Child & Teen Therapy

FOR ANXIETY & OCD IN WESTCHESTER AND ACROSS NY

Does it feel like you’ll never find a solution to your child or teen’s worries?

Your child or teen might be caught in a constant cycle of worry, panic or perfectionism, and you feel helpless to stop it. You’ve tried everything you know to help them with this, but it’s continuing to consume not only your child, but you, your home, and your family.

Your child or teen might be….

  • Having trouble focusing due to worry

  • Struggling in peer relationships

  • Experiencing obsessions and/or compulsions

  • Reporting headaches, stomachaches, or other physical symptoms

  • Fearful of talking to new people or being in new environments

  • Having difficulty with sleep

  • Suffering from low self-esteem

  • Experiencing phobias, such as the fear of throwing up

Your child doesn’t have to keep struggling. And neither do you.

My Approach

I’ll meet your child or teen on their level with specialized, age-appropriate support.

Every child/teen is unique and I believe their experience in therapy should be too.

I’ll be patient with your child or teen, taking the time to get to know them, build a relationship, and engage them in fun and interesting ways to help them overcome their worries.

I’ll work together with you, the caregiver, to create a therapy plan based on your input and my evaluations.

  • Build Trust

    The relationship is important in therapy, but is especially crucial when working with children and adolescents. Establishing a trusting relationship and connection with your child or teen will be critical to their success, so I won’t rush this.

  • Understand Your Child/Teen

    With your help and insight from your child or teen, we’ll start to understand the bigger picture of their symptoms and what’s contributing to them. We might use assessments to determine what, exactly, your child or teen is struggling with and how best to help them.

  • Provide the Right Help

    After identifying together what approach is going to be most helpful for your child or teen, we can start applying it. Sessions are a combination of talking, skill-building, playful approaches (if age-appropriate), and supporting parents with carrying out skill-building.

Learn more about the modalities and approaches i use

I’m here to help parents, too.

I know first-hand how difficult it is to watch your child or adolescent struggle and how consuming it can be when it feels like you’ve lost them to their anxiety or OCD.

In addition to my experience in working with children and teens, I also have specific training on how to equip parents with the skills they need to best support their child or teen.

Also, I help parents care for themselves in the midst of the stress caused by these challenges.

Child & teen therapy can help:

  • Increase confidence

  • Improve family and peer relationships

  • Overcome intrusive thoughts, obsessions, and compulsions

  • Increase willingness to try new things again

  • Address sleep issues

  • Children and teens no longer be controlled by fear or worry

  • School related challenges

It’s possible to see your child or teen break free from anxiety and OCD.

FAQS

Common questions about therapy for children & teens

  • This is dependent on your child or teen’s age and needs. For younger children parents may be included in a portion of each session. This may look like a split session, in which I work with the child for a portion of session and then with the parent for the remainder of session. Sometimes a combined session, in which we’re all together, is helpful. Sometimes sessions alone with the parent are indicated.

    As age increases, parental involvement usually decreases, with the bulk of the work directly between your child or teen and me. However, you’ll still be kept up to date on what we are working on (while still maintaining your child’s privacy). You and I can discuss this in more detail as we begin working together.

  • Yes. In this case, I will work with you, the parent. My training in Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) focuses on empowering you to help your child overcome their anxiety or OCD. Not only will you gain skills and tools to empower your child to overcome anxiety and OCD, but also, you will learn ways to change your own behavior as well. You’ll learn how to respond in supportive ways, while reducing accommodations that may been making that have been inadvertently worsening anxiety or OCD symptoms. Click here to learn about SPACE therapy.

  • Anxiety can look different in children and teens, and sometimes it’s easy to miss. Similarly, sometimes the word “anxiety” is assigned to a different issue or disorder that needs a different treatment method.

    My goal is to empower both you and your child/teen with information and insight into what’s going on. We may use assessments to help clarify if your child/teen is experiencing anxiety or OCD, or a different mental health issue. Then we can choose a treatment approach that is most effective for your child or teen.

    Learn more about how I treat anxiety and OCD.

  • Yes, I have both personal experience as the parent of a child with PANDAS/PANS as well as extensive professional experience working with PANDAS/PANS.

    It can be traumatizing to feel like you’ve lost your child or teen to the emotional aspects of this illness. I’m here to support you and your family through this.

    Click here to learn how I can support your family with PANDAS/PANS.

    If you are outside of New York State, I do provide coaching for PANDAS/PANS parents as well as a course for PANDAS/PANS parents. Please see my coaching website and information about my course here: www.parentingwithpans.com

  • I offer a free, confidential 15-minute consultation to help you decide if I’m the right therapist for your child or teen. This is an opportunity for you to share what’s bringing you to therapy, ask any questions you have about the process or my approach, and for us both to determine if we’re a good fit to work together. Click here to request yours.