We offer an enjoyable and relaxing environment to provide services for your child or adolescent. Children under the age of 12 mostly benefit from Play Therapy. Some preteens can engage in traditional talk therapy, depending on the maturity of the child. While play therapy is most often utilized for children, even adults can benefit from the use of play therapy tools such as sand-tray, art therapy, and other forms of creative expression.
Children:
Our play therapy room is fun and comforting, and allows children the opportunity to explore and express their feelings. Our trained play therapists provide the counseling and safe atmosphere children need to overcome any anxiety about receiving counseling services. Some of the treatment issues our play therapists provide treatment for include: 
- adjustment to change
- anxiety related disorders
- attachment related disorders
- attention and hyperactivity disorders
- bed wetting
- blended/step family adjustments
- depression and other mood disorders
- developmental delays
- divorce recovery
- eating and elimination issues
- grief and loss
- parenting and co-parenting
- self-harming behaviors
- school related problems
- social skills training
- survivors of abuse and other traumas
Treatment for children and adolescents are not just focused on the child, but the whole family. For this reason it is important for care-givers and possibly other members of the family to take an active role in the child or adolescent’s treatment.
Adolescents:
Some adolescents are hesitant about seeking counseling services, and some are eager. Our current society of teens do not typically view psychology or counseling as having the stigma that previous generations once associated with it. For those who are hesitant, here are a few tips to increase their comfort level:
- Assure them that you will be involved in their treatment as much (or as little) as they would like for you too. Please do show your concern and desire to be involved by attending the first counseling session with them, and then periodically offering to be available for family sessions. The counselor may ask for you to come in from time to time at the end of the session, for this reason it is important that one of the parents be present 15 minutes before the session ends. If someone other than a parent is dropping off your child for his or her appointment, then please make sure you child has a means of contacting you in case you are needed.
- If your teen is worried about his or her confidentiality, then assure them that the counselor will only share vital information with the parents. Our counselors go over the confidentiality agreement during the first session and our standard operating procedure is to let adolescents know that because they are a minor, their parents do have rights to their records, but in order for counseling to work best adolescents need to know they can speak freely with their counselor. We typically encourage parents to trust that if their adolescent shares information that we think could be significantly life altering then we will make sure the parents are aware of the information their adolescent shared in session. We will first encourage the adolescent to share the information with their parents, but if he or she refuses, and the counselor thinks he or she is behaving in a way that could effect his or her life, then we will share this information with the parents with the adolescent’s knowledge that it is going to be disclosed. Most teens are comfortable with this arrangement, and it helps them to relax in sharing their true thoughts and feelings.
- Provide an opportunity at home for your adolescent to share what he or she is learning in counseling, by asking “was today a helpful session?” We have found that most teens find other forms of this question, like “how is counseling going,” or “what did you talk about today,” as either intrusive or easy to ignore. By asking “was it helpful,” then teens typically see that as you being concerned but not intrusive. This way if he or she wants to share more, the option is there, but if not then a simple “it was fine” or “it was okay” is enough.
Some of the treatment concerns we address with adolescents are:
- adjustment to change
- anxiety related disorders
- blended/step family adjustments
- boundary building skills
- communication skills building
- depression and other mood disorders
- divorce recovery
- eating disorders
- grief and loss
- healthy sexuality
- opposition defiant disorder
- parenting and co-parenting
- personal growth and life worth purpose goals
- relationship issues
- self-harming behaviors
- school related problems
- social skills training
- stress management
- substance abuse recovery support
- survivors of abuse and other trauma
