Child & Adolescent Therapy
Your child or teenager may display signs and behaviors indicating therapy would be beneficial for your child and your family. A child or teenager experiencing distress may suddenly begin acting “out of character” and/or displaying rebellious behavior. A child who is experiencing developmental or social difficulties may start to behave in ways not considered “normal” or socially appropriate for their age. You may notice changes in a child’s behaviors and mood whether while at home, school, or both.
If your child or teen has experienced a significant trauma such as abuse, divorce, a loss of a loved one, a chronic illness, or being a witness to violence, whether recent or in the past, but has not received treatment to address it, child and adolescent therapy would be extremely beneficial in facilitating the healing process.
What specific signs may indicate my child is in distress and could benefit from therapy?
Common signs of mental health issues or psychological distress include:
Common Goals of Child & Adolescent Therapy
Common goals of child therapy vary and are dependent on a child or teen’s unique and individual needs. Every child has their own unique experience and perspective of the world around them. The ability of a child to express and process their feelings, emotions, and experiences in a positive and healthy way, is largely determined by their current environment, past experiences, and how they have learned to see the world. An important part of treatment is meeting the child where they are, appreciating their uniqueness and individuality, while providing support, encouragement, and a non-judgmental attitude.
Child & Adolescent Therapy focuses on addressing the issues in a child’s life which are significantly impacting their growth, development, mental health, and well-being. In therapy, children learn to express their feelings and emotions in more positive ways while engaging in behaviors that better help meet their wants and needs. The overall goal of child therapy is helping a child or teen learn new tools, techniques, and methods that can better prepare them for any challenges they may face -both now and in the future.
Therapy goals are designed to help a child successfully cope with challenging situations that may trigger the following emotions:
Depression & Anxiety
One of the main benefits of therapy for children and teens is that it teaches children to effectively manage emotional distress and symptoms of depression and/or anxiety by themselves. Specifically, children and teens learn how to prevent panic attacks, and deal with anxiety in more positive and healthier ways. Teens can learn to identify the signs of depression and the related negative thought patterns and habits and behaviors contributing to their depression.
For example, a teenager with anxiety may learn breathing/meditation exercises, stress management/relaxation techniques, positive self-talk, and the importance of reaching out to someone when feeling overwhelmed, distressed, depressed, or anxious.
A child therapist helps a child understand that by keeping our feelings and emotions bottled up inside, it tends to make any given experience or situation worse. By encouraging a child to express their negative feelings, emotions, and fears during therapy, a child or teen learns not only the benefits of seeking help, but how the expression these feelings allow for the ability to deal with, manage, and resolve the very issues causing them turmoil. Therefore, counseling provides your child with an important toolbox of coping mechanisms that he/she can use when experiencing depression and/or anxiety.
Trauma
The truth is some children are exposed to disturbing situations which may traumatize them – events no child should bear witness to or experience. The negative and heartbreaking effects of trauma can include shock, disbelief, detachment, emotional or social numbness, fear, anxiety, and depression. And, unfortunately, in some cases, it can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
PTSD symptoms in children may include a strong desire to avoid trauma-related people and/or places, intense and upsetting memories, flashbacks, and/or nightmares, sleep issues like insomnia, and uncontrollable anger, aggression, and/or agitation. Child therapy provides children suffering from these PTSD symptoms an outlet to share their feelings, fears, and concerns.
Therapy can give these children a voice – one, in which they can talk about what happened to them and how it made them feel then and how it makes them feel now. Therapy encourages these children to share their feelings and emotions, regardless of what they are, instead of keeping them bottled up inside.
Most importantly, therapy can help these children understand they are not to blame for what happened to them. Rather than being victims or perpetrators - they become survivors.
In working with a child therapist, children and teens learn it’s okay and healthy to talk about what happened to him/her. The therapist can introduce a variety of coping mechanisms to use when feeling overwhelmed with feelings and emotions related to his/her trauma. So, when a child experiences a distressing memory or flashback, he/she will be able to pull a tool out of their toolbox to deal with it.
Examples of tools may include deep breathing exercises, meditation, mindfulness, taking a time-out to regroup, talking to a trusted friend or relative about how he/she is feeling, practicing stress management/relaxation techniques, focusing on the positive, and looking at the event or experience in a different way (a technique called reframing).
Divorce
When a parent’s marriage ends, it can be very distressing for a child. It is very common for children to blame themselves for the divorce. It is also common for these children to feel that because they caused the end of the marriage, they are unlovable. Then there’s the unfortunate consequence of divorce – child custody issues. Some custody arrangements are amicable, but sometimes they are tense, causing a custody battle between parents.
Having to choose between parents can make children feel uneasy, anxious, and guilty, especially when it comes to who they want to live with. In addition, children, whose choices may not align with their parents or siblings often feel sad, confused, distressed, and overwhelmed.
Child therapists can teach children, who are going through or who have gone through a divorce, how to cope with their conflicting and confusing feelings in a wide range of techniques, such as meditation, deep breathing, art or music therapy, positive self-talk, journaling, exercising, and talking to a trusted friend or relative about their feelings and thoughts.
Grief
The result of the loss of a loved one, pet, friend, home, or school can lead to a considerable amount of grief in children. If distressing to an adult, it can become ten times worse for a child, who does not have the maturity level, life experiences, or coping mechanisms which an adult may have.
The grieving process for children can be extremely difficult to understand and grasp. Children and teens experiencing grief and loss may become enveloped in confusing, conflicting, and fluctuating feelings such as numbness, denial, loss, sadness, despair, depression, anxiety, and anger/rage. During this time, they may begin exhibiting negative and disruptive behaviors and/or regress to behaviors inappropriate for their age such as temper tantrums, excessive clinging or whining, wetting the bed, using drugs or alcohol, or engaging in sexual behaviors.
Children miss the person, pet, place, or thing they loved so dearly and do not know how to channel the pain into something healthier. They become overwhelmed with the pain of missing the person, place, or thing they loved so much while not knowing how to channel this pain into something more positive and healthy. An inability to find a way to channel grief can cause a child to develop irrational thought patterns such as beliefs they too will die soon or fears that someone else they love will leave. Children may believe the loss was due to something they did or did not do and they may feel immeasurable guilt that they did not do anything to prevent the loss.
Child therapist help children and teens better understand the grief process while teaching them it is normal and okay to experience conflicting and confusing emotions. Children learn that grief is a normal emotion which often comes in waves and it is important to experience these emotions in order to heal from the loss. In therapy, children are encouraged to talk about the loss as much and as often as possible until they are able to process it in a way that makes sense for them.
Grief has no time limit and there is no right or wrong way to experience it. Therapists teach grieving children there are many layers of the grieving process and each one is important and must be experienced to successfully heal. However, it is important that you, as a parent, keep an eye on your child or teen, and if they appear to be stuck in the grief process and has not moved on from the initial stages of loss after a year – make an appointment with a child therapist.
Change
For many children, change; such as changing schools, moving to a new city or state, being adopted or entering the foster care system, remarriage, divorce, going to live with another relative or the loss of a loved one or pet can be very traumatic.
Adults, usually have the tools and ability to accept and adapt to these changes, but children many times do not. So, although changes may not significantly impair your ability to function, it may have a totally different effect on your child.
Children who have experienced a significant change in their lives, may have a hard time expressing how they really feel about it. Changes can lead to anxiety, low self-esteem, self-doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, depression, fear, phobia, worry, and/or anger/rage towards their parents – and everyone else. While these are normal reactions to change, some children may have a hard time moving past these feelings by themselves.
Child therapists teach children how to effectively cope with changes by focusing on the positive (and unchanging) aspects of their lives. They also teach children how to practice positive self-talk, when they feel themselves becoming overwhelmed with all the changes in their lives. Therapists teach children deep breathing techniques when experiencing difficulty coping with the “newness” of change. The goal of these specialists is to help your child understand and accept change as natural and see their feelings as temporary.
Low Self-Esteem & Self-Confidence
Many children and especially teenagers struggle with low self-esteem and self-confidence. Low self-esteem can also lead to anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and even thoughts of self-harm and suicide. A child with low self-esteem feels unlovable, empty, and worthless.
Children with low self-esteem may begin to believe that loved ones and friends would be “better off” without them. Therapists can help children improve self-esteem and self-confidence in a myriad of ways. For instance, therapy may teach a child how to look at the larger picture and dig deeper to find the underlying root cause of the issue.
Through the use of CBT techniques, a child can better understand how negative thoughts and self-talk can creating both mental and physical pain. Instead, children can learn how techniques such as positive self-talk can dramatically self-esteem, self-confidence, and feelings of self-worth. They can learn the benefits of using positive affirmations to boost self-confidence and self-acceptance and also the importance of talking to trusted friend or loved one when experiencing distressing feelings and thoughts.
Types of Child Therapy
There are many different types of child therapy, such as Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and alternative therapy such as several expressive therapies.
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT)
The goal of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is to help children change negative thought patterns and behaviors by reframing the way they think about issues and events. The aim is to help children convert negative thoughts into more positive ones, so they can have a healthier response to the issues, themselves, and the world around them. CBT encourages children to challenge their belief systems, when it comes to themselves, so they can accurately view themselves and the situation through a more realistic and positive lens. It can provide children with the tools needed to effectively cope with challenging and stressful situations as they arise.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
The goal of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is to help children heal from the effects of trauma. Similar to CBT, therapists specializing in TF-CBT teach children how to view the trauma in a more realistic manner – without blaming themselves.
TF-CBT also teaches children techniques to use when experiencing a flashback, with the goal of working through those memories from a place of control and understanding. As a result, TF-CBT can provide children and teens with the ability to use these tools when or if they become distressed from the memory of a trauma.
Expressive Therapy
A child, who is experiencing mental health issues or psychological distress may benefit from expressive therapies such as expressive therapies with include art therapy, play therapy, sand tray therapy, or music therapy. Expressive therapies may also include exercise, sports therapy, movement therapy, equine therapy, mindfulness, meditation and/or aquatic therapy.
If your child or teen has experienced a significant trauma such as abuse, divorce, a loss of a loved one, a chronic illness, or being a witness to violence, whether recent or in the past, but has not received treatment to address it, child and adolescent therapy would be extremely beneficial in facilitating the healing process.
What specific signs may indicate my child is in distress and could benefit from therapy?
Common signs of mental health issues or psychological distress include:
- Increased or unprovoked anger and aggression towards others
- Having a negative attitude towards others and/or being disrespectful
- Refusing to follow rules or comply with adult requests
- Increased irritability and agitation
- Difficulty adjusting to social situations and/or new situations
- Recurrent nightmares, night terrors, and/or sleep difficulties like insomnia
- Low grades or a sudden academic decline
- Difficulty paying attention or staying focused
- Constant worry and anxiety
- Low self-esteem and/or feelings of guilt and worthlessness
- Being bullied or bullying others
- Social withdraw from activities your child once liked or loved to do
- A noticeable and/or sudden loss of appetite and/or extreme weight loss
- Repetitively performing rituals and routines like hand-washing
- Suicidal ideations (thoughts) or attempts
- Your child responds to voices he/she hears in his/her head
- Spending most of his/her time alone or engaging in voluntary social isolation
- Alcohol and/or drug use, abuse, or addiction
- Increased physical complaints, despite a healthy report from a medical professional
- Engaging in self-harm practices, such as cutting oneself
- Engaging in risky sexual behaviors or being sexually provocative towards others
- Incontinence
Common Goals of Child & Adolescent Therapy
Common goals of child therapy vary and are dependent on a child or teen’s unique and individual needs. Every child has their own unique experience and perspective of the world around them. The ability of a child to express and process their feelings, emotions, and experiences in a positive and healthy way, is largely determined by their current environment, past experiences, and how they have learned to see the world. An important part of treatment is meeting the child where they are, appreciating their uniqueness and individuality, while providing support, encouragement, and a non-judgmental attitude.
Child & Adolescent Therapy focuses on addressing the issues in a child’s life which are significantly impacting their growth, development, mental health, and well-being. In therapy, children learn to express their feelings and emotions in more positive ways while engaging in behaviors that better help meet their wants and needs. The overall goal of child therapy is helping a child or teen learn new tools, techniques, and methods that can better prepare them for any challenges they may face -both now and in the future.
Therapy goals are designed to help a child successfully cope with challenging situations that may trigger the following emotions:
Depression & Anxiety
One of the main benefits of therapy for children and teens is that it teaches children to effectively manage emotional distress and symptoms of depression and/or anxiety by themselves. Specifically, children and teens learn how to prevent panic attacks, and deal with anxiety in more positive and healthier ways. Teens can learn to identify the signs of depression and the related negative thought patterns and habits and behaviors contributing to their depression.
For example, a teenager with anxiety may learn breathing/meditation exercises, stress management/relaxation techniques, positive self-talk, and the importance of reaching out to someone when feeling overwhelmed, distressed, depressed, or anxious.
A child therapist helps a child understand that by keeping our feelings and emotions bottled up inside, it tends to make any given experience or situation worse. By encouraging a child to express their negative feelings, emotions, and fears during therapy, a child or teen learns not only the benefits of seeking help, but how the expression these feelings allow for the ability to deal with, manage, and resolve the very issues causing them turmoil. Therefore, counseling provides your child with an important toolbox of coping mechanisms that he/she can use when experiencing depression and/or anxiety.
Trauma
The truth is some children are exposed to disturbing situations which may traumatize them – events no child should bear witness to or experience. The negative and heartbreaking effects of trauma can include shock, disbelief, detachment, emotional or social numbness, fear, anxiety, and depression. And, unfortunately, in some cases, it can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
PTSD symptoms in children may include a strong desire to avoid trauma-related people and/or places, intense and upsetting memories, flashbacks, and/or nightmares, sleep issues like insomnia, and uncontrollable anger, aggression, and/or agitation. Child therapy provides children suffering from these PTSD symptoms an outlet to share their feelings, fears, and concerns.
Therapy can give these children a voice – one, in which they can talk about what happened to them and how it made them feel then and how it makes them feel now. Therapy encourages these children to share their feelings and emotions, regardless of what they are, instead of keeping them bottled up inside.
Most importantly, therapy can help these children understand they are not to blame for what happened to them. Rather than being victims or perpetrators - they become survivors.
In working with a child therapist, children and teens learn it’s okay and healthy to talk about what happened to him/her. The therapist can introduce a variety of coping mechanisms to use when feeling overwhelmed with feelings and emotions related to his/her trauma. So, when a child experiences a distressing memory or flashback, he/she will be able to pull a tool out of their toolbox to deal with it.
Examples of tools may include deep breathing exercises, meditation, mindfulness, taking a time-out to regroup, talking to a trusted friend or relative about how he/she is feeling, practicing stress management/relaxation techniques, focusing on the positive, and looking at the event or experience in a different way (a technique called reframing).
Divorce
When a parent’s marriage ends, it can be very distressing for a child. It is very common for children to blame themselves for the divorce. It is also common for these children to feel that because they caused the end of the marriage, they are unlovable. Then there’s the unfortunate consequence of divorce – child custody issues. Some custody arrangements are amicable, but sometimes they are tense, causing a custody battle between parents.
Having to choose between parents can make children feel uneasy, anxious, and guilty, especially when it comes to who they want to live with. In addition, children, whose choices may not align with their parents or siblings often feel sad, confused, distressed, and overwhelmed.
Child therapists can teach children, who are going through or who have gone through a divorce, how to cope with their conflicting and confusing feelings in a wide range of techniques, such as meditation, deep breathing, art or music therapy, positive self-talk, journaling, exercising, and talking to a trusted friend or relative about their feelings and thoughts.
Grief
The result of the loss of a loved one, pet, friend, home, or school can lead to a considerable amount of grief in children. If distressing to an adult, it can become ten times worse for a child, who does not have the maturity level, life experiences, or coping mechanisms which an adult may have.
The grieving process for children can be extremely difficult to understand and grasp. Children and teens experiencing grief and loss may become enveloped in confusing, conflicting, and fluctuating feelings such as numbness, denial, loss, sadness, despair, depression, anxiety, and anger/rage. During this time, they may begin exhibiting negative and disruptive behaviors and/or regress to behaviors inappropriate for their age such as temper tantrums, excessive clinging or whining, wetting the bed, using drugs or alcohol, or engaging in sexual behaviors.
Children miss the person, pet, place, or thing they loved so dearly and do not know how to channel the pain into something healthier. They become overwhelmed with the pain of missing the person, place, or thing they loved so much while not knowing how to channel this pain into something more positive and healthy. An inability to find a way to channel grief can cause a child to develop irrational thought patterns such as beliefs they too will die soon or fears that someone else they love will leave. Children may believe the loss was due to something they did or did not do and they may feel immeasurable guilt that they did not do anything to prevent the loss.
Child therapist help children and teens better understand the grief process while teaching them it is normal and okay to experience conflicting and confusing emotions. Children learn that grief is a normal emotion which often comes in waves and it is important to experience these emotions in order to heal from the loss. In therapy, children are encouraged to talk about the loss as much and as often as possible until they are able to process it in a way that makes sense for them.
Grief has no time limit and there is no right or wrong way to experience it. Therapists teach grieving children there are many layers of the grieving process and each one is important and must be experienced to successfully heal. However, it is important that you, as a parent, keep an eye on your child or teen, and if they appear to be stuck in the grief process and has not moved on from the initial stages of loss after a year – make an appointment with a child therapist.
Change
For many children, change; such as changing schools, moving to a new city or state, being adopted or entering the foster care system, remarriage, divorce, going to live with another relative or the loss of a loved one or pet can be very traumatic.
Adults, usually have the tools and ability to accept and adapt to these changes, but children many times do not. So, although changes may not significantly impair your ability to function, it may have a totally different effect on your child.
Children who have experienced a significant change in their lives, may have a hard time expressing how they really feel about it. Changes can lead to anxiety, low self-esteem, self-doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, depression, fear, phobia, worry, and/or anger/rage towards their parents – and everyone else. While these are normal reactions to change, some children may have a hard time moving past these feelings by themselves.
Child therapists teach children how to effectively cope with changes by focusing on the positive (and unchanging) aspects of their lives. They also teach children how to practice positive self-talk, when they feel themselves becoming overwhelmed with all the changes in their lives. Therapists teach children deep breathing techniques when experiencing difficulty coping with the “newness” of change. The goal of these specialists is to help your child understand and accept change as natural and see their feelings as temporary.
Low Self-Esteem & Self-Confidence
Many children and especially teenagers struggle with low self-esteem and self-confidence. Low self-esteem can also lead to anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and even thoughts of self-harm and suicide. A child with low self-esteem feels unlovable, empty, and worthless.
Children with low self-esteem may begin to believe that loved ones and friends would be “better off” without them. Therapists can help children improve self-esteem and self-confidence in a myriad of ways. For instance, therapy may teach a child how to look at the larger picture and dig deeper to find the underlying root cause of the issue.
Through the use of CBT techniques, a child can better understand how negative thoughts and self-talk can creating both mental and physical pain. Instead, children can learn how techniques such as positive self-talk can dramatically self-esteem, self-confidence, and feelings of self-worth. They can learn the benefits of using positive affirmations to boost self-confidence and self-acceptance and also the importance of talking to trusted friend or loved one when experiencing distressing feelings and thoughts.
Types of Child Therapy
There are many different types of child therapy, such as Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and alternative therapy such as several expressive therapies.
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT)
The goal of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is to help children change negative thought patterns and behaviors by reframing the way they think about issues and events. The aim is to help children convert negative thoughts into more positive ones, so they can have a healthier response to the issues, themselves, and the world around them. CBT encourages children to challenge their belief systems, when it comes to themselves, so they can accurately view themselves and the situation through a more realistic and positive lens. It can provide children with the tools needed to effectively cope with challenging and stressful situations as they arise.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
The goal of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is to help children heal from the effects of trauma. Similar to CBT, therapists specializing in TF-CBT teach children how to view the trauma in a more realistic manner – without blaming themselves.
TF-CBT also teaches children techniques to use when experiencing a flashback, with the goal of working through those memories from a place of control and understanding. As a result, TF-CBT can provide children and teens with the ability to use these tools when or if they become distressed from the memory of a trauma.
Expressive Therapy
A child, who is experiencing mental health issues or psychological distress may benefit from expressive therapies such as expressive therapies with include art therapy, play therapy, sand tray therapy, or music therapy. Expressive therapies may also include exercise, sports therapy, movement therapy, equine therapy, mindfulness, meditation and/or aquatic therapy.