Counseling for Children
Giving Children the Tools & Confidence to Flourish
Parenting is a joy-filled and exhausting adventure. As a parent of of two I understand there are times our children can challenge our knowledge and skills in ways we hadn't anticipated. You may find yourself in a parenting moment and question how you even got there in the first place. Despite their small stature, kids can have very big feelings. Childhood is a critical period when children develop the tools to regulate their emotions, solve interpersonal challenges, and learn to deal with disappointment and changes in routine. We want our children to thrive! Counseling can help them develop a positive self-concept, learn new strategies, and gain confidence to take on new challenges with optimism. We teach children to read, write, and calculate, we also need to equip our little ones with valuable social-emotional skills.
Counseling may be helpful if your child . . .
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Is receiving reports from school that their behaviors are interfering with their learning or their peers' learning
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Experiences intense waves of emotions and has a difficult time calming down without significant assistance
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Frequently displays sadness and irritability
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Displays loss of interest in friends and activities
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Struggles to form friendships with same-age peers
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Feels overly anxious or fearful
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Has difficulty separating from caregivers
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Needs to wash, clean things, or perform tasks in a particular order or way.
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Has difficulty managing frustration, disappointment, and accepting "no"
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Starts falling behind in school and receiving low grades
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Has lost someone they are close to
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Has experienced a traumatic event
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Has experienced big changes (i.e., divorce/ separation, caregiver chronic illness)
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Talks about wanting to die
What does counseling for children look like?
Kids just want to have fun! I utilize games, experiments, and play to tailor therapeutic concepts in ways that are engaging, developmentally appropriate, and aligned with a child's unique interests (from Star Wars to unicorns!). I primarily utilize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with children. There is extensive research supporting the effectiveness of CBT for children with conditions like anxiety, depression, and trauma. CBT helps children understand the link between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and teaches them ways to challenge and change negative ways of thinking. With CBT children also learn and practice healthy coping behaviors they can take with them across their lifespan to face their fears, reduce irritability, and manage loneliness and sadness.
Parents are the experts on their kids. Working in tandem with a child's grownups is critical to a child generalizing their newly developed skills outside of the therapy office. This is why caregiver consultation and coaching is also a major component of child counseling.
At Flourish Psychology and Wellness my aim is to provide clients with an environment that fosters feelings of safety, respect, and support.