Mental Health Services
Exceptional mental health care for children, adolescents, parents, and families.
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Child Therapy
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Adolescent Therapy
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TEEN Adolescent Therapy
Pediatric Mental Health Services
Why do kids need therapy?
Mental health services for children and adolescents may involve exploration and resolution of some combination of the following common childhood issues:
Anxiety, worry, nervousness
Anger, irritability
Attention, focus, concentration, organization
Changes in behavior
Conflict in relationships
Depression, sadness
Disruptive, aggressive behaviors
Emotional dysregulation
Exposure to trauma
Grief, losses
Household changes
Hyperactivity, impulsivity
Life transitions and adjustments
Oppositional, defiant behaviors
Mood swings
Parent-child relationship conflict
Psychosomatic symptoms, i.e. stomach aches, headaches
School problems, i.e. academic performance, school avoidance, problems with peers, classroom behavior, new school
Self-esteem
Sensory sensitivities affecting quality of life or relationships
Separation anxiety
Sibling conflict
Sleep-related problems
Why do kids need therapy?
How will my child (and our family) benefit from mental health services?
Examples of goals and objectives we consider when providing services for children and families:
Develop coping skills for responding to everyday stressors
Learn emotional regulation, and co-regulation skills
Learn and practice age-appropriate social skills
Clarify diagnosis of mental health disorder(s)
Strengthen executive functioning, i.e. attention, focus, impulse-control, time management, organization
Increase critical thinking and independent problem-solving skills
Build resilience and growth-mindset
Improve interpersonal communication and relationships
Learn perspective-taking, empathy, and conflict-resolution
Increase flexibility and ability to tolerate distress during unanticipated events or changes in plans or routines
Build self-esteem and self-confidence
Decrease parent stress and overwhelm
Establish more effective approaches for reinforcing expectations and implementing consequences (that actually work)
Support in navigating school-related challenges, including advocating for your child in the school setting
Increase understanding of the function of your child’s behaviors, which serves to improve relationships and implement behavior modification strategies (that actually work)
Whole family support in navigating major transitions and adjustments, such as parent separation, birth of a sibling, blending households, loss of a loved one
Improve quality of life, for your child and your household
Explore etiology of symptoms and challenging behaviors in order to achieve more sustainable improvement, progress towards goals, and long-term wellness
Referral for external services as needed, such as neuropsychological evaluation, specialized treatment services, psychiatry, and social support services
What will therapy look like for my child?
What you should know about child and adolescent therapy
Child and adolescent treatment services begin with a Diagnostic Evaluation. This initial session will be scheduled for 90 minutes and starts with a review of informed consent, limits to confidentiality, HIPAA privacy practices, and agency policies.
This initial session will also involve an exploration and comprehensive overview of the child’s developmental history, significant events, household and relationship dynamics, presenting concerns, and is when the initial treatment goals, interventions, and plan is established. Diagnostic evaluations may be parent-only or together with the child, depending on age of the child and other considerations which are discussed with the clinician prior to scheduling.
As a primary caregiver, your engagement in therapy will be essential to your child’s treatment progress, and regular participation in conjoint or parent-only sessions will be required if your child is under the age of 10.
Adolescents 14+ years have the right to consent to their own mental health treatment, and should not be pressured to participate in therapeutic services.
Treatment services may include individual therapy sessions, as well family-focused sessions, and parent-only sessions, as will be determined by the presenting issues and treatment goals for your child and discussed with the clinician through the treatment process.
Child Therapy
Ages 0-10 Years
The initial session for your child is scheduled for 60-90 minutes and will be parent*-only.
Informed consent, HIPAA privacy practices, and agency policies will also be reviewed during this initial session.
This first session will consist of an exploration and comprehensive overview of developmental history, significant events, household and relationship dynamics, presenting concerns, and is when therapeutic goals are discussed and an initial treatment plan is established.
Parents should leave this initial session feeling optimistic about the treatment plan established with the clinician, along with a few recommendations for preliminary intervention strategies to get started right away.
Diagnostic Evaluation
Completing this first session without your child present will allow for your child’s first interaction with the clinician to be a neutral, exploratory experience at their preferred pace.
The initial parent discussion also serves to inform the clinician of relevant historical information and allows parents to express their concerns openly without creating a potentially distressing experience for your child.
Parents will remain closely involved with their child’s therapy, as recommended by the clinician.
Ongoing Therapy Sessions
Parent, guardian, and primary caregiver participation is essential for child therapy to be successful at this age. Children have limited insight, particularly those younger than 10 years, are not great historians, and are rarely forthcoming about their challenging behaviors and symptoms.
Your child’s clinician will coach you to understand your role before, during, and after each therapy session.
Therapy may be comprised of individual child sessions, parent-only sessions for support and coaching, or family-focused sessions involving household or other family members, based on presenting concerns and treatment goals.
Traditional talk therapy is not effective when working with younger children.
During therapy sessions, the clinician will engage your child using play-based strategies to build trust and rapport and create a therapeutic space that is fun and inviting - at least at first - or they may never want to return.
While your child may be convinced they are coming to therapy to play, the clinician will also be performing critical assessments of your child’s symptoms, behavior, temperament, and skills in order to identify strengths and challenges, explore impact of historical events and current stressors, rule out neurodevelopment disorders, and establish an appropriate diagnosis and treatment plan.
Child therapy will not be effective if your child does not trust their provider and enjoy participating in therapy.
(at least most of the time ☺️)
Adolescent Therapy
Ages 11-13 Years
Diagnostic Evaluation
The initial session for your child will be scheduled for 90 minutes and may be *parent-only OR together with your child. Informed consent, HIPAA privacy practices, and agency policies will also be reviewed during this initial session.
Whether your child should join this initial session is determined by: presenting concerns, your child’s social/emotional maturity, and your child’s ability to engage insightfully in discussions related to their challenges.
If your child is easily bored, distractible, irritable, and at times hyperactive, a parent-only initial session is recommended.
This first session will consist of an exploration and comprehensive overview of developmental history, significant events, household and relationship dynamics, presenting concerns, and is when therapeutic goals are discussed and an initial treatment plan is established.
The initial parent discussion also serves to inform the clinician of relevant historical information and allows parents to express their concerns openly without creating a potentially distressing experience for your child if present.
Additional evidence-based outcome measures and questionnaires may also be used to further assess your adolescent’s symptoms.
Parents should leave this initial session feeling optimistic about the treatment plan established with the clinician, along with a few recommendations for preliminary intervention strategies to get started right away.
Parents will remain involved with their child’s therapy, as recommended by the clinician.
Ongoing Therapy Sessions
Parent, guardian, and primary caregiver participation is recommended for therapy to be successful at this age. Adolescent patients sometimes have difficulty identifying and describing their challenging behaviors and symptoms verbally. Patients in this age group are offered a session-by-session option between individual or conjoint sessions with parent(s), based on their comfortability. Therapy is likely to incorporate parent-only sessions or consultations, especially if your child prefers to meet individually with the clinician during sessions.
Therapeutic approach is likely to incorporate both interactive play and traditional talk therapy for adolescents this age, as social/emotional maturity, insight, and confidence in self-expression is still developing.
Your adolescent’s clinician will coach you to understand your role before, during, and after each therapy session.
Therapy may be comprised of individual child sessions, parent-only sessions for support and coaching, and family-focused sessions involving household or other family members, based on presenting concerns and treatment goals.
Ages 14-17 Years
Teen Therapy
code-teen
Teen adolescents 14+ have the right to consent to their own mental health treatment and should not be pressured to participate in services.
Teen adolescent patients should assist in the completion of intake paperwork distributed prior to service initiation.
Diagnostic Evaluation
Despite the fact that your teenage adolescent may need a ride to the initial session, parents also serve a purpose at the start of therapy [insert sarcastic eye roll common among the teenagers]. The initial session for your teen adolescent will be scheduled for 90 minutes. Parent is to join at start of session to review informed consent, HIPAA privacy practices, limits to confidentiality and agency policies.
This first session will consist of an exploration and comprehensive overview of developmental history, significant events, household and relationship dynamics, presenting concerns, and is when therapeutic goals are discussed and an initial treatment plan is established. Unlike therapy with younger children, your teen adolescent will serve as the primary informant throughout treatment services.
Additional evidence-based outcome measures and questionnaires may be used during this initial session to further assess symptoms.
Beyond review of paperwork and policies, parents will be invited to share relevant historical information (from their perspective) and have an opportunity to express their concerns and suggest goals for treatment.
We will ask the teen client whether they prefer to be present for this portion of the initial session or prefer to be excused to allow for a private conversation between parent and clinician.
Parents are welcome to share presenting concerns in advance of the initial therapy session, if preferred.
After a brief conjoint discussion, or parent-only if your child prefers, the remainder of the initial session will be preserved for your child to meet individually with the clinician.
Confidentiality will be discussed together with parent + child, and again individually with your child.
Ongoing Therapy Sessions
Follow-up therapy sessions are for the teen and clinician to meet individually.
Session structure and focus of sessions is directed by both the teen and the clinician together and is based on presenting concerns, topics the teen requests to explore, and assessment of risk and safety as needed.
Parents should not expect to direct the focus of their child’s therapy sessions.
Parents are encouraged to support their teen’s participation in therapy by offering a nonjudgmental ear and inviting a conversation following sessions, while also assuring their child that it is up to their complete discretion if and what they share about their therapy sessions. Parents should not add pressure by asking their child to share information.
Parent participation in therapy, whether via conjoint sessions with the teen or separate parent-only sessions, may be recommended for parent coaching, addressing issues in family dynamics, to advocate for patient health, or for crisis planning in cases of imminent patient risk.
Parent participation in therapy will first be discussed with the teen to preserve the therapeutic relationship and trust between clinician and teen unless the clinician has reasonable concern for your child’s safety and parent involvement is necessary to prevent injury or harm.