Counseling for Teens Who Are Anxious About College (Part 1)
When you’re anxious about college, that anxiety can bleed into a lot of different situations, and look a lot of different ways.
You may feel anxious to the point of distraction, and you can’t focus on doing your homework - even if college is a couple years away.
You may feel anxious on the inside but seem really angry on the outside, because your anxiety about all the big changes coming your way is making it hard for you to feel calm.
You may feel both anxious and excited, and with college a full semester away you’re noticing that it’s hard to stay in the moment and be present for your last few months of highschool.
No matter what your anxiety about college looks like, it can be helpful to get counseling.
Counseling provides a space for you to process what’s going on, dig underneath the surface, and really understand why you’re feeling the way that you are - and what you can actually do about it.
This week, we’ll walk through the first two big steps we take at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis. On January 3rd, you’ll find part two!
Every single therapist tailors their treatment to you, but we want to give you the broad strokes on how we deal with anxiety about college, whether if it looks like an anger issue, an anxiety issue, or a distraction issue.
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Psychoeducation on College Anxiety
The first step to treating any problem is to understand it - and to understand how common it is.
Many of the teens, and even college students, that we work with at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis feel anxiety about college. It’s a whole new level of responsibility, with big expectations, and people often feel a big pressure to succeed and do well.
And because we’re anxiety specialists, we know how important it is to normalize those feelings of anxiety, stress, and perfectionism.
Anxiety and depression are common among college students, with 41 percent of students experiencing anxiety and 36 percent having depression, according to survey data from the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors. - Dr. Leila Haghighat, ABC News
Over 40% of college students experience anxiety in this survey of freshman entering college, and whether that anxiety was already there or just exacerbated by being at college, we know that it’s common. And we know that it’s treatable.
So how do we treat it? We build relaxations skills, understanding of affective expression, and cognitive coping, so that you have a really huge toolbox ready to go.
Let’s talk more about relaxation this week. January 3rd, we’ll dive in to cognitive coping and affective expression - so make sure to come back!
Relaxation Skills for College Students
One of the best things to do for anxiety management is build up your relaxation skills toolbox. Relaxation can include breathing activities, muscle activities, and meditation activities - and can also be active or passive, like going on a bike ride or just chilling out to a tv. The most important part of relaxation is tuning in to what’s going on in your body so that you know when your relaxation practice is effective.
We recommend trying out our many relaxation skills walkthroughs already on the blog, and finding which ones work best for you.
"It Is What It Is" Guided Meditation: Letting Go Of Control and Stress
You’ll also find several really good walkthroughs in When Anxiety Makes You Angry (pre-order here)
Why the Relationship is Crucial in Teen Therapy and College Student Therapy
That therapeutic relationship - knowing that you’re feeling heard, understood, and respected by your counselor - is more important than psychoeducation, relaxation skills building, or learning how to just cope with your anxiety about college. It’s more important than any intervention we can do.
At Compassionate Counseling St. Louis we make sure to incorporate your feedback into each and every session, to make sure your anxiety is getting better, not worse, and that you’re getting what you need to out of therapy - instead of having to come week after week and not knowing if what you’re doing is actually making a difference.
Adolescent Counseling in St. Louis MO
Our therapists work with kids, teens, and college students age 4 on up, and we’re always happy to set up a call to talk more about how we can help - and if we’re the best fit for what’s going on.
Schedule a call right on our website - we can’t wait to help.
Part 2: Counseling When You’re Anxious About College
Kelsey Torgerson Dunn, MSW, LCSW is the author of When Anxiety Makes You Angry and owner of Compassionate Counseling St. Louis, where we specialize in anxiety and anger management for kids, teens, and college students. We provide therapy for teens and college students throughout the St. Louis area.
