Help Your Child Thrive
Parenting is a fulfilling journey, yet we all need support. You are not alone; we have the expertise to assist with various behaviors and issues that affect your child’s well-being including:
With our expertise in child counseling, let us be your partner to nurture their well-being.
Our team of skilled child therapists and mental health experts is committed to helping children and their families through various challenges with children counseling services.
Signs that Child Therapy May Help Your Family
If you have ever asked yourself the following questions, we can help:
- Why is my child talking back to me suddenly?
- Why is my child so angry all of the time?
- Is there a reason my child is isolating themselves from me?
- Why does my child talk badly about themselves?
- My child never wants to go to school anymore. What can I do?
Your Family Doesn’t Need to Suffer in Silence
First and foremost, we want you to know you are not alone.
Raising kids is challenging sometimes downright difficult, and often relatively thankless.
Yet, just about any parent that you ask will tell you that it’s a small price to pay.
The love and joy children bring is unparalleled.
Part of raising children is ensuring that appropriate attention is paid to maintaining both their physical and mental well-being.
The mental health and development of children can be incredibly complex. Those small bodies can often have unfathomably big feelings inside.
As adults, we tend to forget that our young ones are still learning how emotions and feelings work in relation to the world around them.
When we remember that though, we are able to put ourselves in their place more easily.
When Does Your Child Need Therapy?
This can be a difficult question to answer.
The emotions we feel as parents wondering if we did something wrong.
Keep in mind, that this feeling may have nothing to do with you.
We might not know what our kids go through daily at school or elsewhere.
When we remember kids’ issues are real, we validate their feelings.
We also promote openness so feelings can be felt.
The feelings may be foreign to them.
This is normal.
Getting professional help ensures proper development.
It’s hard to cope with a trigger if you don’t know the trigger or healthy coping.
Therapy like art or play therapy finds the root cause and works through it going forward.
The Tiniest of Pebbles Can Cause an Enormous Ripple Effect
All of the issues we mentioned above can have a potentially lasting effect on your child’s development.
Even when perceived to be minor, they can persist and create challenges well into their adult lives.
In many cases, children can develop anxiety over seemingly simple things, and they often don’t have the capacity to articulate their feelings to you.
Working with a professional now can help prevent much more lengthy and intense recovery efforts later in life.
As a parent, you. can tell when something just isn’t right with your child, even if you can’t put a finger on it.
This can be concerning, frustrating, and even frightening because there’s little more terrifying in this world than not being able to help your child when you feel they may need it.
Pathways Counseling Services is here for you, to make sure that you and your child can get the help you need to grow in a constructive, positive direction.
Below we’ll explore each of the issues we mentioned a little deeper. If any of them resonate with you, we invite you to contact us for an appointment.
Pathways Counseling Services has been a lifesaver for our daughter and our family. If I could give 6 stars I would. Everyone here has been supportive in every way possible and her therapist is top-notch. We’ve done family counseling along with my daughter’s counseling and I’m not an easily impressed guy…but I gotta say we’ve seen the biggest and best changes imaginable.
* Jef (client)
What Does Anger Look Like in Children?
Kids go through stressful phases with new emotions. Does this look like your child?
People call them the “terrible twos” or “threenagers.”
These are natural stages where kids test boundaries and grow independent.
Sometimes though, the anger is not just a phase.
Some of the signs that your child may have unaddressed anger issues include:
- Experiencing “tantrums” beyond age six
- High levels of frustration when the child doesn’t win or cannot solve a problem
- Being advised by a teacher that the child has emotional challenges outside the norm
- Their friends don’t want to play with them
- They lay blame on others for their mistakes
- Using hurtful verbiage when upset
- Only responding to discipline
- Expressing regret about their actions and a desire to want to do better
Signs of Anxiety in Children
People often ask, is child anxiety a real thing? The reality is just about everyone feels anxious, worried, or even panicked about something now and then. This is incredibly common during periods of significant life changes or stressful events, like starting school, moving, and more.
However, anxiety can have significant effects on their lives, from school to sleep and everything in between. Caring for anxiety in your youngster is important for their sense of security.
Common signs that your child may be living with anxiety include:
- Sleep disruption
- Nightmares
- Challenges concentrating
- Not eating properly
- Easily irritable or angered
- Fidgety
- Frequent toilet use
- Overly-clingy
- Frequent crying
- Frequent stomach aches
Caring For Anxiety – Child Counseling
While kids get sad over random things, depression in a child is more significant.
Knowing the symptoms makes recognizing it easier.
If your child shows depression or anxiety signs, and it’s not physical, consider professional counseling.
Treatments like counseling, art therapy, music therapy, and play therapy can help anxiety.
Sometimes the root cause is found and addressed.
Counseling is a common way of caring for anxiety in many cases.
Click here to learn more about anxiety counseling for children in Scottsdale, AZ.
Signs Of Low Self-Esteem
Is Your Child Struggling? Sometimes, kids face challenges that affect their self-esteem. But you can help.
Recognizing the Signs. Keep an eye out for these signs that your child might need a self-esteem boost:
- Decline in school performance
- Focusing on negative feedback
- Frequent feelings of anxiety or sadness
- Vulnerability to bullying
Low self-esteem in children may also open them up to being bullied by others.
Boosting Your Child’s Self-Esteem
To help your child grow their self-esteem naturally and honestly, start by praising them in ways that help them to be proud of themselves.
Being proud of oneself is much more critical for building self-worth than simply relying on approval from others.
Friendship is another major component of having healthy self-esteem, but massive friend groups aren’t the goal. Most kids just need one or two close friends that accept them for who they are.
Schedule Online—easy & secure!
Signs of Childhood Depression
While anyone with children knows that they can get sad over incredibly random or seemingly minor aspects of life, depression in a child will be more significant than that.
Once you know the signs of a child who might be depressed it can make recognizing it much easier.
Depression signs include:
- Feelings of sadness, unhappiness, or grouchiness that last weeks or even months
- Suddenly becoming more self-critical, expressing a lot of “I can’t do anything right” or “I’m not enough” verbiage
- A drop in energy levels and effort, often giving up even little tasks easily
- Not enjoying things they previously loved
- Changes in sleeping or eating patterns
- Development of stomachaches or other pains that can’t be proven or disproven
Common treatments for depression include using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in conjunction with playtime, stories, and even workbooks, or formal lessons.
The goal is to help the child feel at ease, so they can benefit from the therapy.
Common Issues Children Deal With In School
Children are forced to process a lot of stimuli, and school is a major source.
School is also a major source of developing stress and anxiety for many kids, due to the countless issues they need to deal with daily.
Kids, parents, and teachers have had to make quick adjustments to how the teaching process functions. The way everyone used to interact has dramatically changed in the last few years. Things had to change, literally overnight and nothing was there to guide everyone.
Our kids are frequently concerned now with things like:
- Feeling safe
- Bullies
- Fitting in
- Expressing themselves
- Finding their place as individuals
- Learning how to learn
- Connecting with peers and more.
These elements are only exacerbated by issues such as learning, anxiety, and behavior disorders. That’s precisely why our counselors are trained in school guidance counseling.
Coping With Divorce – Child Counseling Reasons
Divorce is incredibly stressful for adults, comparable to job loss or the death of a loved one in terms of its impact.
This level of stress can also deeply affect children involved in the divorce, causing them significant emotional distress.
Here are some ways of helping your child cope with divorce:
- Stay involved in their life
- Put serious effort into co-parenting
- Support your child in spending time with the other parent
- Don’t talk negatively about the other parent in front of the child
- Maintain open and honest communication with the child
- Work with your child to express thoughts and feelings in healthy and productive ways
- Try to stick to routines
- Reinforce that everything is going to be alright, even though things are changing
- Maintain self-care
Grief In Children
Grief is complex, and for children to work through it can require the assistance of professionals as well as one or more forms of therapy.
Grief in Children vs. Grief in Adults
Grief is experienced very differently by children than adults.
Young children often can’t comprehend the permanence of it, and it can take until the age of five to nine that they begin to understand death with more finality.
While adults may feel a sense of obligation to attend a wake, funeral, or other memorial services, a child might be frightened by the event or even the concept of the event, and should not be forced to attend.
Grief Can Be Confusing
Besides the sadness of losing a loved one, children might struggle with other emotions they don’t fully understand or handle.
They might also feel like their family members have changed because everyone is grieving and acting differently emotionally.
Signs Of Grief In Children
Common signs of grief in children include:
- Depression
- Disruption of sleep patterns
- Sudden fear of being alone
- Regression
- Excessive imitation of the deceased
- Claiming to see or talk to the deceased for extended periods
- Isolating from friends and family
- A sudden drop in school performance or attendance
If your child is experiencing any of these signs, please read more about our child grief counseling – we are here to help.
Trauma in Kids – Can Child Counseling Help?
Stressful events or changes can cause trauma. Trauma can come from witnessing a traumatic event, not just being directly involved.
With kids, just witnessing or hearing about trauma on TV can have lasting effects.
A hug doesn’t always fix it. Kids may wonder why they missed school and worry if it’s safe to go back.
More kids show trauma signs from school shootings on the news, even if not first-hand.
The trauma response can be intense. As a parent, look for signs of significant trauma in your child’s life.
Signs of Trauma
Trauma can result in a massive range of signs and symptoms, so even if your child doesn’t display common signs like these but you believe they have trauma, the best thing to do is speak with a professional.
That said, common signs of trauma include:
- Denial, disbelief
- Challenges concentrating
- Fatigue
- Irritability, emotional instability
- Elevated heart rate
- Feelings of anxiety, panic, or fear
- Muscle tension and pain
- Guilt, shame, and blaming themselves for what happened
- Isolating from others
- Insomnia
- Feeling sad, hopeless, or even numb
Healing Past Trauma
Symptoms from trauma can last days, weeks, months, even years depending on the severity and the type of trauma.
In many cases, even after a considerable amount of time without symptoms, they can return for a period.
Failing to cope with trauma can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can make the symptoms more persistent and intense.
The most successful trauma healing happens when therapy is combined with aspects of mindfulness and self-care.
Has My Child Been Abused?
Countless children are abused every day by those who are entrusted with their care. No matter the type of abuse, child abuse frequently results in the child feeling guilty, confused, and likely ashamed.
Unfortunately, most children will generally be hesitant or even afraid to disclose the abuse to anyone, even close friends, particularly if the abuser is someone close to them.
Each specific type of child abuse carries unique symptoms, but some general red flags indicating abuse include:
- Rebellious behavior
- Isolating from friends or favorite activities
- Significant changes in behavior, such as sudden development of anger, aggression, or hyperactivity
- Changes in school performance not attributed to other causes
- Sleep disruption
- School attendance issues
- Self-harming
- Suicidal ideation
If you or someone you love is talking about suicidal thoughts, seek help immediately. Call 988 – Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Bottom Line – Our Expert Help Can Transform Your Child’s Life with Children Counseling
No matter how unique or challenging you think your situation may be, there is no reason that you need to go through it alone. Children counseling is here to help.
Daily life doesn’t have to be as difficult as unresolved trauma or other mental illnesses can make it.
Don’t be afraid to seek the support and help you and your child need.
Everyone in your family deserves to have the life you strive for together. Finding the right resources does not have to be a difficult and scary process.
By working with an expert local children’s counselor, you can help your children learn healthier ways to handle emotions and better ways to communicate with them about those emotions.
Our Child(ren) Counselors
Frequently Asked Questions:
You may do this in three ways.
You can book online anytime
Call us at 480-613-8530
Complete this contact form.
Yes, we offer a free 15-minute telephone consultation. Please call us at 480-613-8530 to schedule a consultation or complete this contact form.
Our practice is a “Fee-For-Service” practice which means we DO NOT accept insurance. If you have an insurance provider with behavioral health coverage, they may offer “out-of-network” coverage. If you would like to use your “out-of-network” benefits, we will provide you with a superbill (receipt) monthly that you can submit to your insurance company for “out-of-network” reimbursement.
Prior to your first session, you will fill out some general information. We will you a link to complete the form(s) prior to your first session.
During the initial appointment, we will review some of your histories and we will have an opportunity to discuss the reasons you are interested in counseling and the goals you are looking to achieve from counseling.
Together during the first few sessions we will put together a treatment plan with you.
Most patients come in for weekly appointments. As you are feeling better, you can cut back on the frequency of the sessions so you have more time to practice what you are learning.
Initial sessions are 75 minutes ongoing sessions may be 45-75 minutes or longer depending on need.
Patients who work with us report improvements in a few sessions. More difficult issues may take longer. People come to therapy for different reasons but universally people don’t initiate counseling unless they are in some type of emotional pain. Our attitude is to try to make every session count.
We welcome couples, children, adolescents, teens, and individuals of diverse backgrounds, cultures, religious traditions, and lifestyles.
We will be able to work with you using a variety of tools and techniques and specialize in a variety of issues and concerns.
All client-therapist conversations are private and confidential. In those rare exceptions when the safety of a client or other is at risk disclosure of confidential client-therapist information takes place.
