trauma therapy for teens
Helping Teens Heal, Reconnect, and Build Resilience
a supportive Space
The teenage years can be full of change and discovery – but they can also bring pressure, confusion, and emotional ups and downs. When a teen experiences trauma, those challenges can become more difficult. At Resilient Families, we offer a supportive, nonjudgmental space where teens can begin to process their experiences, regain confidence, and rebuild a sense of safety, agency and mastery in their lives.
Teen Trauma
Trauma can look different for every teen. It might stem from a single event—such as an accident, loss, or assault—or from ongoing stressors like bullying, online victimization, medical trauma, family transition or conflict. These events can be something the teen experiences directly, something they see or something they hear about. Sometimes the signs of trauma are clear, and other times they show up subtly through changes in behavior or mood.
Common signs may include:
- Anxiety, sadness, or irritability
- Feeling numb
- Difficulty concentrating
- Trouble sleeping
- Body complaints or pain
- Avoiding people or places that remind them of the trauma
- Being hyperalert
- Self-blame, guilt, or low self-esteem
- Risk-taking, self-harm, or substance use
- Relationship challenges & social withdrawal
- Changes in school performance
Although these symptoms can be concerning, they are often the teen’s way of coping with overwhelming experiences.
It is so important for teens to receive support after trauma because early intervention helps them get back on track socially, emotionally, and academically. When trauma goes unaddressed, it can interfere with learning, relationships, and mental health. Therapy helps teens learn to manage emotions, strengthen relationships, and move forward with greater resilience and self-understanding.
We honor each teen’s story and developmental stage. We focus on building trust and safety first – because healing starts with connection.
All of our appointments are delivered via telehealth.
Our Approach To Healing
Our therapists create a space where teens feel seen, heard, and respected. We take time to build trust first – because healing starts with connection. We have special expertise in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the gold standard trauma treatment for teens and their caregivers. We also integrate other evidence based strategies as needed to best support your child and family.
Each therapy plan is tailored to the teen’s unique needs, using developmentally appropriate, evidence-based methods such as:
Our goal is to help your teen feel empowered, understood, and ready to take steps toward healing.
What is Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)?
TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment for helping children, teens, and their families heal from trauma. TF-CBT is especially helpful after experiencing a stressful life event such as traumatic grief and loss, medical trauma, accidents, community violence, natural disaster, or child abuse and neglect.
Teen and caregivers learn practical skills for:
- Managing strong emotions like fear, sadness, or anger
- Understanding how trauma can affect thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
- Processing difficult memories in a safe, supported way
- Building healthy communication and trust within their family
TF-CBT works! Research show that TF-CBT:
- Reduces teens’ posttraumatic stress symptoms
- Improves teens’ mental health (anxiety, depression)
- Reduces teens’ behavior problems
- Builds parent’s ability to support the teen around the trauma
- Promotes teen and family resilience
Why Families Choose Resilient Families
- Licensed clinicians with deep expertise in trauma-informed care for teens and their caregivers
- Short-term, evidence-based approaches that promote healing and resilience
- Deep respect for each teen and family’s strength, story, and experience
- We actively involve caregivers throughout the whole process
- Deep expertise in adolescent development and resilience
- Deep expertise in adolescent development and resilience
- We offer convenient and secure telehealth sessions.
Take the Next Step
If your teen has experienced trauma, healing is possible – and help is available. With the right support, teens can move beyond fear and pain toward confidence, connection, and hope for the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
We are actively involving parents in all aspects of treatment. We meet with parents both individually and/or together with their teen as is most helpful. Parents also learn and try out new strategies in between sessions.
We collaboratively set individualized teen and family goals. We regularly check in with teens and parents to assess and share progress towards goals. We also monitor progress through established assessment surveys and observation of behavior.