Can you use Lifespan Integration on Teens or Kids?

The teenage years are a time of intense growth, change, and self-discovery. While this developmental period can be exciting and expansive, it can also surface unresolved traumas, attachment wounds, and painful memories from earlier in life. For many teens, these past experiences can fuel current struggles like anxiety, depression, relationship conflicts, and self-harming behaviors.

If you’re a parent or caregiver seeking support for a struggling teen, you may feel overwhelmed by the many therapeutic options available. How do you find an approach that is both gentle enough to meet your teen’s unique sensitivities and powerful enough to create lasting change?

Enter Lifespan Integration (LI) therapy – a cutting-edge, body-based treatment that helps teens and adolescents heal past wounds and rewire their nervous systems for greater resilience and self-regulation. In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into what LI is, how it works, and why it can be so effective for young people. We’ll also explore how you can access this transformative therapy online from the comfort of your home in Alabama.

You can schedule with Pamela Hayes to do Lifespan Integration via teletherapy anywhere in Alabama.

What is Lifespan Integration Therapy?

Lifespan Integration (LI) is a gentle, yet powerful therapeutic method that aims to heal past traumas and attachment disruptions by reconnecting the brain and body across time. Developed by Peggy Pace in 2002, LI combines elements of neuroscience, developmental psychology, and somatic experiencing to help clients of all ages integrate painful memories and create a more coherent, continuous sense of self.

At the heart of LI is the understanding that our early experiences, particularly those involving our primary caregivers, lay the foundation for how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world throughout our lives. When a young child experiences neglect, abuse, misattunement, or other attachment wounds, their developing brain often splits off or dissociates from the painful memories as a means of survival. While this protective mechanism serves an important function in the short-term, over time it can leave the person feeling fragmented, disconnected, and burdened by inexplicable symptoms.

LI works by gently guiding the client to revisit these past memories in a safe, contained way, while simultaneously activating the body’s natural healing mechanisms. Using a specific timeline protocol and bilateral stimulation (usually in the form of eye movements or tapping), the therapist helps the client’s brain re-process the implicit, sensory elements of the memory and link it back up with the explicit, narrative parts. This allows the younger, wounded parts of the self to finally receive the attunement, validation, and repair they needed at the time, and to integrate those experiences into a more coherent life story.

One of the unique features of LI is its focus on the client’s innate resources and resilience. Rather than diving headfirst into traumatic material, LI sessions always begin and end with positive, nurturing experiences that remind the client’s nervous system of its capacity for safety, connection, and joy. This helps to widen their “window of tolerance” and prevents re-traumatization.

How Can Lifespan Integration Help Teens and Adolescents? While LI can be beneficial for people of all ages, it can be especially impactful for teens and adolescents struggling with:

• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Complex developmental trauma
• Attachment wounds and disorders
• Self-harm and suicidal ideation
• Substance abuse and addictive behaviors
• Eating disorders
• Identity and self-esteem issues
• Relationship difficulties and social anxiety

For many teens, the turbulence of adolescence can feel overwhelming and destabilizing. Hormonal shifts, brain changes, and increasing social pressures can amplify underlying feelings of disconnection, worthlessness, and fear. Teens may turn to risky behaviors like substance use, self-harm, or disordered eating in an attempt to numb out or cope with their emotional pain.

LI can help teens move beyond these surface-level symptoms and address the deeper roots of their suffering. By revisiting key moments in their development and providing the attunement and repair that were missing, LI helps teens construct a more integrated, compassionate sense of self. They learn to embrace ALL parts of their story and being, not just the ones deemed “acceptable” by others.

This increased self-acceptance and coherence has ripple effects across all areas of a teen’s life. They may feel more equipped to navigate challenges, communicate their needs, and form healthy relationships. They may experience improved focus and academic performance, as well as reduced anxiety and depression. Most importantly, they begin to trust their own inner wisdom and resilience, rather than depending on external validation or numbing strategies to get by.

What Happens in a Lifespan Integration Session?

If you’re considering LI therapy for your teen, you might be wondering what a typical session looks like. While each therapist brings their own style and approach, most LI sessions follow a similar structure:

1. Establishing safety and resources: The therapist will spend time getting to know your teen and helping them feel comfortable in the space. They may guide your teen through grounding exercises, resource visualization, or safe place imagery to cultivate a felt sense of safety and stability in the body.
2. Choosing a timeline and target memory: Once your teen feels resourced, the therapist will help them identify a specific timeline or theme to work with in the session. This could be a particular age range, a certain type of experience (e.g. times they felt abandoned), or a current issue that seems to have roots in the past. Together, they will choose a specific memory or “scene” to begin the re-processing.
3. Activating the memory and applying bilateral stimulation: With the target memory in mind, the therapist will guide your teen to notice any sensations, emotions, or images that arise in their body. They will then begin applying bilateral stimulation (usually eye movements or tapping) while your teen focuses on the memory. This dual attention stimulates the brain’s natural processing mechanisms and allows the implicit, sensory elements of the memory to integrate with the explicit, narrative parts.
4. Moving through time and integrating: After each “round” of processing, the therapist will invite your teen to notice any shifts or insights that have emerged. They will then guide them to imagine moving forward in time, linking the target memory to other related memories and resources along the timeline. This helps to create a sense of continuity and coherence, as well as to generalize the healing to other parts of your teen’s life.
5. Returning to safety and debriefing: Once the timeline feels complete for that session, the therapist will guide your teen back to the present moment and help them return to a state of grounded safety in the body. They may invite your teen to share any reflections or takeaways from the session, and to identify any self-care practices or resources they can use in the coming days.

It’s important to note that LI is a collaborative, client-led process. The therapist is not “doing” anything to your teen, but rather facilitating their own innate healing process. Your teen is in charge of the pace and depth of the work, and can stop or redirect the process at any time. This empowers your teen to trust their own inner knowing and to develop a sense of agency in their healing.

Finding a Lifespan Integration Therapist in Alabama (Online)

If you’re interested in exploring LI therapy for your teen, you might be wondering how to find a qualified practitioner in your area. The good news is, with the advent of teletherapy, you can now access LI from the comfort of your own home in Alabama. You can schedule with Pamela Hayes at Taproot Therapy Collective.

Many LI therapists have shifted to offering virtual sessions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing demand for accessible, remote therapy options. This means you can connect with a trained LI practitioner from anywhere in the state, without having to worry about travel time or exposure risks.

To find an LI therapist who offers online sessions, you can start by checking the official Lifespan Integration directory at https://lifespanintegration.com/directory/. Here you can search for practitioners by location, specialty, and treatment modality. Look for therapists who specify “online” or “teletherapy” in their listing.

You can also try searching for “Lifespan Integration Therapy Online Alabama” or similar keywords in your preferred search engine. This may yield results for specific therapists or practices that offer LI virtually in your area.

When contacting potential therapists, be sure to ask about their experience working with teens and adolescents, as well as their specific training in LI. While LI can be beneficial for all ages, it’s important to work with someone who understands the unique developmental needs and challenges of this age group.

You’ll also want to inquire about their teletherapy setup and protocols. Make sure they use a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform and have a plan for ensuring privacy and confidentiality in the virtual space. Ask about their fees, insurance acceptance, and scheduling policies to make sure they are a good fit for your family’s needs and resources.

Most importantly, trust your gut and your teen’s intuition when choosing a therapist. The therapeutic relationship is the foundation of all healing work, so it’s essential to find someone who feels safe, attuned, and resonant for your teen. Many therapists offer free consultation calls to help you get a sense of their style and approach before committing to working together.

Bibliography:

1. Pace, Peggy. Lifespan Integration: Connecting Ego States through Time. 6th ed., Lifespan Integration, LLC, 2020.
2. Thorpe, Carole. “What Is Lifespan Integration Therapy?” Counselling Directory, 20 Feb. 2020, www.counselling-directory.org.uk/memberarticles/what-is-lifespan-integration-therapy.
3. “About Lifespan Integration Therapy.” Lifespan Integration, 2021, lifespanintegration.com/about-li-therapy/.
4. “Trauma-Focused Therapies.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 June 2021, www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/treatments.html.
5. Headington Institute. “Glossary of Trauma Therapy Terms and Techniques.” Headington Institute, 2022, headington-institute.org/resource/trauma-therapy-glossary. Accessed [insert date].
6. O’Shea Brown, Karen. “Lifespan Integration Therapy Helps Clients Connect to Their Authentic Self.” Counseling Today, 30 Nov. 2015, ct.counseling.org/2015/11/lifespan-integration-therapy-helps-clients-connect-to-their-authentic-self/.
7. Kressler, Georgia. “Lifespan Integration Therapy: A New Hope for Treating Complex Trauma.” GoodTherapy, 13 Feb. 2013, www.goodtherapy.org/blog/lifespan-integration-therapy-new-hope-treating-complex-trauma-0213135.
8. Hehenkamp, Leo. “Lifespan Integration (LI).” Trauma Counseling, 2021, traumacounseling.com/lifespan-integration-li/.
9. Siegel, Daniel J., and Tina Payne Bryson. The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind. Bantam Books, 2012.
10. “Find a Lifespan Integration Therapist.” Lifespan Integration, 2021, lifespanintegration.com/directory/.

Tags: #LifespanIntegration, #LItherapy, #teensandadolescents, #onlinetherapy, #teletherapy, #Alabama, #traumahealing, #developmentaltrauma, #attachmentwounds, #bodybasedtherapy, #somaticexperiencing, #bilateralstimulation, #windowoftolerance, #PTSD, #anxiety, #depression, #substanceabuse, #HIPAAcompliant