Adolescent & Teenage Counselling Singapore
Where understanding rebuilds trust, and connection helps teens feel truly seen.
When School Complaints Start and Home Feels Like a Battlefield
It can happen suddenly: a call from the school, a teacher’s note, or a message about slipping grades, attitude changes, or disruptive behaviour. The once cheerful child now seems defiant, withdrawn, or always on edge. Sibling rivalry flares up, tempers rise, and the home that once rang with laughter begins to feel tense and unfamiliar.
Parents often wonder, “Where have my sweet, smiling children gone? Who are these strangers in their place, and have I failed them somehow?”
At Listening Ear Counselling & Consultancy Pte. Ltd., we provide adolescent and teenage counselling in Singapore for young people aged 12 to 21, supporting families through these transitions with compassion and clarity. We understand how painful it feels when your teen’s behaviour seems out of control or when a school complaint triggers guilt, fear, or shame.
You are not alone. These changes are not signs of failure but expressions of distress in a young person’s developing emotional system. Behind the defiance, sarcasm, or silence, there is often a teen struggling to manage emotions, expectations, and identity. Beneath the frustration, there is usually love on both sides that has lost its way in the noise.
Our counselling process helps families slow down, listen without blame, and rediscover connection. Together, we move from “What’s wrong with my child?” to “What’s happening for my child, and what might they be trying to tell me?”
As emotions rise at home, many parents start to realise that these conflicts are not simply about discipline but about pressure. The tension at the dinner table often mirrors the intensity of school life outside. What looks like defiance or disinterest is sometimes exhaustion from trying too hard, too long. Once we look beyond the arguments, we begin to see how much the wider culture shapes both stress and self-worth.
The Journey from Childhood to Adulthood
The transition from childhood to adulthood is rarely straightforward. Between the ages of 12 and 21, young people experience some of the most intense years of change in their lives. Physically, emotionally, socially, and mentally, everything seems to shift at once. What begins as preadolescence soon turns into a search for identity, belonging, and independence.
For many, these years can feel both exciting and confusing, especially in a fast-paced, high-expectation environment like Singapore. This stage of life is also shaped by global exposure, relocation, and cultural diversity, especially for expat families and third-culture children who are growing up between worlds
What Is Teen Counselling?
Teen counselling supports young people through the evolving stages of preadolescence, adolescence, and young adulthood, typically from ages 12 to 21. This is a period when the brain is still developing its capacity for emotional regulation, decision-making, and self-awareness, while social expectations and identity questions begin to intensify.
At Listening Ear Counselling & Consultancy Pte. Ltd., we provide a confidential and non-judgemental space where young people can explore their thoughts and emotions safely. Whether they are coping with academic stress, family changes, peer pressure, or identity struggles, counselling helps them pause, reflect, and learn healthy ways to manage their emotions and relationships.
For expat families and third-culture children, adolescence often brings additional layers of complexity. Many wrestle with the feeling of being different because of accent, skin colour, mixed heritage, or simply being the new student in class. These experiences can quietly influence self-esteem and belonging. Counselling offers a stable space to make sense of these cross-cultural layers, helping young people see their unique background as a source of strength rather than confusion.
Our approach draws on Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) to rebuild emotional connection between parents and teens, Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) to process emotions safely, and brief approaches such as Choice and Reality Therapy (CTRT) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) to strengthen resilience and agency. We also integrate body-based awareness and mindfulness to help teens reconnect with calm, confidence, and self-trust.
Whether your teen is struggling with pressure, identity, or transition, our goal is to help them feel seen, heard, and supported as they grow into adulthood with emotional clarity and confidence.
Ready to explore if this fits your family? Contact us to find our more or make an appointment.
As your teen learns to navigate relationships, emotions, and self-identity, it helps to remember that they do not grow in isolation. Every young person is shaped by the world they live in, the family system, school culture, and wider social expectations that influence how they see themselves and others.
Understanding Adolescence in a High-Performance Culture
Adolescence should be a time of discovery and support, a season for curiosity, creativity, and self-understanding. Yet for many young people in Singapore, it unfolds in a high-stakes environment defined by competition, comparison, and constant evaluation.
From PSLE to O-Levels, A-Levels, and university admissions, every stage can feel like a test of worth not just for the teen but for the entire family. At the same time, parents carry invisible burdens: the fear of their child being left behind, the worry that love and guidance are not enough, and the quiet question, “Have I failed somewhere?”
In truth, everyone is doing their best within a demanding system that rewards achievement but often overlooks emotional well-being. Our teen counselling in Singapore helps families pause the race, rediscover trust, and focus on connection over perfection.
While academic pressure takes centre stage, it is only one part of the story. What happens in school often reflects what is happening within the family, and vice versa. When a teen’s world feels like it is closing in, their reactions, withdrawal, anger, or apathy, become signals that something deeper needs attention. To understand these patterns, we need to look at the whole system, not just the symptoms.
Seeing the Bigger Picture: A Systemic Perspective
When things start to unravel at home or in school, it is easy to focus on the visible behaviour such as the backtalk, the slammed doors, or the poor grades. But every symptom tells a story. What looks like defiance or laziness is often a young person’s way of saying, “I am under too much pressure and do not know how to manage it.”
Our teen therapy sessions in Singapore use a systemic approach that looks at the whole picture, not just the problem. Adolescence does not unfold in isolation; it is shaped by school culture, peer dynamics, family patterns, and the relentless pace of modern life.
In Singapore’s performance-driven environment, stress can easily ripple through a family. Parents want the best, schools want results, and teens simply want to belong. Somewhere between expectation and exhaustion, connection gets lost.
At Listening Ear, we help families move from blame to balance, from “What is wrong with my child?” to “What is happening for my child?” Once that shift happens, empathy returns along with calm, clarity, and change.
Common issues we support include academic pressure, school avoidance, anxiety, low mood, self-esteem challenges, sibling conflict, family communication breakdowns, bullying, peer and identity concerns, social media addiction, self-harm, and eating-related struggles.
Even when families begin to see the larger picture, the emotional toll of constant pressure can be immense. Many adolescents live in a near-permanent state of alert, where the mind and body mistake everyday challenges for threats. Understanding this physiological response helps parents and teens alike realise that what looks like stubbornness or moodiness is often the body’s way of crying out for safety.
When Stress Becomes Survival
For many young people today, stress is not occasional but constant. Between heavy school demands, social pressures, and digital distractions, their bodies begin to respond as if they are always under threat. That is when the nervous system shifts from coping to surviving, and emotional regulation begins to break down.
In our adolescent stress counselling in Singapore, we often see four common stress responses:
Fight
Irritability, anger, or constant arguing. Teens may appear rebellious, but they are often trying to regain control when they feel powerless.
Flight
Avoidance, isolation, or excessive gaming. Retreating becomes a way to escape fear of failure or conflict.
Freeze
Blanking out during exams, zoning out in class, or losing motivation altogether. The system shuts down to protect itself from overload.
Fawn
Over-pleasing teachers or parents, trying to be “the good child” to avoid rejection. This can look like maturity but often hides anxiety and exhaustion.
These reactions are not disobedience but survival strategies. Through counselling, we help teens understand what is happening in their bodies and minds, teaching grounding and emotional regulation skills so they can feel safe and confident again.
When the body stays in survival mode for too long, the mind begins to turn its stress inward. What starts as anxiety or fatigue can quietly become self-doubt and shame. Teens begin to wonder if they are the problem rather than the pressure itself. They compare, withdraw, or overcompensate, trying to earn a sense of worth in a world that often measures value by performance. This is where the emotional weight deepens, shifting from stress to shame, and from doing to being.
The Hidden Weight of Shame and Comparison
Many adolescents quietly carry the belief that they are not good enough. In a culture where grades and achievements often define identity, even small setbacks can feel like failure. Teens compare their paths, whether ITE, polytechnic, or junior college, as though one route determines their worth.
For others, the struggle lies not in results but in belonging. Some feel different because of their accent, skin colour, family background, or sexuality. Third culture kids and adopted children may find themselves navigating between worlds, trying to fit in while holding on to who they are. Even being exceptionally bright, creative, or simply not matching the unspoken norms of a class can make a young person feel like an outsider.
Parents, too, feel the pressure. Many fear being judged or worry that their child’s struggles reflect on their parenting. But worth is not measured by results; it is reflected in resilience, kindness, and the courage to keep trying.
Our teen counselling in Singapore helps families break this cycle of comparison, shame, and silent disconnection by fostering empathy, perspective, and healthier definitions of success. We use approaches such as Choice and Reality Therapy (CTRT) to help teens reflect on how their choices serve their goals, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) to build on existing strengths, and a health and well-being focused approach (known as salutogenic in psychology) that emphasises what keeps people well, not just what makes them unwell.
Drawing on Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) and Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT), we help parents and teens reconnect emotionally and repair ruptures in trust. These approaches align with the three Rs of emotional regulation: Regulate, Relate, and Reason, supporting calm connection before tackling problems. When teens feel emotionally safe and understood, their ability to think clearly and make positive choices naturally strengthens.
As we move beyond grades, appearance, and expectations, it becomes easier to see what truly shapes a young person’s growth. Behind every behaviour is a message, and behind every struggle, a story waiting to be understood. This is where the work deepens, in recognising how identity, hormones, habits, and hidden hurts influence the way teenagers think, feel, and connect with those around them.
Families navigating cultural transitions or raising third-culture children may find additional insights in our Expat Counselling Singapore page, which explores how change, belonging, and adaptation can be transformed into sources of strength.
As young people navigate identity, belonging, and expectation, another powerful influence is at work within them, the changes happening inside their own bodies and brains.
Hormones, Habits, and Hidden Hurts
Adolescence is often misunderstood as just a hormonal phase, but it is a complex process involving brain development, identity formation, and social adaptation. The teenage brain is still learning how to regulate emotions, assess risks, and plan ahead. This explains why impulsive behaviour, mood swings, and risk-taking can sometimes seem confusing or alarming to parents.
Yet what appears on the surface as defiance or withdrawal often points to something deeper. Behind every impulsive act, there is often a longing to be seen, to belong, or to feel in control of one’s life. When these needs are not met, they may show up as anger, withdrawal, vaping, or risky online behaviour. These are not simply acts of rebellion but ways of coping with stress, loneliness, or self-doubt.
Our adolescent and teenage therapy in Singapore provides a safe and confidential space for young people to explore what lies beneath their behaviour. We help them develop greater emotional awareness, strengthen self-esteem, and learn to express their feelings in ways that foster trust and connection.
In counselling, we also help parents understand how their own stress responses, expectations, or communication patterns may interact with their teen’s world. When parents begin to feel calmer and more supported, they can respond rather than react — creating a ripple effect that restores safety and understanding at home.
This integrated approach brings together emotional education, practical coping skills, and family dialogue, helping teens move from confusion to clarity, from chaos to calm. It is not about fixing them, but about walking alongside them as they find their way.
As understanding grows, the tone at home softens. From here, it helps to hear both sides of the story.
At Listening Ear, we believe that beneath every struggle lies a story, and every story deserves to be heard with warmth, curiosity, and respect. The next section outlines what happens in a typical counselling journey for teens and their families, helping you know what to expect when you take this important first step.
What to Expect in a Teen Counselling Session
Here’s what happens in a typical teen counselling journey, from the first conversation to long-term growth.
Seeking teen counselling in Singapore can feel like stepping into unfamiliar territory, especially if this is your family’s first experience with therapy. Our goal is to make each teen counselling session in Singapore calm, transparent, and collaborative, so that both parents and teens feel safe, supported, and respected throughout.
The First Meeting: A Space to Feel Heard
We usually begin with a joint session involving the parent or caregiver and the teen. This helps us understand each person’s hopes, concerns, and what has been happening at home or school. It is also a time for your teen to see that counselling is not about blame or judgement, but about understanding and support.
Individual Check-ins: Understanding Each Perspective
After the first meeting, we may have individual sessions with the teen and parent. This allows each to speak freely and safely, especially when emotions run high or communication has broken down. We hold both stories with neutrality and respect, keeping your teen’s well-being at the centre of every decision.
Collaborative Planning: Setting Shared Goals
Once we have understood both sides, we work together to set meaningful goals. Using Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), we help parents and teens rebuild emotional connection. Through Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT), we support the teen in processing feelings and strengthening self-awareness. Techniques from Choice and Reality Therapy (CTRT) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) help identify what is working, build motivation, and encourage healthier choices.
Review and Reflection: Growth Over Time
As the sessions progress, we check in regularly to notice shifts in communication, mood, and confidence. Growth happens gradually and at each person’s pace. There is no rush, no judgement, only curiosity and care.
Family Sessions When Helpful
At times, we may invite parents and teens back together to practise new ways of communicating or to work through sensitive issues with guidance. This helps families experience real-time repair and renewed trust.
(All sessions are charged by time, not by the number of participants. The same rate applies whether it is individual, couple, or family. Family sessions may run slightly longer to ensure everyone is heard. You can view our Fees & Policy page for details)
As therapy unfolds, what often surprises families is that healing does not come from techniques alone but from rediscovering each other. The sessions create not only change but space, space to breathe, to see one another with fresh eyes, and to listen without defence. When communication softens and trust begins to return, something deeper happens. Beneath the layers of conflict, frustration, or silence, there is often a quiet longing, a wish to be understood, loved, and accepted.
This brings us to what many young people wish their parents truly knew.
What Teens Wish Their Parents Knew
Many teens wish their parents knew how much they love, admire, and are grateful to them, even if it doesn’t show. The eye rolls, the sighs, and the silence are rarely signs of rejection. “Leave me alone” often means, “I’m overwhelmed, please don’t stop caring, just give me space to breathe.”
Parents sometimes mistake this distance for disinterest, but most teens genuinely look up to their parents. They notice the effort, the sacrifices, and the care. What they find hard is showing it. Lecturing, comparing, or saying “You’re so lucky, in my time…” can make them feel unseen, as though their world and its pressures are being dismissed.
Between hormones, school stress, social comparison, and the noise of social media, many teens are simply doing their best to cope. What they need most is understanding, not more information, but presence.
At Listening Ear, we help create a space where those unspoken feelings can finally be heard, where love and respect can be expressed without fear, and where parents and teens can rediscover how to listen to each other.
Finding Identity and Independence
Many teens wish their parents could see that they’re not rejecting who their parents are, but trying to understand who they are becoming. They need space to make small choices, to stumble, and to learn. When parents trust them with a little freedom, it helps them trust themselves too.
They’re not trying to shut their parents out, they’re trying to grow into people their parents would be proud to know.
Peer Pressure, Bullying, and Social Media
It’s hard to explain how much pressure teens feel to fit in, to look right, and to be “enough.” Social media makes it seem as though everyone else has it all together, even when they know it isn’t real.
When parents remind them that their worth doesn’t depend on likes, grades, or perfection, it helps more than they realise. Teens may not always say it, but they need to hear that they are enough, that they’re not a disappointment, and that they haven’t brought shame to the family.
Privacy, Trust, and Emotional Safety
For many teens, privacy is not about hiding things, it’s about learning who they are without feeling constantly watched or corrected. It’s their way of saying, “Trust me while I’m still learning to trust myself.”
When parents can give them space without withdrawing love, it sends a powerful message: “I believe in you.”
Teens may take time to open up, but knowing that their parents can stay calm and available gives them the safety to return when they’re ready.
They often wish their parents understood that the silence isn’t rejection, it’s sometimes their way of processing a world that feels too loud.
Love, Respect, and Gratitude Beneath the Silence
Even when they seem distant, most teens feel deep love and respect for their parents. They notice the effort, the sacrifices, and the care that often go unspoken. They admire their parents’ strength, their humour, and how much they do to keep the family going even if they rarely say so aloud.
Embarrassment, pride, or fear of being misunderstood often keeps those feelings tucked away. But beneath the silence and the sighs, there’s usually gratitude and affection.
Many teens wish their parents could see that behind every eye roll or closed door is still a child who wants to feel connected, accepted, and seen not for their achievements, but simply for who they are.
What Parents Wish Their Kids Knew
Parenting a teenager can feel like learning a new language made of silences, sudden emotions, and conversations that fade halfway through. Many parents wish their children knew that behind every reminder, question, or boundary lies love, concern, and a deep longing to keep them safe.
Parents often feel afraid too, afraid their child is drifting away, afraid they’re saying the wrong thing, afraid of not being needed anymore. Most aren’t trying to control; they’re trying to protect. They want their child to know that even when they sound worried or firm, what they really mean is, “I care about you. I’m here, and I always will be.”
At Listening Ear Counselling & Consultancy Pte. Ltd., we help parents rediscover that calm centre: to move from fear to trust, from reacting to reconnecting. When parents learn to speak in ways their children can hear, and listen in ways their children can trust, relationships begin to heal.
We’re Still Learning Too
Parents wish their children knew that they’re still figuring it out balancing care with trust, guidance with space. They make mistakes, they overthink, and they worry late at night about whether they’ve done enough.
There’s no manual for raising you, especially in a world that moves faster and feels more complex than the one they grew up in. What they hope you’ll see is not perfection but presence: that they’re trying, every single day, to understand.
Parents often fear letting go too soon. Trusting that their child will be okay can feel like walking a tightrope between love and anxiety. Beneath the fear is faith, faith that their child’s roots are strong enough, even when their wings begin to spread.
We See You, Even When We Don’t Say It
Parents notice more than they let on the effort behind your studies, the quiet strength it takes to show up, and the courage it takes to grow. They may not always find the right words, but they see your kindness, your resilience, your humour, and the person you’re becoming.
They wish you knew how proud they are, even on the days they seem distracted or disappointed. What they want most is for you to know you’re already enough not because of what you do, but because of who you are.
The Weight Parents Carry
Many parents, especially mothers, quietly carry the weight of expectations, from family, culture, and society. The unspoken fear of being judged, of being “not good enough,” or of letting others down can be exhausting.
Sometimes that pressure spills over into parenting not out of control, but out of care. Beneath the strictness or worry is a deep wish to protect, to ensure that the sacrifices made were not in vain. Parents want their children to know: “You are not my report card; you are my heart walking outside of me.”
A Note from the Heart
There is no perfect parent, only love that keeps trying. Even when communication falters or emotions run high, what matters most is the ongoing effort to stay connected. Every family has moments of distance, confusion, or fear, yet these moments can also be invitations to pause, breathe, and rebuild.
This is where counselling can help. When conversations begin looping into frustration or silence, or when a young person’s challenges start to feel too heavy to carry alone, support can make all the difference. Therapy offers a calm, neutral space for both parents and teens to feel heard, to understand one another more deeply, and to grow stronger together.
Parents who wish to strengthen communication and rebuild trust may also explore our Parenting Support Therapy Singapore page, which provides practical tools and emotional insight to nurture a more connected relationship at home.
Whether you are a parent trying to reach your teen or a young person struggling to express what’s really going on, counselling offers a safe, neutral ground to start again. From here, we turn to some of the common issues we help families navigate in Singapore.
Common Teen Challenges We Help With
Every adolescent faces unique pressures, but some patterns appear again and again in Singapore’s fast-paced environment:
Academic Pressure and Fear of Falling Behind
Heavy workloads, streaming choices, and constant comparisons can make even capable teens feel lost or “not good enough.” Some struggle to focus, others burn out from trying too hard.
Peer Influence and Identity
The teen years bring questions of belonging, appearance, and values. Friends and social media often shape self-worth — sometimes in ways that confuse or overwhelm.
Emotional Well-being and Self-Esteem
Irritability, withdrawal, or changes in mood are often signs of deeper worries. Teens may not have the words yet, but they’re trying to manage anxiety, loneliness, or sadness
Family and Relationship Tension
Misunderstandings or unspoken expectations can lead to distance at home. Teens want independence but also long for connection, even when they seem to push it away.
A Safe Space to Reconnect, Reset, and Grow
At Listening Ear Counselling & Consultancy Pte. Ltd., we provide a safe, confidential environment for adolescent counselling in Singapore. Both parents and teenagers need to feel heard without fear of judgement. In this space, families can pause, breathe, and begin to rebuild trust and understanding.
True healing starts when every voice in the family feels valued. change becomes possible.
Our Family Counselling Fees & Session Policy
At Listening Ear Counselling & Consultancy, our fees are based on time, not the number of people in the room. The rate is the same whether the session is for an individual, a couple, or a family. Family sessions sometimes run slightly longer to allow everyone to be heard, but no additional charges apply beyond the session time.
For full details on rates, session durations, and scheduling, please see our Fees & Policy page.
Why Choose Us
Professionally Trained, Child-Centred and Family-Focussed
Competent Safe, Grounded & Understanding Space
Evidence-Based, Wellness & Strength Focussed.
Respectful of Complex, Delicate Issues
Culturally Attuned and Real World Practical
Testimonials -
What Clients Say About Us
FAQ- Frequently Asked Questions
Teen counselling Singapore is more than ordinary talk therapy. It is a collaborative, evidence-based process designed to help young people and their parents rediscover calm, connection, and confidence. Rather than “fixing a problem,” it nurtures understanding, growth, and resilience.
For many adolescents in Singapore, life can feel like a fast-spinning wheel of pressure, school expectations, friendships, social media, and identity struggles. Adolescent therapy begins by helping both body and mind slow down. Using somatic and mindfulness techniques, gentle breathing, grounding, and awareness of body sensations , teens learn how to regulate their nervous systems and find steadiness in stressful moments.
Once regulation is in place, the 4 Rs framework guides the therapeutic flow:
Regulate: calming body and mind through breath and movement.
Relate: rebuilding safety and emotional trust.
Reason: thinking clearly once calm returns.
Repair: restoring connection after conflict or hurt.
From there, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) helps transform runaway panic into manageable concern, because without understanding how thoughts affect feelings and actions, the mind can become like a “headless chicken searching for its head.”
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) and Narrative Therapy add curiosity and hope, inviting the teen to explore what’s already working and to re-author the story of their life. They learn to question the “persecutor voices” that say they are not good enough and instead discover their strengths, values, and purpose.
Our attachment-based and family-focused work reminds parents that healing happens in relationship. Through Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) and Satir’s belief in seeing the person, not the problem, families learn to communicate with empathy, honesty, and humour. When parents feel safe enough to listen, not fix , children begin to talk again.
Choice and Reality Therapy (CTRT) adds the dimension of agency and responsibility: helping young people realise that, even when life feels out of control, they always have the power to choose their responses. This sense of ownership fosters maturity without shame.
Throughout, we hold a salutogenic lens, looking for what keeps each person well, resourceful, and connected. We celebrate strengths, resilience, and meaning-making, not pathology.
For the child, teen counselling is a journey of discovering the wonder within ,to know they are not broken, not alone, and worthy of love and respect.
For the parent, it is an opportunity to allay fear, build connection, and rediscover joy in their child’s unfolding self.
Because in the end, it’s not the survival of the fittest that matters —
it’s the survival of the nurtured.
Yes. Confidentiality is a vital part of counselling and the foundation of trust. For teenagers, it provides a safe, non-judgemental space where they can talk honestly about their fears, mistakes, and struggles without fear of being blamed or shamed. When a young person feels emotionally safe, they can begin to express what has been hidden, and that honesty is what allows healing to begin.
Many forms of emotional pain, including abuse, often remain unspoken because of shame. Teens may fear that what happened to them will cause disappointment or judgment, so they stay silent. Confidentiality helps to break that silence. It tells the young person, “You are safe here; your story matters.” When shame loses its secrecy, it loses its power.
Parents remain essential partners in this process. We work with informed consent, meaning both parent and teen understand what will remain private and what may be shared. Parents are updated on general progress and themes, but not on the teen’s private details unless sharing is necessary for safety or agreed upon together.
If a teen discloses something that indicates a risk of harm to themselves or others, or reveals abuse, we have a duty to act to protect their safety. When this happens, we handle it with care, explaining the steps and involving parents or guardians as appropriately and compassionately as possible.
Confidentiality is not about keeping parents out; it is about creating the safety that allows truth to come out. Counselling is ultimately about safety, trust, and respect, helping both teens and parents move beyond fear and shame toward understanding and repair.
It’s not always easy to know when your teen needs professional support. Adolescence is a time of discovery and change, but when emotional ups and downs persist, it may be more than just a phase.
Here are some helpful signs your child or youth may need counselling support:
Your child or teen has been behaving differently for the past month or more.
It’s becoming harder to soothe or calm their emotions.
You’ve noticed a steady decline in their school performance or motivation.
Their circle of friends has changed noticeably, or they’re spending more time alone.
The strain of parenting them has started to affect your own relationship or marriage.
Teachers or other adults have raised concerns about their behaviour or mood.
They seem distant, withdrawn, or unusually quiet.
They often speak negatively about themselves or express hopelessness.
You feel helpless when they share their struggles, unsure how to comfort them.
You find yourself worrying constantly about their future and well-being.
Our therapists are here to listen and understand the wide range of emotions and issues young people may be facing, including:
Difficulty adjusting to a new culture or environment
Low confidence or self-esteem
Bullying
Interpersonal and social difficulties
Emotional regulation challenges
Stress, anxiety, or depression
Separation anxiety
Body image concerns and eating issues
Self-harm or risky behaviours
Frequent tantrums, anger, or aggression
Sex-related or identity issues
Grief and loss
Motivation and academic challenges
ADHD or attention difficulties
Dyslexia or learning struggles
Addictions or compulsive habits
If any of these sound familiar, know that you’re not alone — and that help is available. Counselling can provide your teen with tools to express themselves safely, build resilience, and rediscover their sense of hope.
You can also learn more about our approach, confidentiality, and fees here:
Our therapists support a wide range of emotional, social, and behavioural concerns, including:
Adjustment to a new culture or environment
Confidence and self-esteem
Bullying and social issues
Emotional regulation and stress
Anxiety, depression, and low mood
Separation anxiety
Body image and eating concerns
Self-harm or risk-taking
Anger management and aggression
Grief and loss
Academic challenges and motivation
ADHD and dyslexia
Addictions
Family conflict or parental separation
Each session is tailored to the young person’s pace and personality. The aim is to understand what lies beneath the behaviour, and to build resilience, not labels.
Yes, though not always in the same room at the same time. At Listening Ear Counselling & Consultancy, we recognise that teen counselling Singapore works best when parents are part of the healing system, not seen as the problem. Family relationships are the ecosystem in which a young person grows, and when one part of that system is stressed, everyone feels it.
In some sessions, the teen may meet the counsellor alone to build trust, privacy, and self-expression — essential for emotional safety. In other sessions, parents may be invited to join to understand the child’s world more deeply and to rebuild connection through empathy, not interrogation.
We often describe the process as a gentle dance between independence and interdependence. The goal is not to exclude parents, but to include them in a way that honours the young person’s need for confidentiality while strengthening the family bond.
Parents often discover that counselling is as much about their own emotional regulation as their child’s. Using tools from attachment-based therapy, Satir’s family systems approach, and Choice Theory and Reality Therapy (CTRT), parents learn how to respond calmly rather than react impulsively. They also practise mindfulness and breathing techniques to stay grounded during emotional storms, modelling the very regulation they hope to see in their child.
Through this collaborative process, parents and teens gain shared language and practical tools:
SFBT (Solution-Focused Brief Therapy) helps families notice what’s already working rather than focusing on blame.
Narrative Therapy invites parents to hear their child’s story without rushing to fix it, opening space for curiosity and compassion.
CBT-informed approaches guide both parent and child to recognise unhelpful thought patterns and replace them with realistic, balanced perspectives.
Each family is different, so the level of parental involvement is tailored to the child’s comfort and developmental stage. Some families benefit from joint sessions, while others find it useful to have parallel parent sessions to process their own fears, frustrations, or guilt.
Ultimately, counselling is not about deciding who is right, but how to reconnect. When parents approach therapy as partners rather than observers, teens begin to feel understood instead of judged, and that understanding becomes the foundation for trust and growth.
It’s very common for teens to stay quiet in counselling, especially at first. Silence is not resistance, it’s often protection. Many young people have learned that when they share their feelings, they might be judged, corrected, or told what to do. So they stop talking, not because they don’t care, but because they’re not sure it’s safe to be honest.
Counselling begins by rebuilding that sense of safety. We don’t force conversations. We offer warmth, patience, and curiosity until trust grows. Sometimes it starts with simple things, talking about school, music, or what feels stressful. When the teen feels understood rather than analysed, words begin to come.
The aim is not to fix your child, but to help them see that they are not alone and that their feelings make sense. Shame often tells young people to stay silent, especially if they believe something is “wrong” with them. But therapy helps them see that being human is not a problem to be solved , it’s an experience to be understood.
In psychology, the Johari Window reminds us that we all have blind spots, parts of ourselves we can’t see until someone helps us notice. A counsellor becomes that safe mirror: a person who sees, listens, and helps your teen discover what they already have inside.
Sometimes what they need most is not an expert, but someone like a trusted grandparent, coach, or teacher , someone who cares, listens without taking sides, and helps them feel seen again. That’s what good counselling offers: a relationship built on respect, trust, and understanding, where silence slowly becomes story, and story becomes healing.