Child Therapist
Is your child irritable and moody almost daily?
Does your child’s fear or anxiety prevent him / her from enjoying life?
Do you struggle to manage your child’s defiant behaviors?
Do you worry about how your child has been impacted by a traumatic or upsetting experience?
Is your child struggling in school despite being extremely bright and capable?
You’ve researched solutions, talked to the school, discussed with the pediatrician, but you still feel at a loss to help your child. You are seeking a child therapist that can connect with both you and your child to offer strategies and steps to reach a more peaceful home and school life. You don’t want therapy to be another battle or stressor for your child. You’re seeking a child therapist that is fun and engaging for your child, but insightful and skilled enough to bring about change in your family life. If you could just take their struggles and pain away, you would do so in a heartbeat.
Children Face More Emotional Stress than Ever Before
Child mental health issues have been consistently rising over the last 10 years, but were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatric health professionals are calling the children’s mental health crisis a “national emergency.” More children are reporting stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. We are raising children in a very different world than the one we were raised in- there is more political conflict, more access to news and media, greater impact from technology and social media, and the impact of two years of pandemic life changes. As parents, it can be very difficult to find a way to help your child navigate this ever-changing and confusing world.
There are solutions to children’s mental health challenges. Therapy has been shown over and over again to help children decrease anxiety and depression, develop coping skills, improve relationships, and improve behavior problems. With involvement of loving and caring parents, children show faster improvement in all of these areas. While we may not be able to change the world our children live in, we can help them develop the resiliency and flexibility to thrive in their environment.
Your Child can Thrive with our Support
You want your child to reach their full potential and to truly enjoy life. You want your child to view themselves as positively as you view them. You need a therapist that truly understands children, speaks their language and can engage them in making lasting changes to reach their goals. All of the child therapists at Skylands Wellness, LLC come with years of experience connecting with children of all ages. With training and experience in play therapy, sand play therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and family therapy, we can work with you to develop a treatment plan that meets the specific needs of your child.
All of our work with children begins with a thorough history. We want to truly understand your child and how he or she fits into your family. We also want to make sure we understand medical, social, and educational factors that might be impacting your child. Often, through history taking alone, we can offer parents some tools and techniques that will make an impact at home and school. We also use this history taking time to understand you, as parents, including your parenting style, your hopes and fears for your children, and your values as a family. Your child’s therapy is centered around what works realistically in your family and what will help the whole family thrive.
Once we have a thorough history and individualized treatment plan, we work with both your child and you to reach your goals. Your therapist will make recommendations specific to your family about how to structure sessions so they will have the greatest impact. Most of of our work individually with children is play-based and engaging so your child enjoys their sessions and wants to come back. Your therapist will also maintain close communication with you, the parent(s), through out the process. We have learned through our many years of experience that involved parents accelerate the change process for children. Part of your treatment plan will include easy to accomplish tasks or changes to make at home to help your child thrive.
If your child isn’t thriving or reaching their full potential, therapy can make a world of difference. Setting aside the time to address the issue as soon as possible allows your child the opportunity to see that his or her wellbeing is a priority in the family. Your engagement in sessions sends a clear message that this is a family endeavor; the whole family is better off when each member is happy and healthy. Children that get into therapy sooner have better outcomes and lower risk of more severe mental health conditions.
You're curious about child therapy but you still have some questions...
What if my child won't talk to the therapist about what's going on?
Child therapy uses the language of play to access your child’s inner world. We’re totally comfortable with kids that don’t talk about their feelings and we think this is completely developmentally appropriate. If your child needs help developing a feelings vocabulary, we know how to incorporate this into a fun, play-based therapy session that won’t feel like more school work! We can also help you understand your child’s non-language based communication and how to respond to his or her needs.
How will playing actually help my child with their needs?
We can learn so much about your child through the themes of their play and artwork. We can incorporate therapeutic games and stories that teach your child how to manage difficult feelings, social situations, or problems. Children actually absorb more when they’re engaged and having fun. Unlike adults, children often process through difficult experiences very quickly because they don’t have years and years of bad memories to unravel. Imagine your child wanting to go see their therapist to play and learn about feelings! This sets them on a lifelong course of taking care of their emotional health!
Will I be a part of my child's therapy?
You will be involved with your child’s therapy every step of the way. In fact, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We only see children in our practice whose parents are willing to be involved in the process. This doesn’t mean we are looking to blame parents or force our recommendations on them. We want to collaborate with you as the adults who care most about your child. We invite parents to spend part of each session meeting alone with the therapist as well as to reach out between sessions to provide updates. Without your support, we are far less affective in helping your child. We know that you know your child best and we want to hear from you!
A peaceful, positive child is really possible...
We know child therapy works because we’ve been doing it for years. We’ve worked with complicated families, traumatized children, intense anxiety, unexplained sadness, and we’ve found that spending time every week working on these issues leads to lasting change. Children really want to feel better and they do feel better with child therapy.
We know that finding a skilled and experienced child therapist can be very difficult. You want the best for your child. We highly recommend finding a clinician who has several years of experience under intense supervision working with children and families. Child therapy is complex and rarely covered in depth in graduate education programs. At Skylands Wellness, LLC, all of our child therapists have the advanced training and experience to really help your family thrive.
We hope that you’ll reach out to us today for a free 15 minute phone consultation. Find out how we can help your child thrive!
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