Parent Version | Child / Teen Version
(If you are a child or teenager please go to the Child / Teen Version of this page)
What your child may be experiencing
- Worry and stress about grades, fitting in with friends, social media
- Depressed or sad and isolating themselves, not caring about things
- Anger, easily upset, towards family, friends or teachers
- Low self-esteem and low self-confidence
- Social anxiety, difficulty making friends, or shyness
- Arguing and defiance
Your child may not want to tell you how they are really doing, leaving you wondering what is going on with them. You may have tried many different ways to help your child and your child responds with more apathy or defiance. As your child continues to struggle, they may become more disconnected from family and friends, overwhelmed with all the stress, and apathetic towards life.
How Kids and Teen Therapy may be helpful
- Create a safe and trusting space for your child to share about themselves, their struggles and successes
- Explore who your child wants to be and become and their goals for themselves
- Identify other ways to deal with and cope with their struggles and learn problem solving skills
- Use play therapy, with younger or less verbal kids, and engage in the child’s preferred activities, such as drawing or shooting hoops, to facilitate sharing and learning new skills
- Learning ways to communicate more effectively and appropriately and advocate for oneself
- Explore ways to improve child’s relationship with family and friends
Much of my experience as a therapist has been working with children and parents. I’ve worked with children and teenagers with many of the challenges mentioned earlier. Connecting with children and teenagers has required patience, understanding and creativity.
Your role as a parent in therapy
In working with children and teenagers, it’s important to work in conjunction with you, as the parents, as well. Progress in therapy with children is often limited unless you learn how to better understand your child’s struggles and how to better support your child. Please see the Parent Support / Therapy page for more information.
Parent Version | Child / Teen Version
Contact me to ask any other questions or to schedule a free 20-minute consultation