About Katy Teen & Family Counseling
Providing Specialized & Innovative Counseling Services to Teens, Young Adults, and Families:
Katy Texas & Houston
Table of Contents
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Increasing Need for Teen, Young Adult, & Family Therapy
The start of Katy Teen & Family Counseling originated out of observing the increasing emotional and behavioral challenges teens and young adults in our community have been experiencing. Teen depression has increased by 59% since 2007. Anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, and other struggles have also seen an increase. These struggles often have an impact on the family as well.
As specialists in teen, young adult, and family therapy, we are uniquely situated to help your teen, young adult, and family tackle these struggles together. We can help you restore hope, happiness, and connected family relationships!
What Makes Katy Teen & Family Counseling Unique?
At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we have place emphasis on certain criteria aimed at helping to increase your teen, young adult, and families success:
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We have created a specialty practice with therapists who specialize in working with teens, young adults, and families.
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We were intentional on the design of our environment to make it warm, welcoming, and comfortable.
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We place a high value on customer service and go above and beyond to meet your needs both in and between sessions.
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When you come to Katy Teen & Family Counseling, our therapists are happy to see you and will work to help you feel comfortable and at home.
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We aim to help you meet your goals in the shortest amount of time possible that will result in long lasting changes.
We value specialized clinical care as well as ensuring that you feel comfortable, welcomed, and valued. As a result, we have implemented specific elements into our practice. Our office environment, our approach to customer service, and our therapeutic approach with teens, young adults, and families will help increase your teen, young adult, and family's success.
Led by an Expert & Specialist in Teen & Family Counseling
The owner and Lead Clinician at Katy Teen & Family Counseling is a specialist and leader in the field of adolescent mental health. From the start of his college education, he knew that he wanted to specialize in teen counseling and family therapy and has done so since the start of his career in 2003. As the owner and Lead Clinician at Katy Teen & Family Counseling, he is committed to only bringing on those counselors who have experience working with teens, young adults, and families.
Our Counselors Specialize in Teen Therapy, Counseling for Young Adults, & Family Counseling
Another element that makes Katy Teen & Family Counseling unique, is our focus on serving teens, young adults, and families. Most practices are general in nature. They will work with teens but also work with elderly, children, or other groups. This generalist model provides the therapist a wide variety of people to serve and many therapists enjoy this model.
At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we have specifically narrowed our scope with a focus on teens, young adults (older teens), and families. This is our area of expertise. We specialize in this area.
And when we have a practice with a focus on teens, young adults, and families, it enables us to remain laser focused on those current emotional, behavioral, and social issues that impact our teens, young adults, and families today. This allows us to be more effective in helping teens, young adults, and families meet their goals.
There are few practices and therapists that work with teens. There are fewer still that specialize in working with teens, young adults, and families. We have 50+ years of combined experience in providing counseling and therapeutic services to teens, young adults, and families.
We Are Committed & Devoted to Client Care
At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, being committed and devoted to client care starts with the first phone call. We will often answer right away. If we are in session, you will always get a call back the same day. If the first phone call is on a weekend, you will hear from us first thing Monday morning.
There are times, for one reason or another, someone inquiring into our services are not able to work with us. Whether that is because:
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They need a therapist who takes insurance
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They were seeking services for their young children
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Seeking psychological testing
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Seeking a psychiatrist to prescribe medication
Whatever the reason -- we will take the time to provide you with referrals, resources, and help. We would love to work with everyone. But in those times we are not able to, we are equally committed to help get you connected to the resources you need so that you can start your healing journey!
Our experience over the years has taught us how important it is to also be available to our current clients, in between sessions. Being committed and devoted to client care means that not only do we provide specialized therapy in our sessions, but we also provide specialized customer service in between sessions.
Our therapists will respond the same day, Monday through Friday, to any questions, concerns, or needs that arise in between sessions. On weekends, you will receive a response the following Monday.
Warm, Comfortable, & Professional Yet Relaxed Environment
At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we understand that coming to therapy, at first, can feel a little awkward (maybe an understatement?). As a result, we work to help you feel welcomed and comfortable in our office.
We were intentional with the design and decoration of the office. We experience the world through each of our senses. In creating a warm, comfortable, and inviting office, we included elements that incorporate each of our senses:
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Sight: We decorated the walls with art work that brings warmth and adds a little class and style.
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Taste: We have drinks and snacks to help provide a home like feeling while you are here.
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Smell: We use "wallflowers" so that the spaces you are in have a pleasing, aromatic smell.
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Hearing: We stream music in the waiting area that is calming and relaxing (but also won't put you to sleep and sometimes, yes, it will be 80's music!).
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Touch: We have an iRest massage chair to sooth those stressed and tense muscles that can come from dealing with life stressors. The chair provides:
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A fully body massage
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A heat function
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Ionic air
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Voice activation and control
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Bluetooth to listen to your favorite music, book, or relaxing sounds
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Parents who are waiting should be able to gain some therapeutic benefit from their wait. The massage chair will help you to relax and feel rejuvenated and refreshed by the time you leave!
While you are with us, we want you to not only experience high quality, specialized clinical care, but do so in an environment that is warm, comfortable, and welcoming. Healing happens in the therapy office but can also take place in the waiting area.
Friendly, Genuine, & Authentic Therapists
It is also not uncommon for any of our therapists to introduce themselves while you may be waiting in the lobby. We are sensitive to those who may not feel comfortable striking up a conversation and in those cases, it may simply be an introduction and a warm hello.
For those who are open to having a conversation, we welcome that and look forward to those moments where we can chat with you for a few minutes. We won't ask intrusive questions but simply want you to know that we are happy you are here.
We know the strength it takes to tackle these struggles head on and admire you for it. As therapists, we value you you as fellow human beings who have struggles just like we do. None of us are immune from life challenges. You are just the courageous ones who have chosen to tackle those struggles head on.
We are also not "shirt and tie" kind of therapists. Our dress code here ranges from jeans and t-shirts to shorts, flip flops, and baseball caps. I assure you -- business dress, business casual, or casual dress -- has little effect on the skill and talent of the therapist. You will find us a warm, empathetic, and a talented group of specialists who also value being our authentic and genuine selves!
Teen Struggles
Our aim is to meet the needs of this current generation of teens and young adults who are experiencing this dramatic increase in emotional and behavioral struggles. Some teen, young adult, and family struggles that we work with are as follows:
Teen Depression
Teen Depression can impact an otherwise happy teen or young adult (older teen) and create persistent feelings of sadness, feelings of worthlessness, low self-esteem, lack of energy, and other complicating factors.
Teen Anxiety
Teen Anxiety can create in a teen a sense of fear, uncertainty, hopelessness, low self-esteem and feelings of dread when faced with certain situations. Anxiety becomes problematic when it interferes with your ability to function at your ability levels. Anxiety can include;
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General sense of every day, elevated anxious feelings
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Panic/anxiety attacks
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Social anxiety
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Obsessive and compulsive type behaviors
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Specific fears such as fear of flying, fear of driving, etc.
Teen Trauma & PTSD
Teen Trauma and PTSD are complex struggles. Teen trauma or PTSD is experiencing an event that causes or creates a significant emotional impact or overwhelms our emotional system. Persistent bullying would fit this criteria of teen trauma, being in a car accident, sustaining a non-life threatening injury, losing a loved one, losing a pet, etc.
However, what one sees as a traumatic experience another may think nothing of it. Of course, there are those traumatic events that anyone would see as traumatic such as physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse, those who have been in battle, first responders, and so forth.
Teen ADHD/ADD
Teen ADHD can be a very complex and confusing challenge teens face today. The impact it can have on a teens academics is profound. Difficulty concentrating, distractibility, loss of focus, impulsivity, all combine to impact grades.
Self-esteem and self-worth also take a hit as teachers, church leaders, parents of their friends assign labels to the teen. With teen ADHD, labels such as "lazy", "behavior problem", "challenging", and other labels sink a teen's sense of self. The teen with ADHD has so many strengths that teen ADHD prevents from emerging.
Teen Anger
Anger can be a symptom of a deeper, unresolved issue which when teens act out on this anger, leaves them feeling guilty and ashamed as they don't intend to hurt those around them but can't seem to find a pathway forward out of that anger.
Teen Perfectionism
Perfectionism among our teens has increased as well and when those unrealistic goals are not achieved, this leaves them with a deep sense of shame. Depression and anxiety often accompany perfectionism.
Teen Bullying/Cyber Bullying
It used to be that home was a safe haven from bullying. In the world of social media, teens cant's always escape the cruel and viscous attacks by their peers as they used to before social media. There are a multitude of ways to humiliate and bully with social media which can have a profound impact on a teens sense of worth as we understand how critical peer acceptance is as a teen.
Teen Academic Performance
With all of the above, academic performance tends to suffer as teens and young adults are simply doing the best they can with reduced emotional and mental resources as battling these struggles can feel all consuming at times. We provide teen counseling, counseling for young adults, and family therapy to help teens and young adults overcome the emotional or behavioral barriers that block their success.
Gifted students face unique challenges different than other students. We understand these challenges and can help navigate the complexity of emotional or behavioral challenges gifted students may experience.
We also provide peak performance training for students including gifted students. Through neurofeedback, their brain performance can be optimized to improve memory, recall, attending, focus and other key elements of learning.
Athletic Mental Blocks
We have many talented teen athletes in the Katy, Tx and Houston area. When playing competitive sports whether club or academic, injuries can occur. As teen athletes experience injury, it can sometimes also create a mental injury in the form of a mental block. Through EMDR, these mental blocks are processed and overcome. Once the mental block has been addressed, the teen athlete is free to perform at their full potential.
We also provide peak performance brain training for talented teen athletes. Through neurofeedback, we can optimize brain performance that can help with agility, balance, focus, memory and other elements of a top performing teen athlete.
Parent Support
These are complicated issues that are heart breaking for parents as it can leave us struggling and searching on just how we can help our teens break free of these problems. The problems the teens and young adults experience can start to have an impact on the family: The mental, physical, and emotional resources parents have historically had at hand start to diminish.
Parents spend a good amount of those resources worrying about their child and at times, second guessing their ability as a parent. Worrying, wondering, comparing, working to come up with another solution that might help this time. The resources in time, energy, thought, and prayer start to encroach on other aspects of the parent's life where that energy is also needed.
Parent's, we don't have an inexhaustible, infinite amount of energy resources at our disposal. Despite popular belief, we are not super human and sometimes reaching out to share the weight of this struggle can make all the difference in your, your teen, or young adult's life. Parent can also spend time questioning:
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"Am I doing too much?"
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Am I not doing enough?
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"Am I being too lenient?"
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"Am I being too strict"
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"Should I give them another chance for trust?"
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"Can I not believe a word they say again?"
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"Why won't they talk to me?"
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"Why won't they stop yelling at me?"
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"What did I do this time?"
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"What didn't I do this time?
Family Specialists for Katy Texas and Houston
Sometimes as parents we may be too close to the issues at hand to be able to be effective in resolving these issues with our teens or young adults. These mood, emotional, and behavioral issues are very complex.
Reaching out to a therapist who specializes in teen, young adult, and family therapy can help. We may provide that objective, outside perspective that may be needed to help gain traction in the fight to help your teen, young adult, and your family.
We can help you identify the root cause(s) of the problem, explore and come up with solutions and a create a pathway forward. Let us help guide your teen, young adult, and family down path of healing and recovery.
How do You Know if You Have the Right Therapist for Your Teen, Young Adult, or Family?
As therapists, we are trained in a variety of therapeutic and clinical practices and approaches. At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we use only those therapeutic and clinical approaches that have been supported by research and have been shown to be effective. Some of those approaches include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) which is utilized for teen trauma therapy, teen PTSD treatment, teen depression, teen anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, etc.
Another example is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which has been the most widely researched therapeutic practice in treating teen depression. We utilized several other therapeutic approaches in our work with teens, young adults, and families but the most important factor in any therapeutic relationship between the client and the therapist is the therapeutic relationship itself.
Research shows that above and beyond the clinical and therapeutic practice or approach, the connection between the client and the therapist is an important variable. If your teen or young adult 'clicks' with their therapist, the therapeutic and clinical approaches utilized will be exponentially more effective.
At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we have identified this key variable in our therapy sessions as one of the most important variables in accomplishing successful outcomes. That is why we work hard starting at the first phone call on to ensure that you feel comfortable, safe, supported, and heard.
We work hard to develop a trusting relationship so that you feel comfortable opening up about difficult subjects when it is necessary. Often, these subjects may have been unexplored or unprocessed before but can be critical for growth and development.
Sometimes, the only way forward is through. We want to ensure your therapist develops the kind of relationship and provides the type of environment in your therapy sessions where you will feel confident and comfortable to move forward.
Reasons Why a Teen, Young Adult, or Family May Seek Therapy
First, Let's Destigmatizing Mental Health
In our American culture, we pride ourselves on rugged individualism, solving our own problems, or solving them with the help of our family, 'pulling ourselves up by our own boot straps', etc.
This culture has resulted in some of the worlds most amazing accomplishments and achievements. Vaccines for viruses, technology and electronics, creating and successfully completing the first artificial heart transplant, and landing a man on the moon just to name a few.
One of the drawbacks of this rugged individualism in the midst of all the good and great things that come about due to our culture, is the stigmatization of mental health services.
When we are physically sick or injured, without thinking twice, we will go to the doctor so that they can help use feel better. When we think about emotional struggles, there can be hesitance to reach out and seek help.
Stigmatization of mental health services can lead some who may be depressed, anxious, having panic attacks, struggling from the after effects of trauma or PTSD, to not seek the help that is available.
Treatment Based on Current Science Based Evidence
With the advances of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, and brain mapping utilizing neurofeedback, researchers have discovered much about the brain.
We have identified things like teen depression, teen anxiety, panic attacks, after effects of teen trauma or teen PTSD, are rooted physically in the brain. If we don't think twice about seeing a doctor for a physical problem, it's important to also take this approach with other emotional symptoms that stem from the brain.
At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we utilize the traditional talk therapy approaches. We also use Neurofeedback to map the brain and identify precisely, what part of the brain is not performing at optimal levels. This provides direction to help your teen or young adult overcome the difficulties they may be battling.
Once we have pinpointed this area of the brain, we can then develop training protocols to help train the brain to run optimally. Through this brain training, we can reduce or eliminate the symptoms your teen or young adult may be experiencing.
We have taken the tried and true approach of traditional therapy (EMDR, CBT, IFS, etc), combined this with cutting edge neuroscience (Neurofeedback) to look at the functioning of the brain. Together, the physical/emotional treatments come together to provide a powerful approach to treatment.
Reasons Teens & Young Adults Seek Teen Therapy & Young Adult Counseling
Reasons why teens and young adults seek out teen therapy or a young adult therapist tend to revolve around a noticeable difference in their happiness.
Today, it is much easier for teens and young adults to hide their inner turmoil where those around are unable to notice that something is wrong. Social media results in much of their socialization being online, not face to face with others. As a result, they don't have the in person social interaction necessary to elicit or draw out some of the inner turmoil they may be experiencing.
Things like teen depression, teen anxiety, teen trauma, etc. can sit and develop longer and go unnoticed by others around them resulting in increased and prolonged depressive symptoms. This also can happen with teen anxiety, teen trauma, or any other mood or emotional struggle.
The sooner one seeks help to address underlying problems, the less intense and prolonged the symptoms will be.
Reasons Parents Seek Therapy for Their Teen or Young Adult
Parents tend to seek out teen counseling, therapy for young adults, or family therapy when they have seen observed a change in their mood and/or behavior. Parents have tried all the parenting skills and tools they have available, and are becoming increasingly concerned for their teen or young adult.
Parents may notice the teen or young adult isolating more in their room, glued to their devices much more than before and escaping from life and into social media. Your teen or young adult may becoming more irritable, angry, oppositional and it seems like more than just typical teen angst or phase of life transition.
All these are signs of inner turmoil that the teen or young adult is trying so hard to work on and to improve but simply does not know how. Though teens look like and remind us of mini-adults, it would be more accurate to see them as big kids. Their brains are still developing and as a result, they may not know what is wrong and may need help in identifying the root of the problem.
The same is true of young adults. While young adults remind us more of older adults, they are still teens and simply older teens. Their brains are continuing to develop. For girls, their brain fully develops around the age of 21. For boys, their brain fully develops around age 25.
Being a parent of teens is a tough job on any good day. When there are emotional and behavior struggles the teen is experiencing, the challenges of parenting multiply exponentially. Parenting a young adult comes with it's own unique challenges.
As therapists and parents ourselves, let us help you, your family, your teen, or young adult navigate these troubled waters. We can provide for you the tools and resources so that your teen, young adult, and your family can find the happiness and connected relationships you are longing for.
Common Questions to Ask a Prospective Teen, Young Adult, and Family Therapist
One of the most important factors or elements that helps people succeed in therapy is not the counseling techniques but rather the relationship its self. You want a therapist who utilizes research supported counseling techniques but if the therapeutic relationship is stale or you don't click with the therapist, the counseling techniques will not be near as effective.
The questions below will help you gather information from the counselor so that you can better determine if you will 'click' with them and whether they are qualified to help. Remember, you're hiring someone for a job -- to help your teen, young adult, and family through very difficult struggles. You are entrusting them with the most precious part of your life and it the below will help you be better informed when interviewing your therapist.
Interview Questions:
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How long have you been providing teen counseling, therapy for young adults, and family therapy?
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What is your typical teen or young adult client?
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What is your ideal teen or young adults client that you feel you do the best work with?
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What is your typical approach for: teen depression, teen anxiety, teen trauma, teen PTSD, gifted students, talented teen athletes, ADHD/ADD, anger -whatever the issue is you're seeking therapy for your teen, young adult, and family?
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How do you involve the parents and the family?
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Can we as parents call, text, email you in between sessions should we need to?
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Can my teen or young adult call, text, email you in between sessions should they need to?
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What type of approaches do you utilize and are they evidence based? (supported by research and shown to be effective)
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Will you give us a report of my son's/daughter's progress in therapy?
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What is a typical session like and how long are they?
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What is your general philosophy in helping people? (are they more directive or collaborative with the teens, young adults, and families they work with?)
Please feel free to reach out and give us a call and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have to help make this process easier and smoother for you.
Begin Counseling Today at Katy Teen & Family Counseling
You have a resource for your teen, young adult, and family at Katy Teen & Family Counseling. We provide counseling for teens, therapy for young adults, and family therapy in the Katy and the greater Houston area. We specialize specifically in teen, young adult, and family therapy and have created a model of care that goes above and beyond the traditional, insurance-based model of care.
Draw on our expertise to help your teen, young adult, and your family accomplish the goals you set out and recover hope and happiness -- it is possible.
Steps to Start Your Counseling Journey
To start teen, young adult, and/or family therapy, you can follow these simple steps:
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Contact Katy Teen & Family Counseling
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Speak with one of our caring therapists who specializes in teen, young adult, and family counseling
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Start this journey with confidence knowing you are working with specialists in teen, young adult, and family therapy.
