My Approach to Counselling Teens and Their Parents

My therapy approach to counselling teens and their parents is based on the Satir Model of Brief Therapy first developed by Virginia Satir (1916 – 1988). The Satir Model focuses on helping your teen to take responsibility for his or her feelings, thoughts, hopes, and deeper needs.

I am committed to providing quality therapy to teens and helping them take responsibility for what they are going through in their lives and the choices they are making. I help them realize their own unique potential for healthier and positive relationships with parents, teachers and peers..

By working with all aspects and levels of a person I believe that change is always possible and that therapy is a place to facilitate transformation for you, your teen, and your family.

What You Can Expect

1. FREE Phone Consultation

When you give me a call for your free 10-minute consultation, together, we can look at what your goals are for your teenager and your parent teen relationship. You will get a sense of who I am and how therapy can be of benefit to you, your teen and your family.

My approach when counselling teens allows me to work with adolescents individually. At other times I may involve you, your spouse/partner, or other family members in the therapy process as well. This can be discussed and decided upon in our initial phone consultation and depends on what you hope to gain from therapy.

If we feel that working together would be beneficial then we can set up an appointment to meet. We can decide whether to start therapy with the family as a whole or only with certain family members (either your teen, or you and your partner).

2. First session

We will book an initial 90-minute session. During the initial session we can get a good understanding of the goals and areas of change that you and your teen want to see happen. Usually changes in perceptions, feelings, expectations, and even behaviours begin to happen within this first session.

How I Provide Teen Therapy

Therapy for teens takes time and patience. I look beneath problem behaviours and use my skills to listen, connect, and guide them to understand who they are and what they are doing. I help teens see the power of taking responsibility for their actions and explore options for healthier choices. Adolescence is a time of turbulence both externally and internally. During therapy with a troubled teen I tap into his or her inner, and at times tempestuous world of thoughts, hopes, and feelings is where I focus to bring about understanding and change.

J.R. – former teenager, Vancouver

During my grade 11 and 12 years I struggled with my confidence level. The confusion, frustration, and anxiety I was feeling were stressing me out. Working with Klaus gave me a safe and secure place to reflect on myself. He helped me to look at and clear up what was holding me back in my life. I could then make the changes to move forward in a more positive and confident way. I feel much better about myself now and where I’m heading with my life.

Benefits of Counselling for Your Teen

In Therapy, your teen and I will work towards:

• getting to know what is going on internally so that your teenager can take charge of making positive life decisions around family, school, peers, etc.
• letting go of any fears around accepting thoughts and feelings that may be causing problems in his or her life or within your family
• realizing that change is possible regardless of what problems are experienced
• seeing that taking more responsibility in their life actually leads to more freedom
• experiencing the power of understanding and accepting who he/she is so that others won’t take advantage of him or her.
• feeling hopeful for a more positive future getting what he or she really wants

D. D. – former teenager, Vancouver

When I first started working with Klaus I had mental stress, home stress, and relationship stress. All that stress! I felt like I was going to explode or even worse, just blow up on someone with my anger and then feel bad about it afterwards. Working with Klaus helped me put things in perspective. He helped me look at myself and my situation from a deeper and more mature level. He guided me to look at what I was denying and face the truth in a firm but compassionate way. I began to let go of unhappy patterns in my life and tried new ones that brought me greater peace and joy. In time, I noticed I could take more control of my life which felt great. Through the counselling process I grew up and my relationships with people around me improved. Life is never perfect but I sure feel better about the way I can handle things now. From the therapy experience I gained more self-respect and confidence as a person.

As a parent, you may have a difficult time trying to understand, help, and connect to your teenage son or daughter. I work to help you regain confidence as a parent and to feel in charge when you find yourself in difficult situations with your teenager. Together we work to change negative attitudes, stress, and hopelessness and create a more caring and nurturing relationship for you and your family.

How I Provide Therapy to Help You Parent
Your Teen

Benefits for you as a parent of a teen

During Family Counselling We Can:

• transform patterns of intense conflict into respectful interactions
• empower you to make choices that match your integrity and not your emotional reactivity
• take charge and get control of your own feelings of fear, anger, and anxiety so you can respond to your adolescent in clear and appropriate ways
• experience yourself as resourceful and creative when faced with difficult situations with your teen
• develop appropriate and healthy boundaries between you and your teenager

How I Provide Therapy for Families

Your family can be seen as a system of different relationship patterns in that each family member has a unique relationship with one another. Together in family counselling we work to understand how each of you has your own unique way of processing your environment and how this influences the way you relate to other family members. We can then change hurtful and harmful patterns into ways of relating that gives your family and its members a sense mutual respect. We can develop ways to be more open and honest and create a sense of belonging.

The Benefits of Family Counselling

Together we can:

• change hurtful patterns in communication into ways of talking to one another that is respectful
• create an atmosphere that will allow family members to feel safe to share personal needs with each other in a more truthful manner
• be able to connect and feel supported by one another
• bring out the strengths of each family member
• increase a sense of acceptance and belonging

If your teen or family could use counselling, please call for your free 10-minute consultation at 604-786-0709.

Klaus Klein, MA, RCC
Phone: 604-786-0709
E-mail: Klaus@kdkcounselling.com

KDK Counselling services for the Burnaby area.