Kids & Families
Like adults, children can benefit from therapy. At Whole Journey, we strive to assist children and their families with improving their quality of life in a variety of ways. Therapy can assist children with developing coping skills, problem-solving skills, improve attention deficit issues, impulse control, regulate their moods, and anger management skills.
We provide a safe environment where your child can learn, grow, and deal with their own stressors at their own pace therapeutically. Whether it’s art therapy, play therapy, or more conventional cognitive and behavioral modalities, the specific needs of your child are our first priority.
Your child is much more than the issues that are causing difficulties at this time. We would like to partner with parents, guardians, and other significant members of the child’s life (if necessary) in order to help each child who walks through the door grow into their full potential.
Common Challenges:
- Bullying (victim or perpetrator)
- Episodes of sadness, tearfulness, or depression
- Significant drop in grades
- Anger episodes
- Social Withdrawal or isolation
- Decreased interest in previously enjoyed activities
- Mood Swings
- Increase in physical complaints (headache, stomachache, or not feeling well), despite a normal exam from a physician
- Managing a serious, acute or chronic illness
- Family transition (foster care, adoption, blending families, divorce, new child in the home, or relocations)
- Signs of substance use
- Grief and loss
- Other Traumatic Events: physical, sexual abuse and/or neglect
Teens
We understand that therapy might not be at the top of a teen’s or adolescent’s to-do list. There can be complexities involved, and we strive to allow a genuine relationship to develop. From our experience, this allows authentic exploration and growth. Youth at Whole Journey are given a safe environment to explore their questions, address their uncertainties, confront their insecurities, and work through their pain is important to us. Validating our clients’ feelings, allowing them to feel empowered to grow, and to create their own goals are building blocks we believe in.
Common Challenges:
- Mood
- Improve attention issues
- Life transitions
- Family dynamics
- Identity Issues
- Self-esteem
- Relationships
- Communicating to parents, guardians, and authority figures
Family Therapy
“Pain shared, is pain not doubled but halved. No man is an island.” – Neil Gaiman
Family issues can occur in any family. Even healthy families can experience challenges at times. Ideally, our families are the very people that we’d like to get support, love, understanding and connection from. However, there are times we don’t feel very close and our relationships feel strained from our family members. Being so closely linked with others, can often bring about the most intense emotions we experience, whether it’s positive or negative. Whether the challenges are minor or severe, we would like to help you strengthen your family ties. Family therapy can give your family the opportunity to do so.
Our Approach: We approach family therapy from a stance of openness, respect for your family’s goals, needs, and values. Everyone in a family has a voice and is impacted by the family dynamic. Every family has patterns of relating to each other, and every family member deserves a safe space to express themselves. Every family is different, but we understand how complex it can be to maintain individuality while co-existing with others, and the importance of understanding, growing, and learning new, healthier ways to create family relationships that are fulfilling.
What we could work on:
- Improve communication between teens and parents
- Attachment Issues
- Academic Concerns
- Transitions
- Foster Care/Adoption Issues
- Boundary issues
- Family Role Issues
- Improve sibling rivalry
- Improve communication
- Changing dysfunctional patterns
- Blended/ Separating/Divorce Issues
- Strain due to deployment or military culture
- Coping with the impact of mental illness, physical illness, disability, caregiving, and/or substance dependent family member on the family
