Child Therapy: Anxiety, Behavior & Adoption

Child anxiety & misbehavior treatment

Our child therapists have expertise in research based interventions for anxiety, depression, misbehavior and attachment challenges. Our goal is to make you an expert, so you can maintain the gains you make with us. We will teach you the biological, psychological and behavioral causes of challenges, so you understand the specific interventions we teach and can use them for a lifetime! (For our work in the areas of ADHD, Dyslexia and autism, please click here.)

Child Anxiety

Note: While we work with anxious kids a lot, if your child’s primary challenge is a moderate to severe anxiety disorder, we will refer you to some great specialists with more training in this area. Kids we work with often have anxiety related to another neurological condition (e.g., autism, dyslexia, ADHD) that we are addressing. We do not specialize in childhood depression as a primary condition.

Child Misbehavior, Anger, Moodiness

Einstein- hour

  • Identification of Cause:

    • Opposition & Defiance may due to biological or behavioral issues.
    • Biological Issues: anxiety, ADHDsensory integration, depression.
    • Behavioral Issues: lack of parent knowledge about child development, sibling challenges, divorce, abuse/neglect
    • Misbehavior may be due to parenting that is not appropriate to the child’s developmental age.
  • Collaborative Problem Solving & Behavior Management:

  • Character Development:

Adoption / Reactive Attachment Disorder

Note: We are not ‘adoption specialists’. We work with many adopted kids in relation to their challenges with defiance, behavior, learning challenges, inattention, mood management, etc.

  • Understand the cause:

  • Treatment:

    • Co-existing Challenges: It is important to rule out other common challenges: ADHD, depression, learning differences, sibling jealousy.
    • Parent Training: Parent intervention is similar to the Anxiety & Behavioral interventions above. RAD kids need parents to understand their anxiety and appropriately deal with their behavior, while creating a safe home.
    • Individual Therapy: Kids need to understand their RAD brain! Their biology tells them to attach, but they have learned that is dangerous. This push/pull is scary and causes a lot of anxiety.

College Kids

Some kids need extra support when they leave home. College is a life-changing adventure that requires bravery, self-awareness and skill. We often serve as mentors regarding relationship, sexuality, academic, time management and stress challenges for local kids.

College TEEN Mentorship by New Leaves Clinic

We love kids, especially the hardest ones!