All of our therapists are offering online counselling at this time!
TEEN & CHILDREN
THERAPY & COUNSELLING IN TORONTO
With extensive experience working with children and youth in our clinics located in Vaughan and Toronto, we provide valuable resources to help young clients and their parents navigate the complexities of new experiences, emotions, and thoughts. Our goal is to offer support, enabling them to gain clarity and confidence, and make the most of their crucial developmental years.
What is Teen Counselling?
Childhood and adolescence are the most productive yet often the most sensitive and challenging periods in our lives. Through these key developmental years, children and teens often struggle to strike a balance between their desire for independence and their need for protection and guidance.
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Teen counselling, also known as adolescent counselling or therapy, is a specialized type of mental health assistance designed to aid teenagers in navigating the difficulties they encounter during adolescence. It offers a secure and nurturing setting where trained professionals collaborate with teens to delve into their thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and experiences. The primary objective of teen counseling is to facilitate the development of positive coping mechanisms and enhance the overall welfare of adolescents. Source: American Psychological Association
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What Methods used in Adolescent Therapy?
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CBT: One of the methods used in our clinic for teen counselling is CBT. This therapy centers around exploring the connections among thoughts, emotions, and actions. It supports teenagers in recognizing detrimental or unproductive thinking patterns and cultivating more positive thoughts and effective coping strategies. Here is a fascinating study that explores the unfulfilled mental health requirements of adolescents: Unmet need for mental health care among U.S. children
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Family Therapy: Another effect method used in our clinic for teen counselling is family therapy. This therapy entails the active involvement of family members to tackle issues related to relationships, communication styles, and conflicts that can influence the teenager's overall well-being. Here is a study examining the utilization of family therapy in addressing cannabis use among teenagers: Multidimensional Family Therapy study
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DBT: Another method used by our clinic for Teen counselling is Dialectical Behaviuor Therapy. This therapy integrates components of cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness techniques. Its primary aim is to equip adolescents with the necessary skills to effectively regulate emotions, enhance interpersonal connections, and develop resilience in the face of distress. Here is a study examining the application of DBT for addressing life-threatening behaviours in teenagers: Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior study
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Who Can Benefit From
Teen Counselling?
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Childhood and adolescence are the most productive yet often the most sensitive and challenging periods in our lives. Through these key developmental years, children and teens often struggle to strike a balance between their desire for independence and their need for protection and guidance. The constant encounters with new experiences and emotions, which often clash in the process of self-identification, often make growing up an overwhelming and chaotic process even under perfectly stable circumstances. This combined with the often unexpected yet inevitable life challenges and transitions like parental separation, grief and loss, geographical relocation, school and peer issues, makes for extra challenging times in the lives of children.
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It is also important to work with the parents of young children as you have the greatest impact on your child. This allows you to understand your child better, create a stronger attachment between you and your child, and implement new strategies to maximize your child’s potential.
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What Should You Expect?
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We typically meet first with parents in order to gain a thorough history of the problems to be addressed as well as the developmental history of your child. During the initial session we can get a good understanding of the goals and areas of change that you would like to see happen. At this time, we can decide whether to start therapy with you and your child, the family as a whole or only with certain family members (either your child, or you and your partner).
Before initiating psychotherapy services, we schedule an initial assessment session with either you and/or your partner, without your child being present. The initial assessment is completed in one 50-90 minute session. The following steps are carried out:
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Details about your current concerns regarding your child are obtained.
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Background information and family history is gathered.
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Goals for therapy are discussed.
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Various psychotherapy approaches are discussed and a plan of action is determined.
After the initial assessment and depending on your particular needs, you and your child will be involved in counselling either individually or together through various combinations of the following services:
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Therapy for Children
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Psychotherapy for Parents (please see parenting section of website)
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Combination of Parent and Child Therapy Sessions
Each therapy session is typically 50 minutes long. At times, a longer session may be required with you in order to review your child’s progress and discuss complex parenting concerns or to provide parenting education/training to you. If longer sessions are indicated, we can discuss this together.