Comprehensive Adolescent and young adult treatment

Are you worried about your teenage or young adult child? Are they skipping school, failing, getting into drugs or spending time with other kids who you have concerns about? They may be trying to tell you something. I approach treatment of young adults and adolescents from the perspective that misbehavior or acting out from teens and young adults is best treated as a family issue. I provide support for parents, family therapy and individual and group therapy for teens and young adults to address these issues in a comprehensive way. Distance-based treatments can be lengthy and expensive, and it is my goal to more fully address the complexity of a family's needs while keeping your kid close to home. Don't send them away, bring them in.

Even if things are going reasonably well for your teenager, late adolescence and young adulthood are pivotal times in our lives when our personalities and minds come into their own. This process often spurns conflict between what was, what is, and what may be (and, frequently between parents and children). It's a time to explore identity, to question assumptions made in childhood and to grapple with the challenges of a gradual shift toward self-sufficiency. This process can be messy, and it can be a very important investment to seek outside support during this most important time, it the benefits of tending to this process can last for generations.

Adults

Sometimes, it takes a long time before we realize that things are not working as they are. Or perhaps there were other priorities that prevented you from seeking therapy? Maybe you've tried it before and it didn't go well? Perhaps you didn't want to disrupt your family life? Whatever your reasons for seeking therapy, I find working with adults to be deeply rewarding and I'm routinely reminded of the deep transformation that can occur at any stage in life. For more on my approach to working with adults, please refer to the "Therapeutic Perspective" page under the "Therapeutic Services" tab.

Couples

Just as every person brings something unique to therapy, so too do they bring something unique to intimate relationships. Every couple is the dynamic product of two minds and the result is a relationship that can never be replicated anywhere else. Whether you're in the middle of an ongoing relational struggle, would like to improve communication, or deepen your connection to your partner or spouse, having a compassionate and keen therapist to work with can be one of the best things you ever do for yourselves.

Families

Family relationships have a way of awakening our psychological worlds. Family dynamics influence our emotional and relational lives significantly and it can be significantly productive to work with your family to shift these dynamics to a healthier, more functional place. Family dynamics form the basis for most other perspectives on psychotherapy and there is scarcely any intervention as powerful as therapy with your family in the room. In addition to family therapy with families of adolescents and young adults, I offer family therapy for families of all constellations.

Tiles at the WWI memorial, Kansas City, MO. Photo credit: Benjamin White