Counseling Services
Mountain   Vista

Mountain Vista Counseling Services   248-391-2606
Children's Therapy
        Young children don't always have the words to express their worries. When they encounter difficulties, they often try to get their needs met and express their feelings and frustrations through angry, explosive tempers, closing down, defiance, or low frustration tolerance. Sometimes anxiety and depression are there butin a way that is not always obvious. School difficulties are common, as are somatic complaints such as head or stomach aches. 

If you feel that your child has some of these issues, don't ignore them and just hope they will go away. Get help. I do work with children under the age of ten in a family setting. (with Mom and/or Dad present) and I also many times just work with the parents. In rare cases, I might work only with the child, but usually it works best to have the family involved.  
    Mountain Vista Counseling offers mental health services: including consultation, assessment and diagnosis, treatment planning and individual or family therapy for children and their parents.
     I know that you as parents want your children to be the best they can be physically, mentally and emotionally and most parents work very hard at teaching kids what they need to know about the physical and mental areas of their lives. But it is harder to know what to do about the emotional lives of your kids. 
 
     Tough experiences happen for everyone and for some kids, those tough experiences bring with them, various thoughts and feelings and then interpretations or perspectives can end up affecting their mental and emotional health for years to come. In order to help them have the life that you would like them to have, to be happy in their relationships and successful in those things that they set out to do, give them the support of having a professional to talk to about their lives so that they can learn things like good coping skills or how to think about things in ways that work for them. If you aren't sure what happens in therapy, give me a call and we can discuss what your concerns are and determine if therapy could help. 

248-391-2606
Middle school years are tough years for kids. They are trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. They start to think more abstractly and have bigger issues that are not as easily seen. Among other things, therapy can help work through problems with self efficacy (one’s ability to complete tasks and reach goals), knowing good coping strategies (so that they don’t use harmful ones), understanding and accepting themselves and others (so that they gain self confidence and are not as affected by peer pressure) and feeling comfortable in their relationships with others (developing good social skills). 

Many times, problems exist because kids attempt to meet their needs in ways that do not work for them or others. They are not aware that there are better ways to get those same needs met. Sometimes they just need someone to listen to them and to understand what is going on in their lives and help them work through their options or learn that they have more options than they thought. 

I have noticed that when this age of kid is anxious or depressed, they usually go a long time without telling anyone how they feel. Ask your kids if they are happy or worried. Don't be afraid to find out how they feel. You could save their life. 


Note from the Therapist