Shawny Sena, LMFT
Therapy for your TEEN
Which version of your teen will greet you today?
You know that big changes during adolescence are normal but . . . holy buckets. In a given week your teen will:
-
Beg you not to go to school because their teachers hate them . . . then have a panic attack about failing because they’re missing so much school.
-
Cry uncontrollably in your arms for an entire afternoon . . . then spend days in their room, “needing space.”
-
Confess they need help . . . then say they don’t deserve help . . . then say they’ve been thinking about hurting themselves . . . then say “just forget it,” because they don’t want to worry you.
-
Defend a PhD-level dissertation about why they need to start hormones or get top surgery ASAP . . . then forget to take out the garbage until the whole house stinks.
You want to support them, but how? Do they need rule relaxation or structure? Privacy or family time? Comfort or tough love?
Here’s the bad news
They can’t tell you, because they don’t know. They are just as confused as you. More than anything, they need you to ride out this storm with them without losing your marbles.
Here’s the good news
I speak teen. I will work with your teen to
-
Develop skills to regulate their emotions
-
Build resilience to help them process their experiences and plan for the future.
-
Rediscover the strengths that make them so awesome.
And we will work in a way that feels intuitive and even fun. Therapy with me is not just another version of school.
Some teens really want therapy to be just for them. Others are overjoyed to have me talk to their caregivers. When I work with you, you will:
-
Learn how to support someone who’s changing every day
-
Explore social and medical options for your transgender/non-binary teen.
-
Practice healthy communication in family sessions.
Ready to get off the roller coaster?
A Note for Teens
What I wrote on this page probably doesn’t feel like it captures your experience. I wrote it for your parents, because parents make the appointments.
When I work with teens, their voices matter most. I can’t wait to get to know you.
PS. It’s super normal to have a lot of questions about therapy, so I’ve made a video answering some of the most frequent questions I get.
Hi, I’m Shawny. So here is a thing that is true about therapy that most adults will not admit . . . therapy is weird! You are expected to talk to a stranger, you are expected to share your most private stuff, and it probably wasn’t your choice about whether to start therapy or maybe even which therapist you got to see. I super get that, and so this is what I do to help the weirdness. 1) You never have to share anything that you don’t want to. You always have the right to say no. 2) I have very strict rules about what I can and can’t share with parents, because your privacy is the most important thing to me. You will always know what those rules are, because I don’t believe in surprises when it comes to your privacy. 3) We don’t actually have talk at all. There are a lot of activities we can do that will probably help you feel a lot better that don’t involve talking at all. So, it’s ok with me if you’re like: “I don’t really feel like talking today, Shawny.” I hope that this answers some of you questions, but if you have other questions, please feel free to talk to an adult in your life. Or you can ask me when we meet. Alright, I’ll see you soon. Bye!