Children are best helped using strategies from evidence-based Play Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
Besides working with children, regular parent consultation helps in achieving better outcomes. The therapist usually meets with the child at the start of the session and then shares a brief feedback with the parent post each session.
In some cases, parents are even trained to provide play therapy sessions to their children and this form of therapy is called filial therapy. Parent training sessions in filial therapy are conducted individually or in smaller groups to teach parents’ skills to be able to recognize children’s feelings, build self-esteem, set limits and practice the use of reflective thinking.
Below is a video by Dr. Dee C. Ray (Director, Center for Play Therapy, UNT, USA) that introduces play therapy to parents:
Adolescence is a period of intense change and the primary developmental tasks of this stage include individuation, separation and preparation for adult roles. The challenges associated with adolescence have been exacerbated with internet, social media and peer pressure in today’s age. The core concerns are addressed by allowing adolescents to engage in their own healing process by choice.
Treatment for Teenagers is informed by Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Activity Therapy and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
Sessions are offered on a weekly basis via online appointment and depending on the goals therapy can be short-term for a specific issue or long-term.
Parents many a times feel the need to seek guidance to address parenting issues they feel confused or stuck with in their child or teens life. Without involving the child or the teen they set up an appointment to enhance their skills or knowledge around a specific parenting topic. No one is really trained to be a parent and I offer compassionate understanding and support to parents while working collaboratively towards their goals.
Parent Coaching can address a wide-range of issues such as the following: Tantrums and behavioural difficulties, separation anxiety, depression, assisting with school concerns ( bullying/social skills), Managing parenting/family stress, blended families, co-parenting after separation and guidance with transitions, trauma and loss etc.
Individual therapy is best described as receiving comprehensive care that focuses on an individual’s situation and goals. The most important aspect of therapy is the development of therapeutic alliance, which is a trusting relationship that helps facilitate the changes needed to achieve growth.
Empirically supported treatments are offered including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Emotion Focused Individual Therapy. (EFIT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy ( DBT), and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).
In my experience, adults come for therapy not only when a psychological assessment identifies a diagnosed area of concern but also when people are adjusting to life changes with respect to their personal growth and development.
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) is a short-term, systematic and tested intervention to reduce distress and dysfunction in individuals struggling in their romantic relationships.
EFT for couples is used to address a wide range of issues such as: Difficulties in communication or conflict resolution, trauma and life transitions, decision making regarding marriage or divorce, and betrayal.
It is an experiential attachment based intervention that attempts to decrease negative interaction patterns resulting in harmony and closeness in couple relationship.
Strategies from Acceptance & Commitment Therapy are also used as need in the therapeutic process.
Emotionally Focused Family Therapy ( EFFT) helps in understanding emotions, exploring negative patterns, and healing old wounds that cause anxiety and depression. Family therapy sessions can include child or adolescent along with parents, siblings, and grandparents or any other significant member.
Family and couples therapy focuses on building healthy relationships within each family system. If needed, the therapist meets couples separately focusing on creating better communication and interactions. In family therapy, clients work with the therapist to work towards building a more balanced life.
Employee assistance program is a benefit program to help employees deal with work place stress and/or personal problems. This program is structured in a way that it feels safe and comfortable for employees to express themselves.
Working with a workplace training program based on Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT), the psychologist offers organizational consultation through EAP within different organizations. These organizations include Local Companies, Multi-national Companies (MNCs), International School’s and Start-ups. This is offered to organizations of any size.
Workplace situations can create a number of psychological challenges such as anxiety, depression, feeling tired, having nightmares, persistent psychological pain that causes difficulty adjusting, sleep disturbances, problems concentrating, feeling of unfairness and anger, a feeling of tearfulness and emotional instability, and lack of motivation.
Below is a list of services you could choose from :
When supported in such a caring way, employees begin to appreciate the workplace.
Plans can be customized to fit the needs of your organization and if you have any queries related to the same, do contact me.
Psychoeducational testing is a specialized assessment that can be requested by a parent or by the school. It is a systematic study of different areas of functioning of a child or an adolescent that provides a clearer picture of their learning and behavioural profile. Such assessments are requested to gain diagnostic clarity and meet the primary or secondary school’s requirement to also generate an IEPs.
The assessment process involves the following steps:
These comprehensive reports are either simply used to enhance understanding of a child or teen’s current strengths and areas of concern or else to consider the recommendations listed by the psychologist for provisions and modifications to be made within the classroom or during examinations as recognized by CBSE and IGCSE boards.
Success for individuals with specific needs is in helping them find and enhance their strengths and talents and not just in identifying the ‘problem’ areas.
If you wish to gain more information about such an assessment for your child or teen, please do contact me.
Training: Trainings are available for counsellors, psychologists and professionals working in the mental health field. These trainings are informative and undertaken in a virtual format. Some of the topics include:
Internships: Internships can provide insight into practical aspects of clinical learning and helps understand if one enjoys working in specific settings ( eg, clinics, school, research, inpatient) with certain age groups (children, adolescents, adults) and with specific diagnoses ( anxiety, autism, PTSD, depression). The internship may be designed to suit small group or individual student needs. Online internships ranging from a week to a few weeks are available for:
Supervision and training is an important area of practise.
Supervision for undertaking psychotherapy with children and adolescents is available for counsellors / psychologists who work in various settings such as hospitals, private clinics or schools’.
Supervision is collaborative and supportive and aimed at helping therapist’s to grow as more integrated individual’s facilitating even better interpersonal connection with their clients.
In the past supervision of play therapist’s has helped them build better conceptualization skills and address areas where they particularly feel stuck and alone.
