initiation rights

Adolescent Counseling

Many indigenous cultures have established some kind of container; a psychological and spiritual space to both acknowledge and inform young people’s transition into adulthood. This space offers a vehicle for the young neophyte to learn profound lessons about themselves and the world around them as well as to clarify for themselves their identity and role in the community. 

I believe that these initiatory imprints are an intrinsic and necessary part of the human experience. While some cultural and religious communities provide a formal initiatory process or rites of passage to their adolescent youth, much of the secular American culture has very little to offer the deeper psychic needs of its young people. To add fuel to the fire, in post- modern America most adolescents are instead met with TikTok, under-funded and crowded schools, racial violence and more recently, almost two years of social isolation under a global pandemic. It is no wonder that rates in anxiety, depression and suicide have nearly doubled in the last years. 

It is essential, now more than ever,  that young people have a space to process and make meaning of the events that take place in the world, as well as in their personal lives. Therapy can offer a process that is both meaningful and holistic; exploring cognitive, emotional and spiritual tools and perspectives that can help propel young people toward a greater sense of personal wholeness and expand their understanding of life.

I have worked with adolescent youth as an educator and therapist for approximately 20 years. My work with adolescent girls specifically was published by Parallax Press (2015) in a book entitled: Girls Rising: A Guide To Nurturing A Confident and Soulful Adolescent. I also developed a curricula for Oakland Unified School District for adolescent groups around racial trauma and healing entitled: My Ancestor's Keeper (2018).