Nearly one third of the individuals seen for services at the clinic are age 18 or below. Our Family & Children staff have special interest and training in treatment of children and youth. Specialized services and approaches are often used in working with younger individuals.

Cognitive Therapy (CT) – helping clients understand how their thoughts and beliefs greatly influence the emotions and it’s intensity that they experience. Us humans are pretty good at arguing and disagreeing with others. We are not good at arguing and disagreeing with our own thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Therapy teaches the client how to be more aware of their thoughts while in the midst of strong emotions and how to then evaluate and modify our thoughts and beliefs resulting in the decreased intensity of the emotions experienced.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – Uses Cognitive strategies in addition to incorporating a behavioral element. In essence adding a “doing something” such as a physical activity like exercise, playing music, painting, writing, using coping skills,  or other tasks specifically related to the thoughts and beliefs that the client is struggling with.

Trauma Focused- CBT (TF-CBT) – Therapy utilizes both aspects of Cognitive Therapy and CBT in addition to other more specific treatment strategies specifically to reduce anxiety and depression symptoms related to specific traumatizing life events  that a child has experienced. 

Research show that Cognitive Therapy, CBT, and TF-CBT are as effective in treating mild and moderate depression and anxiety symptoms as “medication only” treatment.

Collaborative Problem Solving Approach (CPSA) – Whereas Cognitive therapy and CBT helps clients change ( “overdeveloped”) thoughts and beliefs that we do not want children to have; CPSA helps children learn and develop thoughts and thinking skills (“ under developed”) that we want them to have in areas where they are struggling.  This approach has been effective in helping children and their caregivers and teachers develop thinking skills in areas of: low frustration tolerance (eg anger outbursts) , poor impulse control, arguing, non-compliance, expression of emotions,  poor organization, task persistence, and social problem solving, just to name a few.

Parent training (PT) – Sometime difficulties children display are more purely behavioral in nature. Meaning that the child has learned over time that the behaviors they display (arguing, anger outbursts, not following rules or expectation) work for them. In essence they have learned how to argue, avoid complying with directions, and sometimes  get more angry or escalate their behaviors to “get what they want” or avoid what parents expect them to do. Many Parent Training approach’s are recognized as effective treatment and prevention models for children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD).

During our initial two-to-three session evaluation process, The family/parent along with the clinician explore possible explanations for problematic behaviors and concerns which then guide the use of the above evidenced treatment approaches in their child’s therapy.