In-Person Teen Therapy in Fairfax City, VA
Adolescence is a really tough time in life. Our therapists are connected enough to get it, but skilled enough to help teenagers navigate the unique challenges of adolescence in the DMV.
Having a specialist matters when it comes to helping a teenager. Reach out for a no-fee, no-commitment consultation.
Teenage years can be tough for anyone, but pile on COVID, social media, and everything else and it becomes clear why adolescents need support right now.
Teen therapy can help adolescents to feel more confident, capable of connection, and at ease in their worlds.
Our Fairfax City therapists are particularly skilled at helping teenagers to navigate these issues. Together, we can think about problems like school, emerging independence, and communication in the family.
Is your teenager depressed or isolated?
Are they anxious, showing disordered eating patterns or confused about who they are?
Is it hard to know how to talk with them?
Do you need to find a therapist with after school hours in Fairfax City, Virginia?
Take the first step by scheduling a no-fee, no-commitment consultation with a Monarch therapist.
Frequently Asked Questions About Teenage Years and Teen Therapy
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We think that teenagers engage in therapy best when they feel like they have a space that is separate from the family. At the same time, they are a minor and some things, like acute suicidality, it would be very important for parents to be clued in on. For this reason, we talk about confidentiality up front and make sure everyone is on the same page about what will, and won’t, be shared.
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The teenage brain is very much under construction, just at a time when the system is flooded by hormones as well. Additionally biology also shifts teens’ sleep clocks later, right when school is beginning earlier., so many teens are chronically sleep-deprived. On top of that, it’s a teen’s developmental job to figure out who they are apart from their family and a parent’s job to somehow balance giving them freedom with keeping them safe. Friendships matter a lot, but they are also prone to lots of drama, exclusion, and even bullying. Add in COVID, AI, social media and other modern pressures and it becomes pretty clear why teenagers are having a hard time.
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Here you’ll need to balance getting them help when they need it and putting them off therapy, making them less likely to seek help later in life. See if you can get a compromise where they try just three sessions. If they won’t attend after that, we can shift to parent coaching to help figure out how to help them from more of a distance if needed.
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Certainly get them some if they ask for it; by teenage years a person is savvy enough to know when help is warranted and when it isn’t. There may be more going on than they are willing to easily share with you, as well. Similarly, trust your gut if it feels like something is off. Issues like sliding grades, isolating from friends, not enjoying things, using drugs or alcohol or problems in eating can all be better assessed by a professional.
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Online therapy can be helpful for some teens, especially those with packed academic schedules who need relatively minimal support. For teens that might be more difficult to connect with, in-person usually is the better option. This offers them less of a chance to distract themselves and more opportunity to sense that the therapist is really on their side in life (this doesn’t always translate as well over a screen). Monarch offers in-person teen therapy in our Fairfax City and Friendship Heights locations.