Understanding Teenage Girls Beyond the Stereotypes
It becomes increasingly fascinating—and at times heart-wrenching—to witness how teenage girlhood is conceptualized both societally and culturally. No wonder it can feel confusing, frustrating, and daunting to know how to confidently parent a teenage daughter. There’s no shortage of one-liner comments and sad jokes about this season of life. But I often wonder: what would it look like if we could influence cultural change so that we no longer feared our daughters’ thirteenth birthdays or impatiently counted down to their twentieths? What if we intentionally sought connection with them? Took time to better understand their intricate complexity? And met them where they are- while still challenging them to rise into growth, identity formation, and inner excellence through purposeful parenting?

What I Witness in the Therapy Room
One of the things that brings me the most joy as a therapist is watching my teenage clients soften and relinquish the façades they’ve clung to. As they come to understand that therapy isn’t a place of rigid expectations, judgment, or shame- but instead a space where they are free to simply be- something shifts.Because I believe that the foundation of a healthy and happy life is built on relationships grounded in reciprocity, I am equally distraught about the lack of thorough and beneficial resources for parents of teenage daughters. The challenges of adolescence aren’t experienced by teens alone; parents observe and feel the heaviness of the emotional overwhelm that accompanies the psychological and physiological changes endured during these years, and the impact on the parent-child relationship can be significant. It is my deepest hope to create a space where parents feel supported, capable, and connected—a community marked by calm confidence and clarity as they walk alongside their daughters through this season of transformation.

What to Expect From the Group
Throughout five sessions, the group will combine educational content, dynamic discussions, and real-life application in the pursuit of purposeful parenting. We will delve into vulnerable and transparent conversations about the plethora of aspects substantiating the teenage experience in hopes of bolstering a more holistic empathy that leads to increasingly efficacious parenting decisions. By embracing a humble willingness to wrestle with often uncomfortable yet paramount topics, parents will be able to refine the necessary skill set to ensure that this chapter is not characterized by distress and uncertainty but instead one driven by thoughtful discipline and intentionality. It saddens me that there may be a dwindling cultural appreciation for the importance of a village in parenting, and I would like to foster an environment that aggressively stands in opposition — developing community, building connection together, and offering trust and support to one another through an objectively arduous season.

Why It Matters
Hardship during these years feels nothing short of inevitable; however, I find myself firmly aligned with Viktor Frankl’s statement: “In some ways, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.” That is not to say meaning is only derived out of suffering as a necessary precursor, but in a day and age where pain and hurt abound in countless ways, I would contend that the deepest and most innate desire of any person, and especially any teenage girl, is to discover purpose and meaning. If we can help them elucidate their why, the goodness that follows is simply a joy to behold.

Strong and intentional parents raise strong and intentional young women. What an immense gift to be entrusted with a teenage daughter, and what a wonderful responsibility and opportunity it is to parent her into identity, purpose, and meaning.