Psychotherapy for Children
I provide individual and parent-child (dyadic) treatment for children and teens as well as parenting support
for a range of child mental health concerns and life stressors.
CHILD THERAPY AND PARENT GUIDANCE
I find that parents often try their best to manage for as long and as best as they can before the feeling of frustration, fear or helplessness takes to the forefront and psychotherapy is sought. Despite love and the best of intentions, parents’ perspectives can get blurred or parents can get entrenched in habitual reactions instead of thinking creatively.
Child therapy goes hand in hand with parent guidance to assist parents in learning new, more adaptive strategies to help their child to cope emotionally and behaviorally and to find more successful, rewarding ways of relating to the child. In turn, the child develops a greater capacity to cope with stressful feelings, express him or herself effectively and experience a more secure parent-child relationship. Problematic behaviors wane and more adaptive behaviors emerge. Parent-child psychotherapy can also help the pair develop greater attunement, compatibility, satisfaction and trust with one another.
- Anxiety and Mood Disturbances
- Fears and Phobias
- Oppositional and Defiant Behaviors
- Emotion Regulation Difficulties
- Separation and Attachment Issues
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)
- Early Childhood (ages 0-5) Mental Health Concerns (e.g., tantrums, sleep, food, toileting)
- Social Dynamics
- Academic or Learning Related Difficulties
- Traumatic Experiences
- Loss and Bereavement
- Medical or Health Conditions
- Adoption
- Divorce
- Conflicts of Identity and Culture
- Parenting Dilemmas and Parent-Child Conflict
PRESCHOOL CONSULTATION
I have spent many years in the preschool classroom as a programmatic consultant to teachers and administrators as well as consulting on individual children. Preschools are often the first place that mental health or developmental challenges come up on the radar screen, when the demands of the activities, transitions, and/or social environment overwhelm a child’s capacities.
Are you a preschool or daycare with concerns about a particular child’s development, emotional needs, behaviors or social interactions? Would you like to make the environment a better place for emotional learning? Perhaps you’d like a talk on a particular topic related to child development?
Should any of these services be of interest, you may contact me for further information.
