Who I Help
Support for Parents & Caregivers of Teens in Ohio
You Can Love Your Teen Deeply and Still Feel Unsure What to Do Next
You may be reading the books, trying the scripts, watching for signs, and wondering whether you are helping or making things worse.
Supporting a young person through stress, big emotions, changing relationships, and growing independence can be difficult. You deserve a place to think through what is happening too.
Does This Feel Familiar?
- Every conversation seems to turn into an argument or shutdown.
- You are worried about your teen’s emotions, motivation, stress, or behavior.
- You do not know when to step in and when to give more space.
- You have tried several approaches, but nothing seems to last.
- You feel responsible for keeping everyone calm.
- Caregivers disagree about the best way to respond.
- You want your teen to talk to you without feeling pushed.
- You are exhausted, worried, frustrated, or afraid of getting it wrong.
- You are wondering whether your teen needs therapy.
- Somewhere in supporting everyone else, no one has asked how you are doing.
What This Can Look Like
There is no version of this that looks tidy from the outside. It tends to show up in three places, and the third one is usually the quietest.
In the House
- A conversation that turns into a closed door.
- Tiptoeing around a mood you cannot name.
- Two adults with two different plans, both certain.
In You
- Second-guessing every boundary you set.
- Sleeping badly over someone else's school week.
- Nobody asking how you are doing.
In What You Have Tried
- The books, the scripts, the consequences.
- Something that worked for a month and then stopped.
- The therapist you have not found yet.
You Do Not Have to Have Every Answer
Parents are often expected to know exactly what to do, even when the situation is changing quickly. Support can give you room to slow down, notice recurring patterns, and respond with more intention instead of reacting from fear or exhaustion.
We may explore communication, emotional overwhelm, boundaries, independence, caregiver stress, repeated conflict, and what kind of support may fit your teen and family.
What the Appointments Are Like
These appointments are for you. Not a report on your teenager, and not a course in better parenting — an hour where the person holding everything gets to put it down and think out loud.
We look at the loop a conversation gets stuck in, what happens in the thirty seconds before it turns, and which parts of it are actually yours to change. That last distinction does most of the work. Some of what is happening is not yours to fix, and knowing the difference is a relief rather than a failure.
Some of it is practical — what to say, when to step in, how to hold a boundary that survives a bad evening. Some of it is the harder part: the guilt, the fear, and the parts of your own history this keeps landing on.
Where Else This Fits
If what you are seeing in your teenager has a name, these are the pages that describe it: teen stress and emotional overwhelm, anxiety and overthinking, and ADHD and executive functioning. If the harder question is who should be in the room, family collaboration is the one that brings more than one person in.
Finding the Right Starting Point
Individual Therapy for Your Teen
May fit when your teen needs their own consistent therapeutic space.
Parent & Caregiver Support
May fit when you want guidance and practical support without your teen participating in the appointment.
Family Collaboration
May fit when family members need to meet together to work through communication, recurring conflict, or a shared transition.
You do not have to choose the right service before contacting me. We can talk about what you are noticing and decide which path makes the most sense.
What to Expect
It starts with a free 15-minute consultation — for you, not for your teenager and not for the family. A short call to say what you have been noticing, and to work out whether this is the right kind of support and which of the three options above it should be.
If it feels like a fit, the first appointment is a longer assessment so I can understand the whole picture before we start working. After that, sessions are ongoing — usually weekly to start, then spaced out as things steady. Individual therapy is $175 for the initial assessment and $150 per appointment, private pay, with a limited number of sliding-scale spots. The Fees & FAQs page has the full detail, including out-of-network reimbursement if you want to submit to your insurance.
Sessions happen in person at my Kent office — 1640 Franklin Ave, Suite 222 — or online, anywhere in Ohio.
Getting Here
The office is at 1640 Franklin Ave, Suite 222, Kent, Ohio 44240, in downtown Kent. It is a short drive from Ravenna, Streetsboro, Stow, Hudson, Cuyahoga Falls, Tallmadge and Akron, and about twenty minutes from Kent State University.
If getting to Kent is the thing that has kept this on the list for a while, sessions are also available online, anywhere in Ohio. Same therapist, same work, and no commute — a phone or a laptop in a room where you will not be overheard is enough.
I answer inquiries Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm. Messages that arrive over the weekend get a reply on the next business day.
Prefer email? coloroutsidethelinescounseling@gmail.com
You Deserve Support While Supporting Them
Caring deeply does not mean you have to carry everything by yourself. We can make room for your questions, your concerns, and the parts of parenting that do not come with simple answers.