Palo Alto Parenting Solutions | Marriage, Family & Art Therapist, Adoption, ADHD, Asperger’s, Anxiety, Behavior, Depression

Approach
Raising a child is never a simple task. Some children present more challenges than others. The first person to notice that your child has a problem with emotions or behavior is often their parent.

Distress Signs:

Anxiety: persistent worrying, school refusal, or difficulty going and staying asleep
Persistent nightmares
Feeling sad or crying much of the time
Problems at school, falling grades
Difficulty making or keeping friends, social isolation
Trouble controlling impulsive behavior, and difficulty paying attention
Oppositional behavior: refusal to follow directions, aggression towards peers or adults
Frequent tantrums, irritability, and, increasing difficulty coping with everyday life

Emotional distress can have many roots. Sometimes it's family upheaval due to life changes like a birth, death, separation or divorce. At other times there may be an inherited neurological condition. Each day the medical community learns more about the workings of the human brain. Whatever the origin, we work to relieve our client's unhappiness, help parents learn to advocate for their children and help children learn to advocate for themselves.

Our approach is to work with each child in a safe, nurturing, and caring environment. Through talk, play and art we explore the puzzle of thoughts and emotions that make up their world. With understanding and trust we seek to uncover the needs at the root of their behavior, and then together create new and more successful ways to fulfill the child's needs.

When we work with a child we find it important to also work with their parent's and sometimes siblings to increase understanding and improve communication and family harmony.

If your family is experiencing signs of distress and you’re not sure what to do, call for a free consultation.