or belonging in the world can create trauma. If trauma is left unprocessed and untreated, it can develop into PTSD. PTSD can lead to nervous system impairment, multiple mental health challenges, changes in behavior, and suicide or suicidal ideation. If you think your teen may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, get immediate help or call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
- Underlying mental health conditions: Issues like depression and anxiety can be genetic, form as a result of trauma, or be a combination of both.
- Stress: Life stressors, such as school, friendships, romantic relationships, bullying, and self-esteem issues, all impact a teen’s mental health.
- Puberty: Teen brain development is still underway during adolescence, and skills like emotional regulation are not yet fully formed. The combination of puberty, hormones, and everyday stressors can wreak havoc on mental health.
- Relationship problems: Both interpersonal relationships (struggles with family, friends, and peers) and intrapersonal relationships (struggles with the self) can impact a teen’s mental health.
- Behavioral issues. Problems like explosive anger, reckless sexual behavior, or substance abuse all point to underlying problems and unmet needs that should be addressed with a licensed mental health professional.
How Effective Is Therapy for Teenagers?
Online teen therapy and in-person therapy both help teenagers learn how to address difficult issues. Licensed mental health professionals support adolescents in exploring distressing emotions and thoughts, strengthening vital skills like communication and self-awareness, learning healthy coping tools, and building stronger connections with themselves and loved ones.
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Talk therapy for teens is effective in reducing self-reported symptoms of mental health issues like anxiety. Research shows that adolescents are more likely to adhere to teen therapy and experience more positive change when therapy is more frequent. Moreover, adolescent talk therapy was more effective when the teen believed their own role in therapy mattered. In other words, people who take accountability in the therapeutic process, rather than relying solely on a mental health professional to “fix” them, had better outcomes.
Online Therapy for Teens vs. In-Person Teen Talk Therapy
While online therapy for teens is a great option for some, there is no replacement for a program with all levels of care and an in-person component. Online therapy alone isn’t always enough to address more difficult, complex, or sensitive mental health issues. Nor is it enough to help teens form supportive and trusting peer relationships in group settings. Studies have found higher levels of therapeutic efficacy and overall life satisfaction when there were in-person components to teen therapy.
Types of Teen Therapy at Newport Academy
Newport Academy’s approach to teen therapy puts the adolescent and their family first. We offer many different types of therapy with licensed mental health professionals, including talk therapy and experiential therapy. Types of teen therapy include the following:
Individual therapy: Teens work one-on-one with a trained therapist and receive therapy tailored to their individual needs.
Family therapy: Licensed mental health professionals who specialize in family therapy work with a teen, their parent(s)/caregiver(s), and sometimes siblings to improve difficult dynamics, communication, and family relationships.
Group therapy: Adolescents engage in group therapy in safe groups of peers who are experiencing similar mental health challenges. Group settings can help teens feel less alone and feel supported by both the mental health professional and their peers.
Experiential therapy: While teen talk therapy is beneficial for teens who are experiencing mental health issues, there are other helpful modalities of therapy that aren’t based around talking. Newport Academy offers a wide variety of experiential therapies for teens, including yoga and meditation, music therapy, art therapy, Adventure Therapy, fitness activities such as Mixed Martial Arts, culinary arts, and community service (depending on location).
Body-based therapies: Approaches like EMDR and EFT may involve some talking, but primarily work by tapping into the body-mind connection.
Teen Talk Therapy Modalities
The approach and modalities used for teen talk therapy vary based on each individual’s mental health needs and desires. Each licensed mental health clinician works closely with adolescents to figure out the best approach. Often, multiple approaches are involved. Newport Academy’s modalities include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based therapy that focuses on cultivating awareness and curiosity around thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Adolescents also learn specific coping tools, reframing skills, and management techniques for difficult emotions or thoughts.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) helps adolescents build emotion regulation skills, stop harmful behaviors, and increase tolerance around distressing thoughts, behaviors, and situations.
- Attachment-Based Family Therapy uses attachment theories to help families restore healthy communication and relationships.
- Motivational Interviewing helps teens become more engaged in teen therapy and increase their motivation for recovery.
- ERP therapy, or Exposure and Response Prevention therapy, helps relieve the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in kids and teens.
Teen Treatment: Levels of Care at Newport Academy
Teen therapy at Newport Academy comprises multiple levels of care. These include teen residential, teen outpatient, and teen telehealth treatment programs.
Newport Academy’s residential care for teens offers live-in healthcare facilities that provide structured clinical care, experiential activities, and academic learning. These programs are vital for teens transitioning out of hospital or inpatient settings, or who need more support than outpatient care can provide.
Newport’s teen outpatient program offers care for teens who need robust mental health support but are able to remain at home. These teens may be transitioning out of residential treatment program, or they may need more than weekly therapy in order to continue improving. Our outpatient treatment options includes Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP), in which teens live at home and attend all-day, 5-days-a-week treatment in an outpatient clinic. Outpatient treatment also includes Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP). Programming is similar to PHP, with fewer hours daily, usually 3–5 days per week.
In our teen telehealth treatment, adolescents receive online teen talk therapy up to three hours a day, three days a week. This is a great option for young people who need high quality care but don’t live within access of an outpatient treatment center.
Start the Healing Journey Today
Could your teen and family benefit from a tailored treatment plan that includes teen talk therapy, along with psychiatric care and experiential modalities? Newport Academy can help.
To help you find the right level of care for your teen, our Admissions experts offer in-depth confidential mental health assessments, at no charge. We’ll talk with you about your family’s situation and recommend the best option to help your teen.
Contact us today to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
Harris Poll, May 31–June 13, 2023
BMC Psychology. 2022: 10: 35.
Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2021; 24(4): 765–782.
Front. Psychol. 2021 Feb: 12: 10.3389.
