How do I know if therapy is right for me or my child/teen?

Everyone feels stressed, scared, sad, and angry at some point in their life. But sometimes it can feel like these emotions are controlling your life. These emotions may cause problems with caregivers, friends, or significant others. You may feel like you or your child/teen are stuck in a rut that’s hard to get out of. Therapy may be the solution to help you or your child/teen get out of that rut.

Signs that you or your child/teen may benefit from therapy include:

  • Difficulties with daily activities, such as school/work, chores, or social activities

  • Irritability or frequent changes in mood or emotions

  • Problem behavior, such as refusing to complete tasks, yelling, arguing, tantrums, or outbursts

  • Changes in sleep or appetite (e.g., sleeping or eating too little or too much)

  • Challenges in relationships, such as frequent arguments

  • Thoughts of harming oneself or others

  • Feeling numb, disconnected from your surroundings, or finding your mind wandering, particularly during or after stressful or traumatic experiences

  • Avoiding people, places, and things that remind you of stressful or traumatic experiences

I specialize in treating disorders that cause all of these symptoms, especially if they occur after stressful or traumatic experiences. Contact me to learn more or schedule an appointment.

Evidence-Based Therapy

I use a range of evidenced-based treatments to treat mental health concerns. I primarily uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which are two treatment approaches that have strong research support for improving mental health. I also work with caregivers to manage strong emotions and problem behaviors in older children and teenagers. I incorporate a strengths-based and culturally-responsive approach in my therapy to tailor evidence-based treatments to meet the individual needs of each client. Learn more about the specific therapy approaches I use below.

  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) was developed for individuals who have strong emotions that interfere with their life. The DBT approach teaches skills that reduce emotional and behavioral dysregulation. DBT skills fall into five categories: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, walking the middle path, and interpersonal effectiveness.

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is effective in treating a range of mental health concerns including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and behavior problems. CBT focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are related and influence each other. It can be hard to change your feelings, so CBT focuses on changing thoughts and behavior to improve feelings and other symptoms.

  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a version of CBT that is designed to treat trauma symptoms following traumatic experiences among children and teenagers. TF-CBT focuses on teaching relaxation skills and changing unhelpful and negative thoughts about the traumatic experience.

  • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a type of CBT that was designed for teens and adults who experienced a traumatic event and have developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Clients learn to challenge negative and unhelpful beliefs about their traumatic experience. CPT is designed to be a brief treatment (about 12 sessions long).

Do these treatments sound like a good fit for you or your child/teen? Contact me today to learn more or schedule an appointment!