“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Dalai Lama
Individual therapy for children and adolescents
One of the things I most enjoy about working with children is that they are continually changing and growing. Children have an amazing capacity to learn new skills and adapt to challenges they face. By capitalizing on these innate abilities, we can remove barriers in their lives and empower them to grow and develop in the best way they can.
Oftentimes, parents/caregivers also feel stuck when it comes to figuring out how to help their children. We can partner together to create realistic solutions to the challenges you and your family are facing. My main goal is to empower parents to feel more confident and self-assured in their parenting and that they can solve any problem that may come up.
Conditions we treat
Mental Health Concerns
Mental health problems are more common in childhood than we want to admit. About 50% of lifetime mental illness is diagnosed before the age of 14. When children are suffering from mental health concerns, it can disrupt the entire family. As parents, we can feel helpless and hopeless as we watch our children struggle, not knowing how to help them learn more functional ways of dealing with daily stressors and demands. We can work together to help children learn better coping strategies, teach them new healthy habits, and find a path to better overall health and well-being. Common concerns in childhood include:
- Anxiety
- Behavior problems and outbursts
- ADHD
- Anger problems
- Depressive symptoms
- Sleep problems
- Toileting problems
Feeding disorders
There are few things more stressful than arguing and fighting about every meal, day after day. Feeding problems impact at least 25% of children at some point and cause a great deal of distress in families. Feeding disorders occur when a child is unable or unwilling to meet their nutritional needs by eating, or refuses to eat large categories of foods, such as fruits and vegetables. This can lead to poor growth and development and can cause other long-term medical problems. I have spent many years treating children with the most severe and complex feeding disorders, and have learned that change is possible, even for the most challenging patients. Common treatment goals for these conditions include:
- Increase the variety of foods they will eat
- Increase calories (help with weight gain)
- Reduce behavior problems at mealtimes
- Teach new skills, like eating independently
- Wean from high-calorie formulas
- Wean from the bottle
Problems related to chronic medical conditions
Children with chronic medical conditions are more than twice as likely to experience mental health concerns as their healthier peers and 60% more likely to have been diagnosed with a mental health condition by age 15. Managing a chronic condition can have both direct and indirect impact on quality of life, social development, and overall functioning. Whether they show this as anxiety, mood problems, behavioral challenges, or a combination of these, we can work together to teach appropriate ways to express and cope with the challenges of their condition. In doing so, we can unlock their potential to be the best version of themselves. Common presenting concerns include:
- Treatment refusal (medicine, exercises, etc.)
- Medical anxiety
- Behavioral challenges
- Depressive symptoms, sadness
- Social difficulty