Lara Lucia

You don’t want to give up on your teenager. They keep shutting you out, but you can see how much they are struggling and how hard they are trying to fit in. They aren’t sleeping well, they spend all of their time on their phone, and their grades are suffering. Grounding them or taking their phone away only makes things worse; now they’re angry and sad and defiant. You’re out of strategies and you don’t know what else to do. You want your teen to have someone to talk to who will help them learn skills and strategies to feel happier. You want them to worry less and stay on top of their schoolwork. You want them to trust you enough to talk to you, and you want to have a conversation with them that doesn’t end in an argument. This is where I come in. As a clinical social worker, I use a social justice lens and systems perspective to understand your teen’s world. I view them as the expert of their own lives, and my primary goal is for them to feel safe and understood. If you are i