Teen Therapy in Newport Beach

Triggers of Mental Health Problems Among Teens

Navigating early adulthood in today’s digital age can feel overwhelming. Teens and young adults face immense pressure and competition to “make something” of themselves in a world that demands more education, more drive, and more focus than ever before. Parents often begin to notice their son or daughter wrestling with complex emotions as they start to consider their future and find their footing in life.

Many teens feel like everyone else is “further ahead,” as if others have already “found their passion,” leaving them stuck in fear and indecision. Some try to take off on their own but soon return home, feeling unprepared—a pattern sometimes called “Failure to Launch.” Parents grow concerned when their young adult becomes anxious, withdrawn, unmotivated, or even turns to substances as a way to cope with hopelessness and declining self-confidence. Young adults themselves may become frustrated by their perceived inability to keep pace, craving adulthood but feeling paralyzed by fear, unrealistic expectations, or harsh internalized messages about what it means to “grow up.” It’s a real and complex challenge.

How Teen Therapy Works

The foundation of effective teen therapy is a genuine, authentic relationship between the young person and a caring, skilled psychologist. Without this connection, therapy cannot truly begin. Finding the right therapist—someone who genuinely engages and connects—is crucial and cannot be overstated.

In our work, we help teens and young adults discover their voice, passion, and motivation to build a meaningful life. We also assist in uncovering and working through deeper emotional challenges—such as anxiety or depression—that often block their ability to envision a hopeful future. For example, conditions like ADHD are commonly approached with medication, but the social and emotional components are often overlooked. These are areas where psychotherapy shines, providing real, lasting relief and growth.

Therapy supports teens in gaining crucial self-insights, building confidence, taking responsibility, developing a vision, and creating a realistic, manageable plan to move forward. It often involves learning to tolerate uncertainty and take courageous steps without a perfect roadmap.

Teen Counseling: Treatment and Approaches

Teen therapy usually begins with addressing underlying psychological issues, which vary greatly between individuals (please reach out for specifics). As therapy progresses, focus shifts toward helping teens articulate a broader vision for their lives, breaking it into smaller goals, and developing practical skills to face challenges head-on.

A striking transformation is often the newfound ability to delay gratification and cultivate genuine self-esteem—qualities that may have been elusive at therapy’s start due to emotional distress.

When a teen is hurting, anxious, or lost, they aren’t yet ready to address higher-level goals like self-actualization; they’re still managing more basic emotional needs. Research consistently shows that psychotherapy during adolescence and young adulthood creates profound, lasting positive effects on adult functioning. Moreover, it establishes a trusted therapeutic relationship that teens can return to throughout their lives.

Teen Therapy FAQs

Does your practice accept teenage and young adult therapy patients?

Yes, we do. In fact, it is our area of specialization. We pride ourselves on being very effective with people in this age group experiencing anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and substance use issues in addition to our adult patients.

Our team is seasoned in working with teens and young adults who go through the challenges of experiencing depression and anxiety, who always feel lost. However, we do not see children—anyone under the age of 12 years old or younger than pre-teens.

What can I do as a parent to support my teens or young adults while in therapy? What is my role in their therapy?

Role of a Parent during Adolescent therapy

In the beginning, it is wise for parents to hang back a little and allow their teen or adult child to feel ownership over their psychotherapy. After the initial phone call and completing our in-depth intake form we should have enough information to start. If parents are too involved early on it can stifle their teens ability to feel safe in treatment, or worse, make them suspicious that the therapist is working covertly for their parents agenda.

Give them a sense of ownership during the therapy

Parents, let them feel “this is my person!” We want to honor their confidentiality so we won’t be sharing what happens in therapy, the only exception to this rule is of your kid is under 18 and we are concerned about them being a danger to themselves or another person. In the case of young adults (over 18), they have full adult confidentiality rights and we are unable to share anything at all. We do at times call for family sessions when we believe it would be beneficial to address issues as a family or between parent and child directly. This can be highly impactful/beneficial and something to work towards over time, we rarely do this in the beginning unless you are specifically coming in for family therapy from the outset.

Let them drive their own counseling with their teen therapist

Allowing your teen/young adult to feel ownership over therapy can come in many forms – we suggest parents letting them drive to their own appointments. For teens not driving, its best to drop them off for sessions rather than sit just outside in the waiting room. Don’t pester them for information after the session but allow them to begin opening up to you on their own terms. Just wait, it will happen. You want to allow them to feel like they can open open up in privacy and that you aren’t over their shoulder while in the process or feeding updates to the therapist regularly.

Talk and engage with the teen therapist

We can also provide parent support and guidance as an adjunct to your teens care and provide referrals both within and outside of our group, depending on your needs. We have found that parents who engage in their own therapy simultaneously while their child is in therapy demonstrate significantly greater improvements and in a shorter duration of time.

Can one therapist see both of my teens or young adults?

This is not a great idea and only under the most unusual circumstances would we see individual therapy patients within the same family. We can help you find the right therapist within our clinic and pair your young adult son or daughter with the appropriate psychologist on our team but unfortunately, this cant be the same person. We suggest you show them the various options of psychologists on our team and let them make the call themselves. Creating this alliance with your adult child from the onset is a great idea, it shows you trust their decision making and support their autonomous journey into therapy.

How long does therapy usually last for my teen or young adult child going through mental health concerns?

This can vary depending on a number of factors such as the severity of the issue at hand, insightfulness, willingness, previous therapy experience, and psychosocial factors or stressors involved amongst other issues.

Teen Counseling Number of Sessions

This can vary depending on a number of factors such as severity of issues, insightfulness, willingness/motivation, previous therapy experience, and psychosocial factors or stressors involved. Goals are also an important factor. That being said, a good guesstimate is about eight weeks, give or take.

Once your adult son or daughter is feeling and doing better, our therapist will move to less frequent sessions. We never keep anyone past their expiration date and are happy to watch our patients leave our care and get back into the world on their own. In fact, this is a major source of joy and satisfaction in our work.

We frequently target esteem issues, relationship skills, self-awareness and emotion regulation. We steer clear of creating any kind of relationship of long-term dependency, although we are always here for future support. We are here when you need us but the goal is to get your kid healthy and into the world, operating as their own therapist over time.

Is it really the sooner the better when it comes to mental health care for teens?

The research on this is clear. Yes! Early intervention is strongly correlated with higher functioning and happier young people or emerging adults.

The sooner your teens mental health illness are diagnosed the sooner we can begin providing care. Attention to mental health issues as early as possible is crucial in giving your child the best life possible—free from anxiety and depression. Our team of licensed and professional therapists are committed o providing counseling in a safe space for a counseling experience your teens can trust and rely on.

Service Areas

Orange County