Therapy with Children and Adolescents

My work with children ranges from four year-old preschoolers to near-adult adolescents. I have created and run youth anger management groups for three years; worked in clinic and school settings; and worked with families. I have helped children and families find ways to deal with trauma, cutting, abuse, aggression, poor school performance, school difficulties, sibling difficulties, attention problems, Asberger’s, and the challenges that are unique to gifted children. In addition to my private practice, I coordinate a program for California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) that places psychology interns in San Francisco public schools to offer individual and group therapy to students. In that position, I train and supervise interns in providing ethical, clinically sound, and effective school-based work.

Work with children is most effective when parents agree to be involved in the treatment also. This is important for a number of reasons. First, it is important to help ensure that parents understand and support the process of change as their child attempts to implement it. Second, it is often helpful or necessary for parents to try new parenting techniques to help support and shape their child’s behavior. Third, it is imperative that the therapist have a sense of the family and school environment in which a child’s behavior occurs, in order to make effective and realistic suggestions for change.

While therapy with adults usually involves a lot of talking, therapy with children must take place in a language that is appropriate for their age and development. The language of young and/or developmentally challenged children is play. Play therapy allows a child to express and work through whatever challenges he or she may be facing. Among other things, it can help to reduce aggressive or angry behavior; build empathy for others; and produce a feeling of being understood.

As children grow, their language becomes a mix of play and words, of verbal and non-verbal exchanges. Depending on the age and developmental level of a child, therapy with him or her will probably involve some degree of both. Family sessions may also involve some degree of both. Whatever the modality, the emphasis is on understanding the child’s limits and perspectives; helping the child meet social expectations; and on assisting him or her, and the family, to find new and more effective ways to meet the child’s needs.

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Children Mental Health Links:

A web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this page discusses child and adolescent mental health. Other pages on the site provide resources for specific aspects of childrearing: dealing with drugs and alcohol, resources for parents, etc.

An extensive collection of articles on parenting and how to address the mental health needs of children. This website includes articles on many different specific difficulties, including anger, eating disorders, depression, gifted children, and ADHD.

A web site devoted to producing booklets and information directed to children. Most focus on helping children with specific problems they may encounter, such as bullying, divorce, eating disorders, ADHD, etc.

Articles by the American Mental Health Association on various topics about psychotherapy in general, as well as parenting, children’s mental health, etc.

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