Therapy for Tweens & Teens

Support for Los Angeles adolescents navigating anxiety, overwhelm, emotional intensity, ADHD, family stress, and the challenges of growing up in a fast-moving world.

Adolescence is complex. Therapy can help make sense of it.

Adolescence is a period of enormous growth, change, and vulnerability. A teen may look defiant, withdrawn, reactive, unfocused, or unmotivated from the outside, while internally feeling overwhelmed, misunderstood, pressured, or unsure of how to manage what they are carrying.

At Kincove, we work with adolescents in a way that respects both the complexity of this developmental stage and the individuality of each teen. Our goal is not simply to reduce symptoms, but to help young people better understand themselves, strengthen emotional regulation, and build the internal foundation for healthier relationships, resilience, and growth.

A young woman sitting on the wooden floor of a living room with her back against a beige sofa, covering her face with her hands. She has her legs bent and is wearing ripped jeans, a long-sleeve shirt, and socks. There is a smartphone on the floor nearby, and a large potted plant and a window in the background.

What Brings Adolescents to Kincove?

We work with adolescents facing a wide range of emotional, relational, academic, and developmental struggles, including the ones that are easy to see, and the ones that are easier to miss.

Teens who live with a constant sense of pressure
They may be anxious, overthinking, perfectionistic, or always bracing for something to go wrong, even when they cannot fully explain why.

Teens who seem shut down, flat, or hard to reach
They may be withdrawing, losing interest, isolating more, or moving through life with a heaviness that is hard to name.

Teens who feel everything intensely
Big reactions, quick escalation, irritability, emotional flooding, or difficulty recovering after conflict may be signs of a nervous system under strain, not simply “too much attitude.”

Teens who are struggling to keep up
Focus, follow-through, organization, procrastination, and school demands can become sources of shame when a teen knows they are capable but cannot seem to access consistency.

Teens who are quietly hard on themselves
They may look accomplished or high-functioning, while internally feeling not good enough, behind, disappointing, or afraid of getting it wrong.

Teens who are overwhelmed by school and expectations
Academic pressure, fear of failure, avoidance, burnout, and the feeling of always being behind can leave a teen exhausted and discouraged.

Teens who are hurting in their friendships
Social stress can show up as loneliness, conflict, comparison, exclusion, intense sensitivity, or feeling like they do not quite know where they belong.

Teens whose behavior is being misunderstood
What looks like defiance, laziness, avoidance, or indifference may actually reflect anxiety, discouragement, emotional overload, or a deeper struggle with regulation.

Teens who feel stuck in family conflict
They may want closeness and support, but find themselves caught in cycles of shutdown, defensiveness, misunderstanding, or emotional distance at home.

Teens trying to figure out who they are
Questions about identity, self-worth, belonging, and how they are seen by others can feel especially tender during this stage of life.

How we Work with Tweens & Teens

Our work with adolescents is relational, developmental, and grounded in curiosity rather than judgment.

We help teens make sense of what they are feeling, understand the patterns they may be caught in, and build healthier ways of coping, communicating, and relating. Depending on the young person, therapy may involve reflection, emotional processing, mindfulness, skill-building, or more expressive and collaborative ways of working.

Because no two adolescents are the same, we integrate a range of approaches based on the needs of the individual teen. In addition to relational and insight-oriented work, we often incorporate practical tools and skills from ACT, DBT, and CBT to support emotional regulation, distress tolerance, flexibility, self-understanding, and more effective responses to stress, thoughts, and overwhelming feelings.

We also understand that trust takes time. Especially during adolescence, therapy works best when there is space for a genuine relationship to develop.

Modern living room with green wall, patterned accent wall, beige sofa with pillows, wooden chairs, and a window letting in natural light.
Four people walking on a paved sidewalk, viewed from above. Two adults and two children, each carrying backpacks, dressed casually for cool weather.

Trends in Adolescent Mental Health

    • Over the past decade, there has been a staggering rise in reported depression and anxiety among adolescents. Girls have experienced a 135% increase in mental health struggles since 2010, and boys have seen a 161% rise. This underscores the pervasive impact of modern stressors on young people's emotional well-being.

    • The sharp increase in mental health issues correlates with the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media around 2012. Adolescents aged 15-24, the group most immersed in digital platforms, show the steepest declines in daily face-to-face social interaction—once a critical buffer against stress and loneliness.

    • Since 2010, adolescent girls have seen a 135% increase in mental health struggles, including depression, anxiety, and self-harm behaviors.

      • Girls are disproportionately affected by social comparison pressures and online interactions, with 60% reporting feelings of sadness or hopelessness compared to 40% of boys (2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey). This marks the highest level of emotional distress recorded in decades.

      • Stress and Emotional Regulation: Adolescent girls are more likely to ruminate on negative experiences and are more sensitive to social feedback, due in part to hormonal changes and brain development.

      • These factors increase their vulnerability to stress and interpersonal conflicts.

    Brain Development: The limbic system (responsible for processing emotions) develops earlier in girls than in boys, while the prefrontal cortex (responsible for impulse control and decision-making) is still maturing. This can make emotional regulation particularly challenging for adolescent girls.

  • Boys have experienced a 161% increase in mental health struggles since 2010, highlighting the profound impact of societal changes on their well-being.

    • While boys report lower rates of depression and anxiety than girls, their distress often manifests in externalizing behaviors such as anger, aggression, and risk-taking.

    • Suicide remains a leading cause of death among adolescent boys, with rates significantly higher than those of girls.

    • Boys are less likely to seek help, and their struggles may go unnoticed until they reach crisis levels

    • Stress and Emotional Regulation: Boys may struggle with identifying and articulating emotions, a skill that is still developing in adolescence. This can lead to bottled-up emotions that manifest as outbursts or risky behavior.

    • Brain Development: Boys’ brains develop differently from girls', with their prefrontal cortex maturing later. This region governs impulse control, decision-making, and emotional regulation, making boys more prone to risk-taking and impulsive behavior during adolescence.

    • Boys often have heightened sensitivity to reward systems in the brain, leading them to seek out risky or competitive activities to cope with stress.