I work with children and their parents to help children with emotional, social, learning and behavioural difficulties.

Children sometimes need help learning behaviours that will make them thrive at school and at home. I am passionate about protecting children’s self-esteem and boosting their social skills. Furthermore, I enjoy helping them learn how to make positive choices and build resilience to handle the challenges that life brings. They also need to develop an awareness of how their behaviour affects others around them.

Child therapy areaAs children grow, they go through several developmental stages. Infancy and toddlerhood covers the first two years. Early childhood is the pre-school age between two to six years. Middle childhood ranges from the age of six to eleven and adolescence commences around the age of 12.

Each stage brings its own challenges, for the child and also the parents. It can be hard to know whether these challenges are part of normal development. Professional support is sometimes the best option to help your child handle what they are going through.

Early identification of any difficulties is important. Intervention focussing on growth and development help give children the best head start. I can provide assessment and supportive, non-judgmental treatment for a range of issues.

Some of the most common issues relate to school and learning difficulties, social skills, confidence, behavioural problems, anxiety and depression.

HELPING ANXIOUS CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS

All kids feel anxious sometimes. As they develop, different situations will cause distress. For example, a toddler may become frightened and want to hide when seeing a large dog. Young children are often clingy when dropped at kindy. And as they grow older, other situations like school tests or fitting in with their friends may stress them.

Feeling short-term anxiety is normal. However, if the feelings continue and your child feels anxious more than other children the same age, it could be developing into an anxiety disorder. Similarly, if the anxiety stops them participating in activities at school or with friends.

Children and adolescents most often suffer from the following types of anxiety:

  • Phobia: an intense fear of particular objects or situations such spiders or injections, even though there is little chance of getting hurt
  • Social phobia: being shy and avoiding social interactions. Finding it difficult making friends. Worried about being seen in a negative light
  • Separation anxiety: fear and distress when leaving their parents or if the parents go out. Being afraid that something will happen to their parents
  • Generalised anxiety: excessive and unrealistic worries about many things - what may happen, making mistakes, and things they've done in the past. Asking lots of questions and looking for reassurance

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

Common signs and symptoms can be clustered into 4 areas:

  • Physical responses: such as sleeplessness, nausea, headaches and stomach aches
  • Thoughts: thinking about the situation makes them more worried and tense
  • Emotions: having lots of fears and worries. Being irritable or getting upset easily
  • Behaviours: trying to avoid certain situations eg going to school or seeing their friends

It has been shown that Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is the most effective treatment to help reduce anxiety symptoms in children and teenagers. Read more on the Therapy page.