Children's & Teen's Therapy
How Children's Therapy Works
Every child is unique. As a result, children’s therapy needs to be match the unique characteristics and personality of the child and their family. In general, children’s therapy includes both the child and parent(s). Sometimes parent(s) will be included in sessions to explore different methods of support for the child. Other times your therapist will refer the parent(s) to their own individual therapy to explore outside life stressors that could be influencing the child or parent support. The initial assessment will take 1-2 sessions. During the initial sessions, your therapist will meet with both parent(s) and child to assess the child’s struggles and concerns. Upon completion of the initial session, your therapist will review a treatment plan as well as discuss session frequency recommended to meet the goals set in the treatment plan.
Integrative Parenting Approach
At Rethink Therapy we use an Integrative Parenting (Wesselmann et al., 2014) method of counseling with children. An Integrative Parenting approach includes examining the child’s emotions, problematic behaviors, and parental support. All components are then considered and discussed as a part of the treatment plan.
Many parents are very experienced in a behavioral management parenting style. This includes rewards and consequences to manage a child’s choices and behaviors. Some behavioral management strategies can be effective in the short term with children struggling with trauma, unregulated emotions, and challenging behaviors. However, these methods alone are often unproductive in the long term. The Integrative Parenting Approach is more effective in achieving the overall goal of reducing a child’s emotional and behavioral disturbances.
Sometimes parents do not want to be included in the therapy process. We understand that you have to decide what is best for your family. If you find our approach is not a good match, we would be happy to provide referrals that are a better fit for you and your family.
Therapy for Teens
Our treatment approach with teens differs from that with children. Though again, each teen is different. Typically, with the treatment of teens, your therapist will meet with the parent(s) briefly in the first 1-2 sessions, to discuss the initial paperwork, treatment protocol, treatment plan, and clinical recommendations. After the initial 1-2 sessions are complete, your therapist will typically meet with adolescents individually.
Teens are minors and parents have the legal right to know the details of each session. However, we find that a session by session detail-oriented report to parents inhibits the adolescent’s ability to create the emotional safety needed to work through presenting issues.
For this reason, it is our recommendation that a teen has autonomy in their sessions except in life-threatening emergencies or treatment plan changes. There are times when family therapy is necessary when working with teens. If that is the case, your therapist will notify you and provide a referral to a therapist that specializes in Marriage and Family Therapy to further assist your family’s needs.