Family Counseling
At Family Counseling and Coaching of Miami we help parents and children understand, and effectively face the challenges and changes that adolescence brings about. Through individual counseling and coaching with the child and with the family, we help parents gain insight into the dynamics of this transition as it applies to their family, and to develop appropriate skills that can help them navigate through the often stormy waters of the teenage years.
Children enter adolescence at the onset of puberty (age 11 for most girls and 13 for most boys) and their bodies and brains experience a significant growth spurt. Fueled by a surge of hormones, they become sexually mature. Their rapidly changing bodies and the increased sophistication of their mental abilities, result in drastic changes in their perception of self and others. These perceptions are often colored by significantly more complex emotional lives and far more volatile states of mind.
Parents seeking to better understand adolescent behavior and develop age appropriate parenting strategies also need to consider the physical limitations of the adolescent brain that tend to translate into cognitive and emotional limitations reflected in the behavior of our children. The adolescent brain has reached a state of growth that makes it abound in neural connections. Of these, many nerve fibers continue to grow and to be further covered with myelin (a fatty substance that speeds up neural responsiveness) according to the frequency of their activity, while others are pruned out and eliminated for lack of use. Research shows that this brain growth spurt is not uniform, with the frontal lobe (the part of the brain responsible for judgment, planning and decision-making) developing at a slower rate than the amygdala, a limbic system structure responsible for more primitive and impulsive emotional responses. Knowing this parents may learn to be more forgiving of the stormy daughter that bursts into tears after a seemingly innocuous comment from her father, or the inconsiderate son that leaves his mother waiting for him for more than an hour after a movie to stay behind and talk to his friends.
At Family Counseling and Coaching of Miami we help parents develop strategies that take into account these biological constrains and can be more productive. We also work with adolescents and their families, both in individual and group format to help them develop communication and parenting skills that foster self-reliance and self-efficacy as well as pro-social behavior and healthy decision-making.
Children enter adolescence at the onset of puberty (age 11 for most girls and 13 for most boys) and their bodies and brains experience a significant growth spurt. Fueled by a surge of hormones, they become sexually mature. Their rapidly changing bodies and the increased sophistication of their mental abilities, result in drastic changes in their perception of self and others. These perceptions are often colored by significantly more complex emotional lives and far more volatile states of mind.
Parents seeking to better understand adolescent behavior and develop age appropriate parenting strategies also need to consider the physical limitations of the adolescent brain that tend to translate into cognitive and emotional limitations reflected in the behavior of our children. The adolescent brain has reached a state of growth that makes it abound in neural connections. Of these, many nerve fibers continue to grow and to be further covered with myelin (a fatty substance that speeds up neural responsiveness) according to the frequency of their activity, while others are pruned out and eliminated for lack of use. Research shows that this brain growth spurt is not uniform, with the frontal lobe (the part of the brain responsible for judgment, planning and decision-making) developing at a slower rate than the amygdala, a limbic system structure responsible for more primitive and impulsive emotional responses. Knowing this parents may learn to be more forgiving of the stormy daughter that bursts into tears after a seemingly innocuous comment from her father, or the inconsiderate son that leaves his mother waiting for him for more than an hour after a movie to stay behind and talk to his friends.
At Family Counseling and Coaching of Miami we help parents develop strategies that take into account these biological constrains and can be more productive. We also work with adolescents and their families, both in individual and group format to help them develop communication and parenting skills that foster self-reliance and self-efficacy as well as pro-social behavior and healthy decision-making.