Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
I have experience treating children and adolescents whose problems include, but are not limited to:
- AD/HD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder)
- ODD (oppositional defiant disorder)
- aggression
- anxiety (including school and separation anxiety)
- attachment disorders
- depression
- sexual abuse
- adjustment to divorce
- parent-child conflict
- peer rejection and/or bullying
- sleep problems
- academic underachievement
- cutting behaviors
- self-esteem
- LGBT issues
When working with younger children, I employ a number of techniques depending on the issues at hand, but play therapy is my preferred method. Children usually find it easy to play, and they are less guarded about their feelings, fears, and fantasies when they explore them in this manner. Play therapy often keeps the child engaged and eager about treatment, while exploring their symptoms in a non-threatening manner.
I use a combination of talk therapy and other techniques when working with adolescents, depending on the nature of the presenting concern and the adolescent’s level of maturity. I like to incorporate discussion of goals when working with adolescents, because adolescence is an intensely goal-oriented life stage. Adolescents frequently experience symptoms when they feel they are not achieving their goals or that their parents or peers do not support their goals.
A healthy parent-child relationship is key to the child’s recovery, so my ultimate goal is for parents to be able to take an active role in the therapy, though this usually occurs after I have met individually with the child or adolescent for a number of sessions and may occur with increasing frequency towards the end of treatment. Some younger children, conversely, are nervous about meeting with a stranger and play more comfortably with a parent in the room until they have a level of familiarity with me.
Cotswold Psychology 