Adolescent
Psychotherapy
Adolescence is a period of intense reorganisation — of body, identity and relationships. A teenager needs a space of their own, where they can speak without being judged.
What adolescent therapy is
A teenager is in a developmental phase whose central task is forming an identity and gradually becoming autonomous from the family. By its nature this produces tension: the same young person who demands independence also needs safety.
Therapy provides a third space, outside home and outside school, where a teenager can think out loud without consequences. Depending on what is being asked, the work draws on cognitive–behavioural tools for managing anxiety, a systemic view for relationships, and often creative techniques when words get stuck.
When it helps
- Anxiety, panic attacks, intense worry about performance or the future.
- Low mood, withdrawal from friends and activities, loss of interest.
- Intense conflict at home, or the sense that "nobody understands".
- Questions of identity, body image and self-esteem.
- Difficulties in the relationship with food and with body image.
- Bullying, exclusion or difficulties with peers — online as well as offline.
- School refusal or a drop in performance that cognitive ability does not explain.
- Reactions to family change: parental separation, bereavement, moving house.
The confidentiality framework
Without confidentiality there is no adolescent therapy. A teenager has to know that what they say will not be reported to their parents — otherwise, quite simply, they will not say it.
The framework is set out clearly and in front of everyone, from the first meeting: parents are told the direction of the work and what they need in order to support their child, not the content of the conversations. The single exception is serious risk to the safety of the young person or of others — stated explicitly at the outset, so that it can never come as a surprise.
At a glance
- ForTeenagers and young adults
- Duration50 minutes per session
- SettingAt the practice in Ilioupoli, or online
- AppointmentsBy phone or through the contact form
- ConfidentialityContent stays with the teenager; the framework is set from the start
Frequently asked questions
Start by coming yourself. Parent counselling is often where the work begins, and it changes the context around the young person even when they never walk through the door. Forcing attendance rarely produces therapy.
No — and that is what makes the work possible. You will be told the direction of the work and anything that concerns your child's safety. Everything else stays in the room.
Yes, at an agreed frequency and with the young person's knowledge. Adolescent therapy works best when parents are informed allies rather than an audience or an authority to be reported to.
Often very much so — many young people find it easier to speak from their own room. What matters is a quiet space where they will not be overheard.