Children and Adolescents

Children are not "little adults." Developmentally, children have important goals to meet and challenges to resolve, but those goals are different based on age, family composition, presenting stressors, strengths, interests, and much more. Accordingly, working with children is a specialty, just as there are pediatricians that specialize working with children medically. We have the experience, training, credentials, and certifications to expertly engage you, your children, and your family's needs. We designed our practice and physical space with children in mind. From our waiting room with a bathroom, shower, and TV with kid friendly movie choices, to our dedicated child centered play therapy space, to a custom built sand tray for adolescents, as well as child-specific, standardized psychometric assessments covering anxiety, depression, trauma, attachment, and general behavior, we are designed with children, adolescents, and families in mind.

Adolescence is a very difficult time, even without additional stressors. Having a firm understanding of developmental goals, brain development, social changes, the evolution of the family in this stage, and a variety of other factors sets us up for success with your teenager. We have worked successfully with adolescents over the course of our 25+ combined years. Oftentimes, families come seeking assistance for a specific presenting problem. Others like to establish a positive relationship between their child and a mental health counselor so the child knows they can positively benefit from and return to counseling as needed as they mature. Others come for our combination of clinically expertise and our background in faith, combining the best of therapeutic skill with values and worldviews that bear a strong resemblance to the ones you have established for your own family. Whatever your reason, we are here to serve you and those you love most with care and expertise.

What can we expect in child and adolescent therapy?

With children, we structure therapy to begin with a parent-only intake, followed by a variety of assessment sessions as needed, utilizing standardized psychometrics, projective assessments, relational assessments, sandtray, and/or a variety of other assessments best suited to accurately capture your child's experience. We then follow that up with a comprehensive parent-only feedback session where we review all of the assessments, both ruling out some areas while wondering about others, working together to best conceptualize your child's internal emotional world. From there, we are ready to intervene accurately and powerfully, as opposed to taking a "take two and call me in the morning" approach. Our interventions are targeted, deliberate, and research-informed.

What are child and adolescent therapy sessions like?

Most parents report that their child verbalizes a positive experience, even from the first meeting. Our sessions are engaging, at we utilize a variety of mediums from traditional talk therapy to art, sand, projection, expressive techniques and a host of other tools. As your child learns new skills, we will pass these on to you as parents as well, to increase retention of the skill as well as create accountability for knowing how to implement at home or elsewhere. In a nutshell, we try to provide the best care we can to any child, just as we would expect any other adult to engage with our own children. Many clients who first came as children or adolescents have also returned as young adults, continuing to seek support as needed as they remember a positive experience of being supported when they needed it.

What is the frequency of sessions, and for how long?

For children and adolescents, this can vary somewhat. Targeted trauma work with TF-CBT or PCIT can reasonably be expected to complete in 10-12 sessions. Other presentations, like depression and anxiety, often benefit from a longer period of treatment where sessions are held less frequently (i.e. once every three weeks). Thus, the length and frequency of treatment is largely dependent on the presenting problem. Also, we have plenty of clients that, once stability is re-established, often continue in therapy, moving into areas resembling maintenance of gains, mentoring for further gains, or positively oriented growth that far outpaces simply responding to negative stressors.

Will you meet with parents too?

Absolutely and at every session. Parents are the change agents, as we work with and through the parents to best impact and support children, adolescents, and the whole family system. Although children are afforded space to work and progress, we recognize that parents are the number one avenue for advancing that work and creating safe and healthy environments around children. We meet with parents at intake, often at the start of sessions to check-in, sometimes at the end of session to review that day's therapy work, as well as parent-only collaterals utilized to advance the therapy work together. We believe that children develop most when they have available, responsive, and engaged parents with them every step of the way.

Do you offer online child and adolescent therapy via telehealth?

Yes, we are happy to connect with your child or adolescent online. There are some therapy modalities that comport themselves well to telehealth, and others that may be more challenging. We will communicate this information directly. Generally speaking, children and adolescents benefit most from in-person services, particularly when they can take advantage of areas like our dedicated play space, sand tray, and variety of assessments on hand that we can administer as needed.

Why do you work with children and adolescents?

We love being parents, and view our roles as parents to be the most important roles we have in regards to the responsibility we share to raise our children well. The best intervention is early intervention, so having children and adolescents resolve big issues and answer big questions not only relieves stress and promotes healthy development, it also builds their resiliency for the next time stressors come their way. We feel particularly called to strengthening the parent-child relationship and aiding in the maturation of connected and prospering children and adolescents.

Do you offer events, retreats, or seminars for children and adolescents?

Not at this time, but we are open for suggestions. We have the ability to offer a wide variety of child and adolescent related trainings, from self-regulation skills to parenting groups and more. Use a contact form to let us know your request! Also, view our events page here.