For Children

Whether your child is struggling emotionally and/or behaviorally, is going through a big life change, or you’re wanting them to have space to explore and express themselves with a professional, Kaleidoscope Wellness can help. We will work to resolve issues and increase your child’s emotional awareness, self-control, regulation, and communication of their emotional experience.

Some common issues we can help with:

Impulsivity

Tantrums

Inability to regulate emotions

Aggression

Sadness

Poor social skills

Defiance

APPROACHES WE MAY USE:

Child-Centered Play Therapy

Ages 3-12*. Play Therapy is when trained mental health professionals use play, and the relationship between the child and the play therapist, as vehicles for a child to express what it’s like for them, process their inner world, and resolve psychosocial difficulties. Child-Centered Play Therapy is a particular type of Play Therapy wherein the therapist believes and trusts that the child will lead, through their play and interactions, to where they need to go to resolve problems.

Here’s what the National Institute for Relationship Enhancement has to say: “[CCPT] creates a non-judgmental, emotionally supportive therapeutic atmosphere, with clear boundaries that provide the child with psychological safety to permit the learning of emotional and behavioral self-regulation. Research has validated that this is a powerful method for decreasing a wide range of child problems, for overcoming traumatic experiences, for developing expressive freedom and creativity, and for building self-esteem and more mature, pro-social behaviors.” (www.nire.org)

Sand Tray Therapy

Ages 5*-adult. Sand Tray Therapy is a type of expressive therapy where the child, teen or adult is able to use ‘miniature’ items in a tray of sand to explore their conscious and unconscious world. This type of therapy is often “sprinkled” in with other modalities and can be useful for when things feel “stuck”.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy/Techniques

Ages 5*-adult. Sometimes in addition to getting to the root of a problem, your child may also need access to solution-focused treatment that offers tools to manage symptoms. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy works to focus on the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Your child’s therapist will assess the need for your child to be offered short-term techniques and tools to support them. These techniques can be particularly useful in managing symptoms of anxiety.

MINDFULNESS 

Mindfulness is simply the practice of being present in the moment and being able to tune into what's happening for you in your body (physical/somatic), mind (thoughts) and heart (emotions).  Therapists at Kaleidoscope Wellness practice mindfulness in their personal lives, will be practicing mindfulness during sessions with your child, and will help cultivate mindfulness in their life through age-appropriate guided practice when it's called for. 

All therapy with children often involves at least some level of parent involvement (before, during, and/or after sessions). We will be sure to talk with you and your child, about how and why parents may need to be looped in.

*developmental age