As a parent, you want to do everything you can to help your child to be successful. The truth is, you can’t do it on your own. The challenge with admitting you need help with your child is letting go and letting someone else step in. Teen outpatient counseling doesn’t remove you from your child’s life or disconnect you from the healing process. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Teen outpatient counseling provides you, your teen, and your family with the support you all need to heal and recover. 
Understanding what teen outpatient counseling is and what to expect can make the decision to seek professional help easier.
What happens during teen outpatient counseling?
Outpatient counseling for teens combines a supportive environment with structured programs to meet the needs of the entire family. Quality teen treatment centers create individualized treatment plans to meet the specific needs of each client. Typically, outpatient counseling includes:
- Clinical support
- Individual sessions
- Family sessions
- Group sessions
- Drug testing
- Support groups
Outpatient counseling is typically provided through sessions offered in the evenings and on the weekends. This is to allow teens and their families to continue to partake in their everyday lives while receiving the clinical support they need on a regular basis. In the most effective centers, treatment is provided in a number of ways from professionals from a number of backgrounds:
- Licensed therapists
- Counselors
- Doctors
- Dieticians
- Art therapists
- Counselors
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
Teens are treated with an evidence based treatment plan with a foundation in DBT, Dialectical Behavior Therapy. DBT gives clients the foundation they need in order to alter the way they cope with stressful situations and thereby modify their behavior.
What are the goals of teen outpatient counseling?
Each client will have specific goals for treatment before beginning their program. The same is true for the client’s family. A high quality treatment center will incorporate the client’s goals and objectives for treatment into their program. In addition to those goals, there are several goals that should apply to all clients:
- Development of a healthy lifestyle and maintaining that lifestyle even after leaving treatment
- Development of problem solving skills and coping strategies to deal with stressful situations
- Providing the teen with the tools to recognize problematic situations and how to remove themselves from those situations
- Realization of the real impact the teen’s behavior on the their life and the lives of the people around them
- Involvement of the family in order to rebuild bonds, address past hurts, and develop communication skills and techniques, includes being able to recognize dysfunction and address it
Where’s the best place to find teen outpatient counseling?
Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers provide outpatient counseling in two locations in the Los Angeles area. The Visions staff is dedicated to serving the unique needs of adolescents and their families and to help teens build a foundation for continued support after leaving treatment.
Visions offers two plans for outpatient treatment: 
1st Step Program
The 1st Step Program is an introduction to the outpatient treatment process. Lasting 8 weeks, it provides counseling for the teen as well as ongoing support for the family. This program may be used for those just starting treatment or a transition into or out of a residential program.
Intensive Outpatient Program
This one year program provides extensive support for the teen and their families. Divided into three sections, the program focuses on creating an aftercare plan during the last five months of treatment. This includes getting teens involved with local community organizations that can provided continued and ongoing support.
For additional information on the teen outpatient counseling programs available at Visions Adolescent, speak with a counselor today. Please click below to schedule your consultation or call us at 866-889-3665.
Originally posted on August 27, 2014 @ 8:35 am
