Child & Adolescent Counseling

Child Centered Play Therapy

Until late childhood, children’s primary method of expressing themselves, working through problems is through play. When young children are facing difficulties using a play therapy approach is often the best course of treatment. A therapist will work with your child using a variety of methods such as free play, art, puppets, books and storytelling to help identify and resolve the presenting concerns.

Filial Play Therapy

Two of the most important features of successful therapy with young children are the use of play and involvement of caregivers. Filial Therapy combines these two factors. As a parent, filial will teach you how to understand and support your child’s emotional experience and increase trust in your relationship. Filial allows children to express themselves and work through problems with the support of their parents. Filial has been successful with a range of problems such as behavior issues, divorce, grief, trauma, attachment disruptions, and self-esteem problems.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

PCIT is a standardized treatment approach designed to address behavior problems in children. PCIT will teach parents how to more effectively respond to and reduce their child’s challenging behaviors and helps children learn to obey. PCIT is designed for children ages 2 to 6 and works well with issues such as defiance, inattention, hyperactivity, destructive behaviors, whining, and anxiety.

Traumatic Experiences

All parents want their children to have a fun and care-free childhood but this is not the case for every child. Our therapists have experience working with children and their families who have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, neglect or a traumatic loss. Many of our therapists are trained in using Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), a research-supported model.

School Issues

If the nightly battle over homework is overtaking your evenings or your child’s grades keep dropping, family and individual therapy can help. Together, we will examine all the factors contributing to the problem, rule out possible underlying mental health issues, and work towards finding solutions that work for your student.

Self-Esteem & Self-Image

Navigating through turbulent years of middle and high school is hard for most teenagers. For some teens the expected insecurities change to struggling to believe they have anything to offer, thinking that they are not as good as their peers, and starting to experience depressive symptoms. If your teen is struggling with their self-esteem, we can help them process their feelings and concerns and help you find ways to be a support for them.