Therapy for Children

In the beginning, we will meet with you and your child together to discuss the basics of therapy and outline a plan for treatment. Next, we will have individual sessions with you and your child separately so that we can better understand their needs and assess what’s happening at home. From that point on, most sessions will generally be held with your child alone, although we always encourage parental participation in the healing process.

After all, your relationship with your child is the most important part of their development. We want to equip you with the insights and skills to understand your child’s behavior and make life easier for them in the home. From time to time, we can do parent coaching sessions to supplement the work of therapy and give you a chance to discuss your child’s progress.

We draw from a wide variety of interventions to help children work through their mental health issues, since we recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. Some of the main treatment methods that we use are outlined below:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)—The goal of CBT is to teach children about the connection between their thoughts, emotions, and behavior. They can learn to reduce problematic behaviors, such as lashing out or throwing tantrums, and act in a way that’s in line with their goals.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)—This approach can give children concrete skills for regulating out-of-control emotions. Doing so can help them tolerate distress without making things worse and communicate what they want and need in their relationships.

Mindfulness-based therapy—Mindfulness can help children increase their present-moment awareness, be more in tune with their emotions, and reduce risky behaviors.

No matter which approach works best for your child, it’s important to remember that childhood mental health issues are highly treatable. Kids are very adaptive and it’s easy for them to learn and apply new skills quickly. With the right support, we’re confident that your child can gain the skills to manage their emotions, improve their relationship with you, and live a more fulfilling life.

This is a common question that parents ask themselves when they have concerns about their child’s behavior(s). The truth is, based on age or developmental stage, some behaviors are typical and normative and others are not. For example, as children get old enough to understand how to lie, that behavior may be normal for them. When these are of the ‘white lie’ variety, these are not typically problematic. However, if over time, lying becomes more habitual or problematic, it can become a target behavior to work on in therapy. Another common example is a child not listening to parents, which can be normal at particular ages or developmental stages. However, depending on the child’s age, the extent of the behavior, and the impact it may have, this behavior may not be in line with what is typical of a child that age. In child therapy, your therapist can help you and your child assess what behaviors may be problematic and can identify useful tools to change or manage the behavior if needed.

We understand that you and your child are busy, but chances are that you’re already spending a lot of time and energy tending to your child’s emotional difficulties. Taking care of your child’s mental health struggles now can actually free up space in your schedule for both of you. When your child is healthy and well, you won’t have to invest as much time trying to help them manage their mental health issues.

Many parents worry that their children won’t want to sit still and talk about their feelings, and that’s okay. At MindWell NYC, we make therapy engaging for kids because we don’t expect them to behave like adults. We utilize a wide range of child-friendly activities to help kids express their feelings, reduce their stress, and learn to problem-solve. While it’s true that many children are reluctant to attend therapy at first, they usually come to enjoy their time immensely here once trust and rapport have been built.

Although we use research-backed interventions, we focus intently on adapting treatment to a child’s needs and meeting them wherever they are in life. Our therapists have lots of experience working with kids who think differently—that’s why our approach to the healing process is very customizable. We want to know what works and doesn’t work for your child so that their treatment can be effective.