It would be nice if there was an easily accessible and reliable list containing all the names of therapists in your area who are skilled at working with adolescents. Maybe one day this magical yet elusive “list” will become a reality. For the time being, however, finding the right therapist for your teen can be a tedious undertaking. From insurance limitations, financial costs, to persuading your teen to even get help in the first place, there are many barriers to accessing quality adolescent therapy. Finding the right therapist for your teen is just another barrier parents must navigate. As an adolescent psychologist, I’ve observed countless parents struggle to find the right therapeutic fit for their teen. With the hope of minimizing this struggle, I outline a few points to consider when searching for an adolescent therapist.
Ask people ‘in the know’
Start by consulting with people in your community who routinely refer adolescents to therapy. Two great examples of such professionals are pediatricians and school guidance counselors. Your pediatrician or school guidance counselor should at minimum be familiar with adolescent therapists in the community. It is not uncommon for pediatricians to provide the family with a mere “referral list” containing a large number of mental health providers in your community. While this is a good start, I recommend directly asking your pediatrician to identify specific therapists who are skilled at and specialize in working with adolescents. If you have no luck consulting with professionals in your community, online therapist directories make for a good start as well (e.g., psychologytoday.com). Such directories have user friendly search tools that allow the consumer to narrow down their search and find the most optimal fit.
If possible, find a specialist
Adolescence is a unique developmental period which often translates to a unique set of therapeutic needs. This means that providing therapy services to adolescents is a skillset that requires specialized training. Once you have narrowed down your search and are armed with a few names, consult their website and see if the prospective therapist identifies adolescent mental health as a specialty area of theirs. With that said, specialization in adolescent therapy should not be a dealbreaker when vetting a prospective therapist. Although it certainly can be comforting to know that your teen is seeing a specialist, there are many therapists, specialists or not, who are skilled in working with teens.
Date around
If you have the time and/or resources, I recommend trying out a few therapists to ensure you find the best fit. Oftentimes therapists will offer a free 10-15 minute phone consultation. As you talk to different therapists, ask yourself, “is this someone who my teen would connect with?” While clinical skills and experience are important qualities in therapists, the therapeutic relationship is paramount. Before any therapist can utilize their well-honed clinical skills, an authentic connection with the teen must first be in place. Research has time and time again shown this “therapeutic connection” to be one of the strongest predictors of treatment success.
Let your teen have a voice
Finally, ensure your teen has a say and a sense of control over the search process. Feel free to elicit preferences from your teen whether it be therapist gender, therapy platform (virtual versus. in person), etc. I have found that even if it’s not the teen’s idea to start therapy, having a voice in the search process can promote more buy-in from your teen.
About the author:
Dr. Sam Marzouk is a clinical child psychologist and founder of Promethean Psychology (www.prometheanpsychology.com) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Sam specializes in working with adolescent males and has a secondary specialization in both pediatric behavioral sleep medicine and youth diabetes psychology.
Twitter: @DrSamPsych1
Facebook: @PrometheanPsych
YouTube: Promethean Psychology