Child Therapy services
MindWell clinicians will work with your family to thoroughly assess your child’s problem and design an individualized treatment plan that works. To be effective, therapy for children is tailored to age and developmental level. For a younger child, therapy focuses on behavior change and parental involvement is the key. Your child will learn new ways to express his or her needs and appropriate behaviors to cope with stressful or frustrating situations and self soothe. MindWell clinicians use behavioral charts in session and at home to practice and reinforce these new behaviors.
For older children, therapy focuses on gaining an understating of their thoughts, expressing their feelings and learning new ways to cope with problematic situations. Parents learn skills to behaviorally manage challenges and learn how to develop more positive interactions through the use of behavioral reinforcement, floor time techniques and interactive play.
Case Example:
Bobby is a seven-year-old boy who was referred to MindWell for treatment of his anxiety. A MindWell clinician meets with Bobby and his parents for an intake (initial hour and half meeting) and diagnoses him with an anxiety disorder. The clinician then takes the following steps:
- Explains his diagnosis to Bobby’s parents and determines if testing is necessary to better understand the anxiety and rule out symptoms that might mimic anxiety such as depression, attentional issues, or learning disabilities.
- Explains the diagnosis to Bobby at a developmentally appropriate level so Bobby can find relief in understanding his symptoms and also learn how to advocate for himself, based on his age and maturity level.
- Develops a treatment plan that is based on a proven therapy protocal.
- Begins Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to treat Bobby’s anxiety.
- This treatment focuses on teaching Bobby to examine and recognize how his body and mind respond to fear and stress.
- In therapy, Bobby learns how to anticipate and read anxiety in his body, examine his thoughts and learn skills to calm his mind and body so that he can adapt to almost any situation.
- Bobby’s therapy lasts for approximately 20 weeks where he has learned to master what Antecedents trigger his anxiety, what Behaviors occur when he is nervous, and what Consequences he can control (ABC).
- He is transitioned to booster sessions as needed.