In addition to their expertise with children, our therapists also have extensive training and experience in working with adults. Many adults feel stress stemming from their role as parents. Individual therapy may help you become the parent you’d like to be. Sometimes your own anxiety, dysregulation, trauma, and stress can get in the way of your best parenting; individual therapy like what’s described above can be extremely effective, giving you the space to parent as you’d like. Click here to learn more about our individual therapy services for adults.
But it may be that parent training may directly help manage your child’s behavior. For some dysregulated children, treatment with parents is actually more effective than individual treatment with a child. In these cases, we utilize the following research-based programs:
- Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). This is a specialty treatment for children (aged 2 years to 6 years, 11 months) who have out-of-control tantrums, meltdowns, and aggression. Using a structured program over the course of 12-15 weeks, our therapists observe parents interacting with their children and coach them in how to set better boundaries, avoid emotional escalation, and teach self-regulation methods to their children. Parents and children are one-on-one during this time, while the therapist observes over a video camera and provides live coaching via an earbud. This program can be completed in person but is also very effective online, when families are in their homes during sessions.
- Parent Management Training (PMT). This structured program is designed to help dysregulated children between ages 3-13, with an adaptation for older teens as well. The training is conducted with only the parents and the therapist, but it’s designed to help children reduce their disruptive and out-of-control behavior. The therapist uses modeling and role-play to teach positive reinforcement to parents, who then try new strategies with their children and report back to the therapist for modification and fine-tuning. This program is also very effective when carried out online.
- Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). This program is a treatment for anxiety in children, but it is conducted solely with parents. The goal of the treatment is to help parents identify how they accommodate their children’s anxiety, and, in that way, inadvertently reinforce it. Many anxious children have built up very effective means of avoiding the things that make them anxious, and this makes their anxiety more entrenched and pervasive. SPACE helps parents take steps to change these patterns—carefully, flexibly, and empathetically—and to teach and encourage children to build their own coping muscles. Research shows this parent-focused method to be very effective in some family situations, even when a child is not open to therapy themselves. SPACE can be conducted online as well.