Children Therapy
Child therapy consists of a variety of techniques and procedures aimed at improving a child’s cognitive, emotional, behavioral and social wellbeing. All children are by nature, innocent, cheerful, curious, creative, active and inquisitive and it is the duty of all adults to allow them to continue using these resources to make them full and happy.
The process of starting therapy with children and adolescents often involves parental engagement. The mental and behavioral health of children requires to include their parents and the rest of the family to implement and strengthen what is learned in therapy. The mental health of children depends to a great extent on the mental health of the parents, that is why in children therapy a direct and constant contact with the parents is essential and maintained throughout treatment.
Treatment Process
These are some of the child and adolescent behaviors areas that we treat:
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Trauma
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ADHD
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Parenting Counseling
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Depression
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Anxiety
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Substance Use Disorders
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Panic Attacks
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Social Phobia
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Behavioral problems, and more
All therapists at MCC work utilizing a Trauma Informed Perspective. The core belief of this type of approach is to ask ourselves "what happened to them?" instead of "why do they do that?". Our clinicians are trained in TF-CBT (Trauma Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and use many concepts from the treatment model of CF-TSI (Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention). In both treatment modalities parents or caregivers are an essential component of successful therapy outcomes.
The language used in child therapy is mainly non-verbal, and other methods are used such as play and dynamics that allow the child to communicate at their developmental level. Children therapists are experts in creating bonds of trust with children, which favors communication for the use of activities, often processing and learning is achieved by simple representations and games. Frequently, children are not able to turn their actions or feelings into words, so the therapist through training is capable of understanding these forms of expressions thus facilitating communication with them.
