In-person therapy offers teens a separate space from home or school to talk about what’s really going on with their mental health
Home, school, home, school—this is often the setup for many teens, with the occasional addition of extracurricular activities. Coming to therapy in person gets teens out of the house and away from school and into a kind of third space where they can reflect on their lives and mental health elsewhere. Parents, friends, relatives, and teachers are all great resources, but one of the advantages of having a therapist for teens is that they exist outside of an adolescent’s daily life.
Therapists can be quite neutral, which means worries about coming off a certain way (so important to teens!) can be grappled with in isolation from more complicated home and social dynamics. Therapy is separate and private, which can be the very thing that allows teens the freedom to talk about what’s really going on with their mental health challenges, including self-harm and suicidal ideation, struggles with low self-esteem and body issues, ADHD, substance abuse, eating disorders, and peer pressure. While this can happen remotely, being together in person rather than online reinforces this separateness, leading to more open discussions.