When worry starts running your teen's life.
You've tried talking. You've tried giving space. You've read the articles at midnight. If anxiety is shrinking your teen's world, school, friends, sleep, the things they used to love, you're in the right place.
Fifteen minutes · free · no pressure. Your personal information is never shared. All video and audio sessions are private and hosted on a HIPAA-compliant platform.
Anxiety in teens rarely says "I'm anxious."
More often it looks like:
- ·school refusal or Sunday-night meltdowns
- ·stomachaches and headaches with no medical cause
- ·perfectionism and fear of disappointing
- ·withdrawal from friends or activities they used to love
- ·irritability that seems to come from nowhere
- ·endless reassurance-seeking ("are you mad at me?")
- ·avoidance that keeps shrinking their world
If several of those landed, trust that instinct. It's usually right.
Their world, on their terms.
Teens open up when the work is about what matters to them, not what matters to me, and not a script handed down by adults. So that's where we start: their world, their pressures, on their terms.
The frame underneath is the same one this whole practice is built on: anxiety isn't just anxious thoughts. It lives in the nervous system and the instinctual drive, the part of your teen that knows what it wants, what it doesn't, and what to do next. That part hasn't disappeared. It's been drowned out by pressure, comparison, and fear of getting it wrong. My job is to help them hear it, and trust it, again.
A personal note: I do this work partly because I know exactly what it would have meant to me at that age.
Practically: weekly 50-minute sessions, in person in Chestnut Mountain or by telehealth anywhere in Georgia. Structured like all my work, a designed program of six to eight weeks, then a reassessment, because teens and parents both do better when they can see the shape of the thing.
You're a key piece of this, not a bystander.
How involved you are is something we'll shape around your teen. Some teens want a parent in the room, at least at first. Some need the space to be fully theirs. Either way, I want you as involved as you and your teen are comfortable with, because you're the permanent relationship in their life. I'm temporary. Any insight I can give you outlives the therapy.
Practically: we start with a free 15-minute parent call, and the intake includes you. Before we begin, the three of us agree on what stays private and what gets shared, so nobody is guessing. Anything safety-related comes to you immediately.
Anxious teens are almost never broken.
What I've learned is that often an anxious teen's nervous system is working overtime, bracing for a world of expectations, comparison, and the fear of getting it wrong. And it's usually the most conscientious kids who carry it hardest. The ones who care about doing well, who notice everything, who don't want to disappoint anyone.
All that bracing costs something: access to the deeper parts of themselves, drive, vitality, boldness. Speaking up. Setting a boundary. Wanting something out loud and going after it. That's the real work here. Not managing the anxiety from the outside, but reconnecting your teen to the part of them that was never anxious to begin with.
$150 per 50-minute session; $200 intake (75 minutes, parents included). Fees cover more than the hour: A full 6 Sides of You Assessment, readouts, reports, as well as workbooks and mini-books (if needed or requested) matched to your teen's patterns are all included. Private pay; superbills available for out-of-network reimbursement. Monday & Friday in person in Chestnut Mountain (serving the Gainesville, Flowery Branch, Braselton, Buford, and South Hall area). Tuesday & Thursday telehealth, statewide.
Tell me what's going on.
I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit, and if I'm not, I'll point you toward someone who is.
Request a FREE 15-Minute Parent Consult →Your personal information is never shared. All video and audio sessions are private and hosted on a HIPAA-compliant platform.
Prefer email? matt.wellspring@gmail.com
Not the right page? See adult anxiety counseling →