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October 2013
The Institute Insider
Keeping you connected ~ Nurturing your professional growth
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Meet Our Faculty
 | | Sharon R. Peterson, LCSW-C |
Sharon has been an outpatient therapist providing individual, family, and group therapy since 1995. She has worked for numerous community mental health agencies and school systems in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland. A native of Atlanta, Sharon graduated from Kennesaw State University with a BS degree in Psychology and completed her MSW in Social Work from The University of Kentucky.
Learn more about Sharon here.
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Join Sharon on Wednesday, October 23, from 8:45 am to 4 pm when she presents
Families in Crisis: Empowering Parents with Strategies To Help the High Risk Adolescent. This class will expand the therapist's range of interventions that can empower parents and focus on how to disrupt the aggressive and emotional dilemmas of teenagers.
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Message from Lisa Ferentz LCSW-C, DAPA
Founder and President
Dear Friends, As schools are back in full swing, those of us work with adolescents are starting to get more referrals from parents and guidance counselors. They are seeking treatment for kids who are struggling in a variety of ways. Their issues manifest academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally. In this issue we will focus on the high-risk behavior of adolescents. We will also highlight an upcoming workshop at the Institute that helps clinicians work with high-risk behaviors while empowering parents as they struggle to understand their kids and provide support that is effective rather than alienating. If you have raised a teenager or work with them clinically, you know how challenging it is as you attempt to connect with them and understand their thought processes and behavioral choices. You know they have a "different brain." This has been proven with functional MRI's. You can learn more about the adolescent brain in the articles in this month's newsletter as well as the link to a YouTube video we have provided. And as always, we invite you to check out our list of course offerings so you can continue to learn and grow with us throughout the Fall semester.  Warmest Regards,
Lisa Ferentz
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 | | It's useful to remember as parents and clinicians that the adolescent brain is not fully developed until the age of 26. |
The Adolescent Brain
by Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C, DAPA
Currently, I have two cases in my practice that prove that sometimes adolescents struggle even when they come from loving and safe families. It's not always the case that kids who present with difficulties or do a self-destructive behavior live in families that are neglectful or abusive. Sometimes, the things that influence these destructive behaviors are connected to peer pressure, cyber-bullying and most importantly, the adolescent brain, that is developmentally wired for pleasure seeking, risk-taking, impulsivity, and aggression.
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 | | Neurologist Francis Jensen examining a teenage patient. Jensen decided to study the teenage brain when her own sons became teenagers. Now Jensen lectures to teens and parents about how teenagers' brains are different. |
The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet
by Richard Knox
March 1, 2019,
National Public Radio
When adolescence hit Frances Jensen's sons, she often found herself wondering, like all parents of teenagers, "What were you thinking?" "It's a resounding mantra of parents and teachers," says Jensen, who's a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. Like when son number one, Andrew, turned 16, dyed his hair black with red stripes and went off to school wearing studded leather and platform shoes. And his grades went south. "I watched my child morph into another being, and yet I knew deep down inside it was the same Andrew," Jensen says. Suddenly her own children seemed like an alien species. Jensen is a Harvard expert on epilepsy, not adolescent brain development. As she coped with her boys' sour moods and their exasperating assumption that somebody else will pick up their dirty clothes, she decided to investigate what neuroscientists are discovering about teenagers' brains that makes them behave that way.
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Clinician Resources
(click on the links below for articles and video)
Publications
Video
- Insight in the Teenage Brain: Adriana Galvan at TEDxYouth
A great introduction to the workings of the adolescent brain and how it impacts the decision making process.
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Counseling and Self-Care Tips
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COUNSELING:
Adolescents can be great fun to work with in therapy, and they can be tough at times. Their silences or monosyllabic answers can be maddening. They can have almost non-existent attention spans, and know how to look you in the eye while simultaneously texting a friend during their therapy sessions. If you make the mistake of asking them "what were you thinking?" don't expect a coherent or rational response, because they weren't thinking. At least not in the "cause and effect" way that grown ups do. Since the adolescent brain loves risk taking, is very emotional, and responds well to rewards and novelty, find the positive strengths in those qualities and help your adolescent clients to sublimate those drives in healthy ways. Risk taking can help them go outside of their social comfort zone. Tap into their emotional sensitivity and help them channel their passions into a worthwhile cause in the community, or a by participating in a theatre production at school. Harness their black/white thinking and suggest they join a debate team. Help them choose a project that offers an immediate reward to satisfy their need for quick gratification. With your guidance, the less evolved qualities of the adolescent brain can actually free up a teenager to be more creative, think outside of the box, try new experiences and be open to new adventures. And by the way, insist that their cellphones are turned off and put away during sessions!.
SELF-CARE:
I'll cut to the chase and tell you that the best way to weather the challenges of working with adolescents is to remember these two mantras: THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT BRAIN and DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY! I actually had buttons with that message printed on it and I gave out to parents who were struggling in their discordant relationships with "acting out" teenagers. As clients, teenagers often lack tact, don't think about the long-term consequences of their actions, and can be adamant and passionate about their beliefs- even when those beliefs are wrong. They don't want to be dependent on a therapist, and they can be pretty self-absorbed as they attempt to figure out their identities. All of these qualities are normal and developmentally necessary. When we remind ourselves that adolescence is an emotionally, neurologically, and biologically confusing, intense, challenging and ever-changing experience, we can shift from frustration to compassion. This keeps us objective and effective in our work. And if you are raising teenagers and struggling at home, give yourself permission to temporarily not work with adolescents as it may feel too triggering and undermine your efficacy.
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| Register Now for Fall Trainings |
 Register today for one or more of our fall trainings. Receive continuing education on a wide range of clinical topics including:
- DSM-5: Practical Guide to the Changes - learn more>
- Exploring the Impact of Diversity & Cultural Differences on the Therapeutic Relationship - learn more>
- Art and Flash Card Therapy for Trauma - learn more>
- Effective Treatment for Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - learn more>
- Families in Crisis: Empowering Parents w/Strategies to Help
the High Risk Adolescent - learn more> - Ethical Dilemmas in Clinical Practice (Ethics CEU's offered) - learn more>
- Using Visualization Focusing and Guided Imagery for the Management of Anxiety, Depression and Flashbacks - learn more>
- Master Class Case Consultations: Adolescent and Adult Complex Trauma - learn more>
- A Clinician's Guide to Understanding Attachment & Attachment-Related Interventions for Foster & Adopted Children - learn more>
- Spirituality for Trauma Survivors & Movement Affect Regulation - learn more>
- Making Them Whole Through the Sum of Their Parts - learn more>
- ...AND MORE.
Our informative and experiential workshops provide clinicians with current theory, tools for assessment, evaluation and diagnosis, as well as strategies for creative and effective treatment.
October and November classes are filling up quickly. Click here for our calendar of trainings and register today! |
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Talk Radio With Lisa Ferentz
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Missed a previous episode of Lisa's talk-radio program Inspired Journeys?
Now you can listen to full recordings of each broadcast right on your computer.
Click here to listen to previous broadcasts on VoiceAmerica. Then click on "Episode Directory" and the month and program that you wish to listen to.
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The Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education, Inc. is an approved sponsor of the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners for continuing education credits for licensed social workers in Maryland. CEU approval for all trainings is also granted to Psychologists, LCPC's and MFT's. In addition, reciprocity has been granted for clinicians in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia.
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