Adolescence: Challenge and Opportunity for Parents

Adolescence: Challenge and Opportunity for Parents. The Family Therapy Institute of the Open Psychotherapy Centre, in collaboration with the Association of Family and Couples Therapists, organized a workshop on Saturday, April 16, 2016.

Adolescence brings a new era to the family. The boundaries of the family need to be readjusted relaxed and made more permeable in order to allow for the ever-increasing autonomy of children.

Adolescents begin to differentiate themselves from the family, identify with their peer group, and form their own identity. Parents refocus their attention on themselves and their relationship, their personal goals, and caring for the older generation. Also, during this period, parents cease to exercise absolute authority, as adolescents expand the family into a new system of values, through their friends and experiences outside the family.

The conference included theoretical lectures followed by discussions, as well as experiential workshops in small groups to reinforce the theoretical material.