If you're seeing that your child is struggling emotionally and behaviorally, you are not alone.
Childhood and adolescence are times of constant change and growth. And many kids struggle with how they feel, act, and learn.
CAF therapists are experts at making kids feel safe, welcome, and heard so they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings.
Our CAF behavioral health program is all about helping kids become confident and healthy through their childhood and into adulthood. The CAF team helps kids and teens ages 5 and up learn to cope with and work through problems like:
- Anxiety & stress
- Mood & depression
- Self-harm
- Managing health issues
- Managing symptoms of ADHD
- Social skills
- Behavioral issues such as screen time, school refusal, bullying
- LGBTQ identity
We also help parents and guardians who may be struggling with their children under 5 by leading them to learn ways to support their child’s growth.
Wondering what CAF therapy is like? Let's talk about how it works.
Initial Consultation: Meeting the Child and Family
Getting to Know One Another
During your first appointment with your CAF therapist, you’ll get to know them and they’ll get to know you and your child. They’ll ask you and your child questions about behavior, emotions, how the family gets along, what school is like for your child, any medical issues, and big life events. As the parent/guardian, the therapist will also ask you about your concerns and what hopes you have for your child’s therapy.
Goal Setting
After, or sometimes during, the first appointment, you will work with the therapist to set goals for your child’s therapy. Goals might be about:
- behavior – like reducing problematic behaviors;
- emotions – like understanding and managing emotions and emotional expression, working through depression, or building self-confidence and reducing anxiety;
- relationships – like building social skills or improving how your child interacts with others and within the family
Sometimes the goals may include parts of all the above, or different goals altogether.
Therapy Sessions: What to Expect
We will work with you to set a schedule of regular sessions. This helps kids feel a sense of routine which can also make them feel safe.
Kids don’t always know how to talk about what they’re feeling or experiencing. So, during a session there could be game playing, drawing, acting (role playing), talking, or other activities.
You might be involved in all or some of these sessions, based on the age of your child and the goals of the therapy. But no matter what, you and your child’s therapist will talk with you frequently about how the therapy is going and any ways you can support the therapy at home.
Eventually, your child will meet their therapy goals and your child’s therapist will work with you and your child to transition out of therapy. We will do all we can to make sure this is as smooth and positive as possible! This phase of therapy is called “termination” but it isn’t an end altogether – we’re always here for you.
Evaluation and Termination: Over time, the therapist will evaluate whether the child has met the therapeutic goals. Once these goals are achieved, a process for termination will be discussed to ensure a smooth transition.
Therapy Techniques: Ways We Help Kids Talk
Children often struggle to articulate their emotions verbally. Encouraging emotional expression, therefore, is a crucial principle in Child Therapy. Three strategies used to encourage emotional expression include:
- Play Therapy: The therapist uses play, a natural medium for children's communication, to help them express their emotions.
- Art Therapy: Drawing, painting, and other forms of art can provide an outlet for children to express feelings they find hard to put into words.
- Validating Feelings: The therapist validates the child's emotions, reinforcing that it's okay to feel and express various emotions, helping them understand their emotional responses.
- They PLAY during therapy?? It may seem silly, but it’s really not. Play is a comfortable thing for kids – something they do naturally. And play is more than just fun. It’s an activity where kids develop and use their communication skills, so it can help your child relax and share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences more easily.
- And they DO ART? Kids are still learning words and what words go with what feelings. Drawing, painting, and even playing with Play-Doh can help them express feelings they find hard to put into words.
