Children & Parents
One of the greatest gifts a parent can give their child is to authentically be present to them and to provide an emotionally healthy family environment. This gift helps children develop self-esteem, the ability to regulate emotional states, inner reliance and self-confidence, trust in others, empathy for self and others, openness and curiosity to life's experiences, emotional stability, enjoyment in life, the ability to succeed, and feeling comfortable and secure with oneself. In addition, the emotionally healthy family sets the stage for the child's potential to unfold including future accomplishments and successes. This is not as easy as it might appear to be. No manuals come with our children and so many parents are simply left on their own to "try to figure out" what best to do. Moreover, there exists strong unconscious forces that help us recreate a version of the same relationships we had with our parents. To the degree that our parents were connected with us and parented wisely often predicts the degree to which we connect with our own children. Your relationship with your child is vitally important. It will be the most critical factor in your child's emotional and mental development.
Therapy Works!
Play is the language of the child. Even children who are quite talkative tend to express themselves and their emotions more fully through play. Play Therapy provides a safe and natural way for children to learn and work through difficult emotions and issues. It gives the therapist the best chance to connect with a child and to understand what the child is feeling or experiencing in his or her life-world. Play Therapy utilizes a variety of materials and techniques including therapeutic games, drawing & painting, play dough, and toys. In addition to individual appointments for your child, therapy includes working with parents in consultation. We consider our relationship with parents as a team effort to best help the child. We help parents learn from our interactions with their child and we help them make any changes necessary to correct the original problem. Our approach is designed to help put your children on an even keel.
We can help you with:
- Angry outbursts
- Anxiety, fearfulness, worrying
- Attachment relationship concerns
- Childhood depression, grief and loss, thoughts of wanting to be "dead"
- Difficulty making or keeping friends
- Divorce, separation, changes in the family
- Moodiness, sadness or other changes in your child's personality
- Nightmares, difficulty sleeping or falling asleep
- Obsessive-compulsive behaviors and fears
- School problems including academic performance issues
- Step-parenting, blended family adjustments
- Weight issues and preoccupation with body image
Adolescents
Parenting an adolescent certainly challenges most parents; however, there is a myth that parenting an adolescent has to be a wearying power struggle and that family conflict is the norm. We believe strongly that parents and teens can learn to have relationships together that are loving and fulfilling and that are largely free of the relationship-destroying, over controlling tugs-of-war that characterize so many family scenes. We have found that there are just a few principles, applied consistently, that can be the keys to changing the way most parents and adolescents relate to each other. We show both parents and adolescents what these principles are and how to make them work in the home.
Therapy Works!
In the beginning of therapy, providing individual time for parents and adolescents works the best. In our experience, family counseling sessions with all involved in the same room can be deadly and is not our favored way of working with adolescents. We prefer to form individual relationships with the teen on their own terms with their own freedom to say what they have to say to someone who does NOT represent their parents. Having said that, we believe it is also vital to directly help parents change the unhappy system they are involved with. Successful change comes from both sides (parents and teens) learning to work with each other in new ways.
We can help you with:
- Aggressive towards self or others, may include angry outbursts
- Anxiety, panic attacks, phobias
- Depression or suicidal thoughts
- Divorce, separation, changes in the family
- Family reconciliation, relationship rebuilding
- Identity issues
- Eating disorders, preoccupation with food, weight, or body image
- Moodiness, sadness or other changes in your teen's personality
- Peer or social problems
- Rebuilding self-esteem and self-worth
- School problems including academic performance issues
- Step-parenting, blended family adjustments