As a parent, it can be challenging to accept that your child is struggling. Rather it’s at home, at school, or both. As their parent, you want what’s best for them and want to give them the world. But, you’re not sure how to help them.
That’s when child counseling can help.
When should I consider child counseling?
Children come to counseling for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s for minor challenges like moving to a new town and experiencing some adjustment issues, or perhaps it’s for something serious and life-altering like childhood trauma.
Common reasons kids begin child counseling often include:
Depression- Anxiety
- ADHD
- Behavioral challenges or defiance
- Explosive outbursts or tantrums
- Lack of social skills
- Bullying or being bullied
- Trouble making friends
- Trauma and PTSD
- Life transitions: parent divorce, moving, etc.
- Grief and loss
- Increased family conflict
- Withdrawal
When your child is dealing with concerns such as these, you may feel helpless as their parent. Plus you have to navigate your thoughts and feelings surrounding their challenges. That can be extremely overwhelming.
Perhaps, you’ve tried everything you can think of to help them. But, nothing you’ve tried has worked. Perhaps your efforts have actually made the situation worse and caused your child to withdraw or act out more. Now you’re left wondering what’s next for your child, for you, and for your family.
Child Counseling Offers Support When Your Child is Struggling
You don’t have to watch your child suffer. You also don’t have to navigate their complex challenges alone. Finding support for your child can benefit them and your entire family. Child counseling can teach life skills for dealing with challenging social and emotional situations. It can also help kids learn problem-solving skills and tools to manage big emotions.
A child therapist can help your child express themselves and their emotions in a more positive way. They can help your child learn tools to cope with distress and challenges and avoid the meltdown, outburst, or withdrawal you’re accustomed to. Or, if your child’s concerns are caused by things in their past, such as trauma, for example, a child therapist can help them cope with what they experienced, manage their current symptoms, and move forward in a healthy way.
With the support of child counseling, your child can thrive and you can work towards building a healthy and happy relationship with them once more.
The Goal of Child Counseling To Build Resiliency and Confidence
As child therapists, our goal is to help your child learn tools to be successful in managing big emotions and challenging situations. Over time, these tools increase your child’s resiliency this gives them the strength to move forward from distress and adversity faster and easier. Often once they learn how to cope with challenging symptoms and experiences, you will see their over-all confidence grow and their behaviors will be less severe.
Types of child counseling at Wellview Counseling:
Play Therapy
Play therapy is regarded as the therapeutic technique of choice when working with kids under 13. A child’s natural language is play. Play therapy is really great for times when a child is either too young or unable to express themselves verbally. A play therapist can play to determine the cause of their behavioral challenges. Then, they can use play therapy to teach new skills. Often this is done using toys, games, arts and crafts, and sand trays.
Talk therapy
If your child is nearing the teen years, talk-therapy may be appropriate. During talk therapy, a child’s therapist will work to uncover the root of their distress and behavioral challenges. Then, they will offer tools to help your child cope with distress or disappointment in a healthy way. Sometimes, traditional talk therapy is done along with play therapy.
Social Skills Groups
If your child is struggling with using positive and age-appropriate social and behavioral skills, then a social skills group may be a great fit for them. Throughout the course of a social skills group, your child will learn along with peers exhibiting similar challenges. Then, they will be given an opportunity to practice these skills with their peers, because practice is important!
Parent Support
If you’re looking for support as a parent, we also offer parent counseling, a parenting support group, and a parenting the positive discipline way course. In fact, research shows that parent support is critical when your child is experiencing mental health challenges.
Begin Child Counseling in Atlanta, GA:
Things can get better for both your child and your family as a whole. Child counseling provides a safe and supportive environment for your child to work through the things that are causing the negative behavior and learn skills to move toward and find success in their lives. Our goal is to help your child blossom and return to living a life that’s healthy and happy.
Begin counseling in Atlanta, GA:
- Reach out to our counseling clinic and schedule a consultation call with one of our therapists,
- Meet with a child therapist to ask any questions you may have about child therapy at Wellview Counseling
- Begin online counseling in Rosewell and take care of your mental health while practicing social distancing!
Other Therapy Services Offered at Wellview Counseling
Wellview Counseling is an Atlanta area therapy center that offers many mental health services to help you or your loved ones find healing and growth. Our therapy services include play therapy, child counseling, individual counseling, social skills groups for kids, therapy for postpartum anxiety and depression, anxiety treatment, trauma and PTSD treatment, chronic illness counseling, family therapy, and positive discipline parent education opportunities. Contact our Roswell, GA mental health clinic to learn more about online therapy and the many ways we can help you or your loved one.
About the Author: Therapist Ashley Bobo, LCSW
Ashley Bobo, LCSW is an Atlanta therapist who provides individual and family therapy to help with anxiety, depression, postpartum depression & anxiety, parent coaching, and other mental health concerns.
If you live in the Atlanta area (or anywhere in Georgia) and would like to begin counseling services for your child or anyone in your family, give us a call at 678-288-6221 or email info@wellviewcounseling.com.