Parenting a child who is having difficulties at home or in school is very hard work. I help children ages 2+ and their parents find strategies to meet these early life challenges by:
- Helping younger children express difficult feelings in healthy ways through play therapy.
- Working with teens connecting with them on their level.
- Supporting parents during these difficult situations
- Teaching parents strategies to help their children
Some of the challenges that I help children and adolescents and their parents work through include:
ADD/ADHD: Difficulties at school, focusing on homework, hyperactivity.
Behavior Difficulties: Fighting at school or home, parent-child conflicts, drug use, etc.
Depression: In childhood and adolescence, depression can manifest with irritable mood, anger, lack of interest or participation in previously enjoyable activities or withdrawing from friends and family.
Anxiety: Difficulty leaving parents, excessive worries about the safety of self and others, compulsive behaviors, indecisiveness or fearfulness.
Trauma: Being a past victim of abuse or neglect. Witnessing or experiencing violence can cause sadness, overwhelming anxiety and feelings of being unsafe in the world.
Grief and Loss: Coping with a chronic illness in self or family member, death of family or friends, or divorce in parents.
Social Issues: Having difficulty making friends, shyness, hostility, passivity or conflicts with peers.