Teen Therapy in Washington, DC

A teenage girl in a green hoodie smiling as she writes at her desk

Therapy for teens who are dealing with a lot, and parents trying to figure out how to help.

Being a teenager has never exactly been simple. Right now, there is a lot to navigate: school pressure, friendships and dating, social media, family expectations, figuring out who you are, and making decisions about a future you're somehow supposed to already be preparing for.

Anxiety, trauma, ADHD or autism, depression, perfectionism, or questions around sexuality and gender can make all of that harder.

And struggling doesn't always look like struggling. A teen can be getting good grades, seeing friends, and looking mostly okay while working incredibly hard to keep it that way.

Therapy gives teens somewhere to figure out what's actually going on.

Schedule a Free Consultation

A mother and her teenage daughter talking together on a park bench

You know something's going on. Getting your teen to talk about it is another story.

Your teenager has become more withdrawn. They're struggling at school, snapping at you over things that never used to bother them, or spending more time alone. You ask what's wrong and get "nothing," "I don't know," or a closed bedroom door.

Or your teen has been trying to tell you what's wrong. They're overwhelmed, anxious, burned out, questioning parts of who they are, or trying to explain that their brain works differently. You want to help, but you're not always sure what helping is supposed to look like.

What a parent sees from the outside isn't always what their teenager is experiencing. Therapy gives us time to understand both.

At Full Self Psychotherapy, we work with teens dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, ADHD and autism, perfectionism, friendships and dating, family relationships, sexuality and gender identity, and the complicated work of figuring out who you are while you're still growing up.

We're LGBTQIA+ affirming and neurodivergent affirming. We aren't approaching a teen's identity or brain as something that needs to be fixed. We're interested in the whole person, including what they're navigating at school, at home, in relationships, and in the larger world around them.

A teenage girl smiling on a sofa while she talks with her therapist

What Therapy With a Teenager Actually Looks Like

Therapy with teenagers starts with the relationship. We don't expect a teen to trust us because we're the therapist. Trust has to develop.

We also don't assume that the reason a parent sought therapy is necessarily the thing their teenager most wants help with. Both perspectives matter, and understanding the gap between them can become an important part of the work.

We want to know your teen beyond whatever brought them through the door. What matters to them? What are they dealing with that other people aren't seeing? Who do they feel close to? What do they wish the adults in their life understood? What would they actually like to be different?

From there, the work takes shape around the person in front of us. Conversation is part of it, but therapy doesn't have to mean sitting across from an adult and talking about your feelings for 45 minutes. We use EMDR, IFS, and somatic therapy, and there is plenty of room for humor, creativity, and practical problem-solving too.

We want therapy to make sense to the teenager who's actually doing it.

What We Help Teens With

Anxiety & Perfectionism

Anxiety can show up as constant worrying, needing to get everything right, avoiding things that feel uncertain, replaying conversations, procrastinating until the last possible minute, or falling apart at home after holding it together all day.
For teens who put enormous pressure on themselves, the outside world may see achievement while they experience very little room to make a mistake.
Trauma & Difficult Experiences

We work with teens who have experienced sexual assault, abuse, loss, bullying, frightening events, difficult relationships, and other experiences that continue to affect how safe they feel in themselves or with other people.
Trauma therapy doesn't require a teenager to spend months recounting every detail of what happened. We can work at a pace that respects what they're ready for.
ADHD, Autism & Neurodivergence

A teenager can be trying incredibly hard and still struggle to start an assignment, remember what they need, shift between tasks, handle sensory input, or make it through a school day without becoming completely depleted.
We help teens understand how their brain works and what actually helps. That can also mean untangling years of believing they're lazy, difficult, too sensitive, or just need to try harder.
We don't treat ADHD or autism as something to overcome.
LGBTQIA+ Identity

Sexuality and gender can be talked about openly here, whether a teen knows exactly how they identify or is still figuring it out.
There may be questions about coming out, family, dating, school, safety, or finding people who get it. There can also be relief, connection, community, excitement, and the experience of understanding yourself in a new way.
Being LGBTQIA+ isn't something we treat. We make room for whatever else is happening in a teen's life without assuming their identity is the problem.
Depression, Self-Esteem & Feeling Unlike Yourself

Your teen seems exhausted all the time. Things they used to care about don't interest them as much. They're pulling away from friends, hard on themselves, irritable, or you have the sense that something is just different.
We want to understand what's underneath the change, not simply get the behavior to stop.
Friends, Dating & Family Relationships

Friendships can feel enormous during adolescence. Rejection can too. So can first relationships, breakups, conflict at home, changing family dynamics, and wanting more independence from the same people you still rely on.
Therapy gives teens somewhere to talk about those relationships without having to take care of anyone else's reaction to what they say.

Book a Free Consultation

A mother and her teenage daughter talking at the kitchen table at home

Parents Are Part of the Treatment

When we work with a teenager, we work with their parents too.

We hold regular parent meetings as part of teen therapy. You know your teen in ways that we don't, and your perspective helps us understand what life looks like outside our office: what you're noticing at home, what's gotten better, where you're still concerned, and what may not be coming up in individual sessions.

These meetings are also for you.

Raising a teenager who is struggling can leave you questioning everything. Do I push here or back off? Is this normal teenage behavior or something I should be worried about? Am I helping when I check in, or making my teen less likely to talk to me?

We can think through those moments together and help you develop concrete ways to support your teen. We want you to understand the work we're doing and feel more confident about what you can do at home.

Your teen still needs privacy. We don't give parents a play-by-play of sessions. We talk about general themes and what will help you support the work while protecting the space your teen needs to be honest with their therapist.

Safety is different. If we're concerned that your teen may seriously hurt themselves or someone else, we'll involve you directly and make sure you have the information you need.

Teen therapy works best when the teenager has a relationship with their therapist that feels like their own and their parents are meaningfully part of the process.

How We Work With Teens

We use several approaches at Full Self Psychotherapy. What we use, and how we use it, depends on the teen.

EMDR

An experience can be over and still feel very present. EMDR helps us work with trauma, bullying, rejection, sexual assault, frightening experiences, and memories that continue to bring up strong reactions.
It also gives teens a way to process difficult experiences without having to spend every session retelling the entire story.
Learn More About EMDR
Internal Family Systems (IFS)

You can desperately want more independence and still need your parents. Care enormously about school and be unable to start the assignment. Want friends and also desperately want everyone to leave you alone.
IFS is particularly useful for those internal conflicts. Instead of deciding one side is irrational or needs to go away, we get curious about why both reactions are there in the first place.
Learn More About IFS
Somatic Therapy

A teen may not realize how overwhelmed they've become until they're already shut down, panicking, furious, or completely exhausted.
Somatic therapy brings the body into the work. Teens learn to recognize their own signals earlier and get a better sense of what helps when their nervous system is overloaded.
Learn More About Somatic Therapy
Therapy Intensives

Therapy intensives can be a game changer. Instead of stopping after 45 minutes, we can work together for 90 minutes, several hours, a full day, or even multiple days.
That gives us time to really get into the work and stay there, using EMDR, IFS, and somatic therapy without having to stop just as something important is happening. For the right teen and the right kind of work, that extra time can help therapy move more quickly and go deeper.
Learn More About Therapy Intensives

Meet Our Teen Therapists

Finding the right therapist matters with any kind of therapy. With teenagers, it can make or break whether they actually want to come back.

Brendan O'Connell, LMSW, LGSW

Teen & Adult Trauma Therapist

Brendan works with teens navigating anxiety, trauma, depression, neurodivergence, relationships, and self-worth. He integrates EMDR, IFS, and Somatic Experiencing into his work. Brendan is warm, easy to talk to, and genuinely interested in getting to know the person in front of him. He takes teens seriously without making therapy feel overly clinical or formal, which can make it easier to talk about things that aren't always easy to put into words.

Meet Brendan Book a Free 20-Minute Consultation with Brendan
Naomi Pomerantz, LICSW, LCSW-C

Teen & Adult Therapist

Naomi works with teens and young adults, including autistic and ADHD clients and LGBTQIA+ teens. She integrates EMDR, IFS, and DBT and adapts the work to what each client actually needs. Naomi brings a lot of warmth and compassion to the room. She has a way of helping teens feel understood without making them feel analyzed, and she's especially thoughtful about helping young people understand themselves without treating difference as something that needs to be corrected.

Meet Naomi Book a Free 20-Minute Consultation with Naomi

A Note for Teens

If your parent sent you this page, hi.

You don't need to show up knowing what you're supposed to talk about. We're also not going to assume your parents' version of what's happening is the whole story. We want to hear your version. What feels hard? What's actually bothering you? What do you wish people would stop worrying about? What do you wish they understood better? We'll figure out together what would actually make therapy useful to you.

From the blog

Frequently Asked Questions

When should a teenager see a therapist?

There isn't a specific threshold a teenager has to cross before therapy makes sense. A change in mood, pulling away from friends or family, anxiety, trouble at school, difficulty sleeping, increased conflict, or simply not seeming like themselves can all be reasons to check in.

You also don't need to know exactly what's wrong before reaching out. Part of our job is helping you and your teen understand what's going on and whether therapy could be useful.

What if my teenager doesn't want to go to therapy?

Being told by your parents that you're going to talk to a stranger about your feelings isn't necessarily an exciting proposition.

We don't need your teenager to love the idea of therapy before they walk through the door. We'll start by getting to know them and hearing what they think about why they're there. Therapy eventually has to feel useful to the teen too.

Will you tell me what my teenager says in therapy?

Not everything. Your teen needs enough privacy to be honest with their therapist.

We'll talk with both of you at the beginning about how confidentiality works so everyone knows what to expect. Parent meetings can include general themes, how treatment is going, and ways you can support the work without us repeating everything your teenager has said in session. If there's a serious safety concern, we'll involve you.

How involved will I be as a parent?

Pretty involved. Regular parent meetings are part of how we work with teens, roughly once a month. Over time, they might become less frequent. These meetings give us a fuller picture of what's happening and give you a place to ask questions, understand what we're working on, and get concrete guidance for supporting your teen between sessions. We'll balance that involvement with your teenager's need for privacy and independence.

How do I find a good therapist for my teen?

Experience working with adolescents matters, but the relationship matters too. Your teen needs someone they can eventually trust and feel comfortable being honest with. We pay close attention to fit when matching teens with our therapists, including what your teen is dealing with, their personality, and the kind of person they're likely to connect with.

Do you work with LGBTQIA+ teens?

Yes. Full Self Psychotherapy is LGBTQIA+ affirming. Sexuality and gender can be talked about openly without assuming either is something that needs to change.

Do you work with teens with ADHD or autism?

Yes. We work with neurodivergent teens and adapt therapy to how each person communicates, processes information, and engages best. A formal diagnosis isn't required.

The Full Self Psychotherapy team laughing together outdoors in Washington, DC

Finding the Right Therapist for Your Teen

A teenager doesn't need a therapist who's particularly good at getting teenagers to talk. They need someone they eventually decide is worth talking to.

Several of our therapists work with teens and bring different personalities, specialties, and ways of working. During your consultation, we'll learn more about what's been happening and about your teenager as a person, not just a list of symptoms, so we can think carefully about who on our team might click with them.

We offer teen therapy in person at our Dupont Circle office in Washington, DC, as well as virtual therapy for clients located in the states where our clinicians are licensed.

Schedule a Free Consultation