Therapy for Children

Individual Child Therapy

Your child will be matched with a therapist who is the best fit for their age and presenting issues. Though your child is the “client,” you will be closely involved with treatment, from intake to termination.

All treatment begins with an assessment period, the first 3-5 sessions of treatment . This phase of treatment allows us to gain an understanding of what brings clients in for help, who they are, who they have been, and who they want to be.  We ask a lot of questions during this phase! It also allows us to conceptualize what is going on, what led up to it,  and how to help in the form of a treatment plan. Your therapist will talk with you throughout the assessment phase, and will share their thoughts about how best to help. Your therapist will work collaboratively with you to best help you and your family – you are an important part of the process, and communication about how things are going is vital to successful treatment.

Trauma Focused Therapy

Each course of treatment is unique, but in general follows a framework based on stabilizing through pscyhoeducation, teaching coping skills for regulation, increasing communication and support from caregivers, and sharing the traumatic experience within the context of a therapeutic relationship, addressing attachment disruption and the capacity for healthy relationships throughout treatment.

Our therapists are trained in a variety of specific models developed by members of NCTSN (National Child Traumatic Stress Network), including:

• Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
• Attachment Regulation and Competency (ARC)
• Integrative Treatment for Complex Trauma (ITCT)
• Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART)

Therapy for young children (0-6)

When working with young children,  caregivers are extremely involved with treatment. This treatment is a combination of dyadic play therapy (child and parent in the room), parenting training, education, or processing, and at times, individual sessions with the child.  In some cases, we may begin therapy with young children with a specific assessment to determine which modality will be the best fit.

Supporting Parents Through Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)

SPACE is a parent-based treatment program for children and adolescents with anxiety, OCD, and related problems. The treatment was developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center and has been tested and found to be efficacious in randomized controlled clinical trials.

Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a therapeutic treatment designed to improve the relationship between caregivers and their children, and decrease behavior problems in children through interactive parent coaching. PCIT’s 16-20 session treatment model is one of the most effective, evidence-based treatments known for children with behavior problems between the ages of 2 and 6 years.