Parenting Teenagers

Adolescence is a time of tremendous emotional upheaval for young people, and parents of adolescents can find themselves preoccupied with worry. Adolescents, by their nature, can be interested in risk taking behaviours, and in separating themselves from their families in ways which can feel drastic to their parents. 

Adolescence is also a particularly crucial time for a child’s mental health – many people who report emotional and behavioural difficulties in later life state that the onset of these problems occurred during their adolescence. However, we also know that it can be very difficult for an adolescent to engage with therapeutic help, and so often parents of adolescents can feel ill-equipped to manage confusing or worrying behaviours in their teenage child, when the child is reluctant or unable to access help themselves.