Growing Minds: Empowering Teens and Young Adults

“Over the past few years, I’ve faced intense struggles—with family issues, school challenges, and stress that seemed overwhelming. Initially, I thought I had to keep it all inside and deal with it alone. But since I started working with my therapist, I’ve found the courage to open up and set goals. With each step, I’m seeing progress and accomplishing those goals one by one. I’m deeply grateful to The Women’s Center and especially to my therapist for guiding me through and helping me reach where I am today.” 

Rae*, 16 (*Name has been changed to protect the client’s identity) 

Mental health during a formative time 

Adolescence is a critical period of development where individuals navigate complex identity formation, making it a time when external stressors can have a profound impact. The physical, social, and emotional pressures that young people face make them vulnerable to various mental health issues. Domestic and sexual violence, bullying, peer pressure, and discrimination put adolescents’ well-being at even greater risk.  

Therapy for adolescents provides a safe space for individuals to navigate complex emotional challenges often faced during adolescence and early adulthood.  The combination of physical changes, social expectations (peer acceptance), and emotional fluctuations can create significant stress for adolescents.  Additionally, increased risk factors including domestic and sexual violence, bullying, peer pressure, and discrimination can significantly exacerbate and impact a young person’s mental health and overall well-being.  Adolescent-specific mental health programs offer key benefits, designed to address the specific challenges and needs of adolescents.   

Here to help 

The Women’s Center commemorates three years since formalizing its Adolescent Mental Healthcare Program this autumn.  While The Women’s Center has always offered services inclusive of families, young adults, and adolescents, the global pandemic heightened the already serious demand for adolescent mental healthcare in our community.  In 2021, generous grants, specifically from The Virginia Health Care Foundation and Unanet allowed The Women’s Center to redouble efforts aimed at providing Adolescent Mental Health Services.  

Looking back at the three years since our 2021 Blog Post highlighted the importance of mental health for adolescents as we “launched” our Adolescent Mental Healthcare Program, The Women’s Center is both grateful and proud of the impact this program has made on our community. 

Reviewing the numbers, the specific goal of our Adolescent Mental Healthcare Program grant proposal with The Virginia Health Care Foundation was to increase support capacity (therapy session hours) for adolescent therapy by 81% (over pre-grant levels). 

• By the end of the first year, The Center exceeded pre-grant levels by an astounding 173% (this was due largely to launch outreach, board support, and the increased capacity and focus from therapists).   

• After the second year, The Center’s adolescent mental health support hours showed an increase of 85% over pre-grant levels. 

• After the third year, The Center showed an increase of 76% over pre-grant levels.   

• The cumulative total increase has far exceeded our plan.   

Perhaps more telling than the service hours and increases is the fact that the majority (Between 84% to 96%, depending on the year) of the adolescents who maintained consistent therapy (at least 6 sessions) have demonstrated clear mental health improvement (Therapist Assessed). 

But there is more to be done, and we all have a role to play.   

Supporting the mental health of young people requires an ongoing and societal effort.  While the COVID-19 pandemic brought this issue to the forefront and some of the heightened issues have since subsided, addressing these ongoing needs of adolescents with mental health conditions remains a challenge.   

The Women’s Center is committed to continued support for adolescent mental healthcare.  This includes raising awareness, improving access to care, providing a broad range of programs and championing the broader causes that are critical to ensure support for our community’s adolescent well-being.   

Teens and families looking for mental health services can click here to learn more or make an appointment for Adolescent & Teen Counseling at The Women’s Center. * 

*If you are experiencing a medical or psychological emergency, please go to your nearest emergency room or call 9-1-1.