For teens, it is a time of change and opportunity. We know from new research that the brain has great plasticity here. Widening social circles, new activities and relationships, hormones — all of that can throw things off balance, as can adjusting to new roles, working your way from within the family to the larger world of the community, and confronting the daunting prospects of an unknown future. This is a time of great possibility, but often accompanied by the instability and confusion of transition. There can be issues of emotional volatility, disrupted family relations, drugs or alcohol, motivation, future academic and vocational planning and preparation, aggression or withdrawal, peer and romantic relationships, sexual activity, gender identity, among others. One of the important aspects of young adult/teen/ older child treatment is confidentiality. You and your parents need to know that the young person has protected privacy in treatment. Parents will be informed in cases of significant risk or danger, and, with the young person’s approval, parents may be brought into the specifics of what is going on: but sometimes, they are not. Sometimes, a young person needs a protected space to explore, to know that they can, together with the therapist, examine and consider what is right for them and what they want for themselves, furthering the development of their own individual identity, as distinct from their parents or family. That privacy must be respected.
