“Well, Mom, today was just a really tough day. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of school work that I’ve had. And this coupled with the added stress of growing up in 2020, navigating changes and technology, I am feeling like I do not quite know how to deal with my emotions. I would love for us to sit down and find some new coping mechanisms so that I can have the greater self-awareness to respond more appropriately, rather than letting an uncomfortable emotion control my behavior.”

Wouldn’t it be great if the youngest members in our family communicated like this with us!

Well, they don’t. And guess what, they aren’t supposed to!

This is not how you communicated as a child or teenager and so we can’t expect the current youngest generation to. Children and teenagers need space to be able to put language to what they are experiencing. They communicate differently and that’s okay.

We truly believe that every parent is doing the best that they can with the tools and resources they have, but sometimes we need a little bit of extra help. Our job is to help your children put some language to what they are experiencing and gain some extra tools to be able to manage difficult emotions and problematic behaviors.

If your family has hit a bump in the road or are in crisis and you're looking for an adolescent IOP program near you, we want to be here to help you gain more tools and get back on track. Give us a call today so we can get you back on track to having fun at family dinners and having after school time be stress-free!

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