Is Your Child’s Behavior Impacting Their Day-To-Day Functioning?

Do you fear your child’s daily frustrations have overcome them? Has a recent separation or divorce impacted how your child connects with you? Is your child acting out and you don’t know why?

Maybe your child carries stress from managing so many responsibilities in their young life. Perhaps they have learning challenges that have compounded their struggles at school, or they may have trouble with the frustrating and sometimes embarrassing challenges of puberty. Regardless of what they’re struggling with, you may be at a loss for words as to why your child’s behavior has changed from their typical behaviors.

Dealing with stress and the anxiety of life’s challenges can be difficult for anyone, most of all a young person who is new to them. These challenges can include having more schoolwork, making friends, caring for siblings, dealing with separation or divorce, or coping with traumatic experiences, to name a few.

The stress of these responsibilities can lead to anxiety in children, who, given their limited vocabulary and understanding, may also struggle with expressing their feelings. As a result, your child may have turned their frustrations inward toward themselves, perhaps losing focus in school or with friends. Or perhaps they’ve turned these frustrations outward toward others, becoming defiant. Your child may experience meltdowns or regress to a younger age to create a safe mental space for coping with their hurts. Consequently, your child’s relationship with you and other loved ones may have suffered.

Because their emotions oscillate, therapy can offer your child calm in the midst of their storm. By cutting through the noise to find the source of your child’s pain, therapy can help both you and your child better understand what they’re experiencing.

Children Are Not Exempt From Life Struggles

As our children find their place in this world, they are bound to experience difficulties. As a result, we as parents may still need help to understand what our children are going through so they may better navigate this sometimes shifty world.

There are challenges everywhere. For children, these challenges may look like remote learning when their once normal school schedule has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic, adjusting to a blended family, or symptoms of depression from deep and inconsolable grief due to loss.

For many children, finding stability in the midst of emotional upheaval can be an uphill battle whose remedy may require more than the passage of time. Some children may instinctively know how to share their pains, but others may not. And should our child belong to the latter group and communicate only with their behavior, we may not know how to help because we have no guidepost pointing us in the direction of why they act out or how to address their problems. Nothing tangible exists to guide us. When our children are faced with difficult experiences, how can we help them move forward?

One way to learn what pains your child and help them to voice what they feel is to encourage them to work with a therapist.

Therapy Can Help Your Child Become A More Compassionate, Productive, And Well-Rounded Individual

Many people think that a child will grow out of their problems because all children go through challenging seasons. Yet the truth is that we don’t always know how to identify what is a “season” and what is a long-term problem that requires professional help–and sometimes a parent can’t decipher between the two. However, seeking help from a trained therapist can be the saving grace that lets your child navigate their way through their challenges toward a more hopeful future.

Treatment begins with our intake process, which includes a questionnaire for parents that we share prior to meeting and then review in our first session together. In the initial counseling session, we ask that both you and your child be present to discuss each of your challenges and goals. Treatment offers flexibility for both parents and children in an effort to create an environment for optimal progress. Parents can be present during sessions at any point if they are more comfortable or the child feels more comfortable, depending on the case.

Ongoing sessions will focus on your child’s and family’s strengths so they may help your child make the inner connections they need to accomplish their goals. And we may also address additional topics such as how your child’s behavior may impact how they function, how their behavior may impact their ability to relate to others, their unique perspective and experience in the world, and how to build their self-esteem.

In addition to skills learned from sessions we may also help your child face their challenges using evidence-based modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral-Therapy (CBT). CBT can help your child pinpoint their negative thought patterns and transform them so they can respond more positively to stress. Additionally, we may use play therapy, which utilizes play–a powerful medium for non-verbal expression in children–to identify problems a child may have. Using play therapy, our therapists can help your child process their experiences so they may eventually constructively communicate them to you.

Last but not least, psychoeducation can be an effective tool to educate both you and your child about topics such as anxiety, depression, and the role that mental health can play in your child’s healing. The more you understand about what your child is going through, the more empathy you can have for the presenting problems, and patience you can practice in overcoming these problems in therapy.

For many years, therapists at Elevate Counseling have cultivated a warm, encouraging, and non-judgmental environment where children have the space to explore their emotions and reflect on their experiences to find solutions to their problems. Our compassionate approach has helped numerous young people to build a foundation for more confidence, empathy, and respect for others.

Maybe you still have questions about child therapy…

It seems like you are just playing with my child and not understanding the meaning of play therapy and the evidence behind it.

What exactly is play therapy? As defined by the Association for Play Therapy (APT), play therapy is “the systematic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development.”1

A child’s natural way of communicating is through play and this is an important part of their developmental process. It is the first language they learn and the most comfortable way for them to process their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and experiences.

My child is resistant to the idea of therapy.

It may help to discuss you and your child’s goals further in a consultation to see how we might be able to overcome their resistance. However, there are few things that you can do on your own that might help your child become more receptive to therapy. First, it might help to normalize therapy for them by stressing the lifelong importance of mental health and finding examples of other young people who have crossed this path. You might also consider sharing with your child that a therapist focuses on building rapport and learning who you are before diving into personal topics. Hopefully taking these measures will ensure that your child is more comfortable with the idea of therapy.

I worry I won’t play an important role in my child’s recovery.

If your child is under the age of six, we ask that you be present for the majority of sessions to better facilitate their recovery. At any age, it is key for the parent and the child to feel comfortable and the therapist will work with you on how to build this therapeutic relationship appropriately. We try our best to delicately balance both you and your child’s needs, sharing progress or scheduling parent consultations while simultaneously respecting your child’s right to privacy. In this time, a healthy distance can be one of the most important gifts you can give your child, trusting them to find answers for themselves as they slowly take steps forward to reconnect with you.

Are You Ready To Equip Your Child With Tools For Their Success?

If you’re ready to take the next step, If you would like to discuss further with a trained professional ways to better support your child and provide them with the tools to succeed, then I invite you to give us a call at 508-297-1491, or contact us through our online inquiry page.

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1: https://www.a4pt.org/page/AboutAPT#:~:text=Definition%20of%20Play%20Therapy,achieve%20optimal%20growth%20and%20development.%22

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