Have you ever assigned words like rocky, turbulent, and tough to “the teen years”? That’s because they are! Teens tend to get a bad rap and feel misunderstood at a time of life when they are really going through the wringer. It is helpful at any age to have people in your life who understand what you’re going through, and this is particularly true for teens.
Why Is Being a Teen Difficult?
Adolescence brings about tremendous physical growth coupled with intense mental changes for the person going through it. It’s good combined with bad, and sometimes their bodies and brains feel out of control. Teens can begin to think more abstractly and use improved reasoning skills, which means they also start to develop their own beliefs and that can lead to some conflict at home if parents disagree. Teens get more autonomy along with more responsibility at a time when impulsivity is high. When your brain and body are going through so much, it is natural to focus on yourself. And for many non-teenagers, this can seem like selfishness. In a sense, it is – afterall, the teen brain is self-centered by nature as it does all of the work to develop into an adult brain. Teens can’t always see that their emotions or behaviors ripple out to the people around them, because they have yet to develop that area of emotional intelligence.
And more sophisticated emotions fire up, too! In the new Pixar movie Inside Out 2, the main character – who is now a teen – has a bunch of new emotional experiences. The movie “deals with complicated growing pains and all the insecurities that go along with it—especially when it comes to friendships, appearance, and social status” (West-Rosethanl, 2024.) A fuller range of emotions is part of healthy development, but it can take a while for them to settle in. In the meantime, teens tend to frequently be dysregulated.
On screen and in real life, being a teen is all about personal identity development, social exploration, academic growth, and so many firsts. For many people, they may easily end up feeling like they’re “the only one”. For some, that can also lead to more intense feelings of isolation, anxiety, or depression. Adolescence is also the most common time for mental illness to emerge. Suffice to say, teens are not acting difficult; it really is difficult.
Why is Raising a Teen Challenging?
Raising a teen can sting as parents (and other household members) are an easy target for big emotions that come out sideways as undesirable words or actions, often unintentionally hurting the other person. According to the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, “thinking about the effects of actions requires insight, which generally comes from a fully-connected frontal lobe…It takes more effort on [a teen’s] brain’s part to think through consequences” since their frontal lobe is not fully online (2024.) This can all be confusing for parents, particularly if their now-sassy teen was a very affectionate child or shared everything on their mind in their younger years but is somewhat distant now. We hear over and over again from amazing parents who are desperate to help but struggle to really connect with their teens. This is frequently due to attempts at discipline or a parent’s well-meaning concern that actually gets in the way of understanding what the teen is going through. In short, it is hard to separate parental love and responsibility from empathizing with the teen’s experience. It is also important to note that some teens really don’t feel or genuinely aren’t safe telling parents what they think and feel – or who they are in terms of identity.
In all cases, it is normal when teens prefer to talk to friends or peers – or even a therapist – instead of their parents about their daily lives and topics that don’t quite feel comfortable to them yet. This is an expected stage of human development. When parents allow teens to have some privacy and choice in what to share and when while remaining open, patient, and curious, teens often start to open up as the years go by and become closer to their parents again. In the meantime, it can be helpful to give teens some outside professional support for mental health issues.
Group Therapy: Common Ground for Teenagers
Here at Sentier, we can relate to the difficulties for both teens and parents. We also love the work of adolescence and
recognize how complex it is to be a teenager. We know how valuable it is for teens to have other people who get it and no one gets it better than other people who are going through it! Teen groups are intentional spaces to receive peer support which can lead to personal growth. They can be a space where teens find comfort, understanding, and connection from peers facing similar realities and mental health concerns. Being with your peers in a supportive environment while working with a therapist together is even better in many cases and can be a powerful tool for individual and social development. That is why we offer group therapy as a therapeutic approach specifically suited for teens.
Who Leads Groups?
Broadly speaking, teen groups can be led by peers or facilitated by a group leader. Groups may take place at schools, community centers, places of worship, and medical and therapy clinics. The benefit of joining a group at a therapy clinic is that the groups are facilitated by a trained and licensed clinician with a specialty in work with adolescents with a wide range of mental health conditions. Therapists are familiar with common teen issues such as peer pressure, family conflicts, and academic stressors. Therapists can also screen for burgeoning symptoms of mental health challenges in the group setting. Finally, therapists can help link individuals with additional resources if needed to support their individual wellbeing and personal growth.
What Are Groups About?
Some teen therapy groups are general while others are topic-specific, such as a group focused on coping skills for anxiety or a group about grief and loss. Still others groups zero in on identity factors for folks from similar backgrounds. No matter the topic, the common ground of being teens at the same time in history can be enough to create bonds with peers.
Types of Groups
At Sentier, we offer some specific groups for teens based on many different needs. Let’s demystify group therapy a bit by looking at four different types of groups: psychoeducation, skills, process, and support groups.
- Psychoeducation groups provide group members with information about a topic so that they can better understand and manage barriers in their lives or reduce symptoms. In the Teen Calm group at Sentier, members learn about the neurobiology of anxiety, what it feels like for them, and how to function more effectively with a calmer brain and body.
- Skills groups, such as Sentier’s Teen Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills group, aim to help group members with well-researched and effective skillbuilding using different therapy activities. Group members learn and practice skills in the group setting as well as between sessions.
- Process groups are generally the most similar to individual therapy in that they are often very focused on emotions. Process groups go more deeply into each group member’s individual experience of mental health than other types of groups. Our Gaming Group is cool because it helps teens work through their own emotions via a character in the game which is a unique kind of therapy activity.
- Support groups such as our Teen LGBTQIA+ Support Group, provide a less structured environment than other groups. Discussion topics and therapy activities are often chosen by the facilitator and the group members together, and the primary intention is to build community around a specific identity or need for support.
You can read more about various group therapy formats offered at Sentier, including psychoeducational groups, skills groups, and process groups, in this blog from Sentier’s Care Coordinator.
What Happens During a Group Session at Sentier?
A group therapist is in the room at every type of Sentier group to be sure everyone has a chance to participate and to provide some structure. Group therapists create an outline for each meeting of the group and, depending on the type of group, the outline includes a plan that will work toward group member goals. Sometimes this includes sharing information or teaching about specific skills and therapy activities. Therapists hold space for teens to check in, process what’s been going on with each group member, and provide support to one another. It is common to have a balance between group members sharing about themselves and the mental health professional providing resources.
Why Not Just Individual or Family Therapy for Teens?
Regardless of age, connection with others is a key component to mental health. Teens are naturally focused on themselves while also experiencing a heightened sense of care about what peers think. One of the significant advantages of group therapy for teenagers, therefore, is the opportunity to give and receive feedback from multiple points of view. Group therapy provides opportunities to talk with peers about important topics that may not otherwise be part of their normal discourse at school or while hanging out with friends. Things that may feel “off limits” elsewhere are usually ok to talk about in group. 
Some group members crave a chance to talk with other teens and even make friends there. It is ok to be a quiet group member, too! Group therapy is a wonderful place to practice new strategies in a controlled therapy setting with a therapist to help along the way. In individual therapy sessions, you can talk about making friends, for example, but it’s hard to actually do so. On the other hand, group therapy is like a lab for practicing social skills and communication skills. Therapists can shape group therapy sessions so that teens are practicing effective interpersonal skills including open and assertive communication, conflict resolution, and taking others’ perspectives, all of which can help teens build healthy relationships inside and outside of the group. Group members can get to know one another, share personal information and give advice to one another, and ask questions of the therapist.
The Power of Group
Group therapy for teens offers a safe environment where teens can be real and share their experiences, receive support from a professional, and learn valuable life skills in the company of peers who get what it’s like to be a teen today. It is so powerful to know you are not alone!
Blog written by Sentier therapist Sarah Souder Johnson, MEd, LPCC.
Sources:
Buczynski, Ruth. “How Teenager’s Brains Are Different – a Neuroscience Approach.” NICABM, 16 Mar. 2010, www.nicabm.com/your-teenagers-brain-is-different/. Accessed 22 June 2024.
West and Rosenthal. “What Is Ennui?—One of the Newest Emotions Kids Will Learn about in “inside out 2.”” Parents, www.parents.com/meet-the-new-emotions-from-inside-out-2-8610430#:~:text=Welcome%20Envy%20(Ayo%20Edebiri)%2C. Accessed 22 June 2024.
