Our Therapy Focus
Intense Emotions & Challenging Behaviors
Young children struggling emotionally and socially will often display intense emotions and challenging behaviors that impact their ability to be successful at home, in early care programs, in school, and the community. We work with children to help improve their emotional and behavioral functioning and assist caregivers, childcare providers, and teachers in learning how to manage intense emotions such as anger, anxiety, fearfulness, irritability, and frustration, as well as challenging behaviors such as aggression, temper tantrums, angry outbursts, sleep disturbances, defiance, clinginess, and difficulty separating from their caregiver. This allows children to be successful in life and to manage better in all environments.
Adjustment Issues & Traumatic Experiences
Young children respond to and process stressful experiences and traumatic events much differently than older children and adults. This can make it difficult to identify the impact the adjustment issues or trauma have had on the child. Often their symptoms are misunderstood as other emotional and behavioral disorders. Many young children who have experienced stressful life experiences and traumatic events have symptoms of anxiety, fear, helplessness, shame, self-blame, hopelessness, nightmares, eating and sleeping problems, difficulty concentrating, irritability, withdrawal, and mood swings. Our treatment helps children adjust to life challenges and overcome the difficult events they have experienced so they can grow, develop, and succeed. We also provide caregivers with education, strategies, and skills that are effective for supporting children and helping them with their healing process.
Child-Caregiver Relationships
A secure attachment and strong child-caregiver relationship are vital for children to overcome trauma and to be socially and emotionally healthy. Our treatment approach nurtures the child-caregiver relationship to enhance the bond and attachment. This aids in resilience and provides the child with protective factors that are necessary to help them flourish. Research shows that the presence of at least one caring person in a child's life provides support for healthy development and learning and that this leads to a child's overall success in life.