Turning growing pains into growing gains
Therapy for deeply feeling kids
Big feelings are wearing you and your child out.
Your child’s worries are out of control. You’ve tried to offer reassurance and support. You’ve tried enacting more structure and consequences; however, neither of these approachers are working. Bedtime, getting ready for school and homework time often result in tears and big feelings, leaving both you and your child drained and discouraged. You are increasingly hearing your child say negative things about themselves and are noticing that they aren’t playing with their friends the way they used to. Your concern is growing and you are running out of ideas.
You don’t have to support your child alone.
Child counseling with East Bay Counseling provides your child and family individualized, empathic, and effective support. Child therapy provides children an accepting space to explore their big feelings in a way that feels right to them, allows children to learn more about themselves, and practice new, helpful coping tools. Child counseling also includes tailored parenting support to help your child better able to apply what they are learning in child therapy sessions to home and school environments.
Your hope is that your child would flourish and develop inner strength. Let’s partner together and make this happen.
FAQs
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The first appointment is tailored to your child’s comfort and what works best for the family. Most often, the child and at least one caregiver participate in the first session. Depending on the child’s comfort level, both caregiver(s) and child participate in the session together and if the child is comfortable, a small or large portion of the session can be devoted 1:1 between the child and myself. Some families have found it to work best where the parent/caregiver meets with me first to give background information, and then in the second appointment, the child participates. Regardless of who is participating, the ultimate goal of the first appointment is for me to begin to understand your child’s and your family’s experience, as this understanding builds the foundation for me providing effective therapy services.
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My style is warm and collaborative. My hope is that #1 your child feels understood and heard and #2 your child achieve the successful outcomes they deserve. The way sessions are conducted are tailored to what works best for the children I work with and their families. Some common ways that I work with children using child centered play, inviting children to practice coping strategies through play and art, child centered talk therapy, and incorporating horses as a way to enhance he therapy experience.
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I believe listening, reflecting, and validating are important parts of the process. Neuroscience research supports that these actions help calm our nervous system, which allows us to learn better. With children this is often not done through talking, but engaging in play together. However, those are not the only things that I do. I find that children reach their therapy success when we also include time and space to cover actionable strategies and tools; most often I am teaching these and practicing these through novel, fun play and art techniques.
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No, the research is clear caregiver and family involvement is needed for successful child therapy outcomes. I want to collaborate and support caregivers and family members to help the child bridge what they are learning in therapy sessions to outside of the therapy session. Involving caregivers and family members is done in different ways, and again, is tailored to each family I work with’s unique needs and situations. Some examples are checking in with parents/caregivers without the child present regularly or inviting parents into some of the child sessions to collaborate with and learn what their child is working on. Parent involvement and support can be both synchronous (video, phone, in person) and asynchronous (email, sending of helpful written video and audio resources).