Is Your Child Struggling with Pervasive Anxious Thoughts?
Does your child or teenager experience constant worries? Perhaps they stress about their grades, making friends, or the number of likes and followers they get on social media. Or maybe your child is anxious about being harassed, bullied, or excluded from activities with their peers. You know some degree of stress is completely normal for children and adolescents, but your child seems to be dealing with more than is expected or healthy.
You might try to help your child by telling them that everything will be okay, but it doesn’t seem like it’s enough. Even worse, your child doesn’t seem to believe you. You want to help them understand how strong and capable they are, but you aren’t sure what else you can do to give them the support and guidance they need to feel confident and self-assured.
At Caring Cove, we are determined to help children and adolescents thrive. A clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety treatment can teach you and your child the skills you need to conquer anxiety and make lasting changes.
Modern-Day Childhood Often Includes Stress and Anxiety
Though most people think of childhood as carefree, it can be very stressful, and many children and adolescents struggle with anxiety. Major transitions, like a change in the family or moving to a new school, can be difficult for kids. Children who are struggling to adjust to a new normal may experience generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, and/or school avoidance.
Even common issues that all children go through, like academic pressure and difficulty making friends, can trigger anxious thinking and avoidant behavior. Making things more difficult, social media has a way of keeping us connected to sources of stress. Now adolescents constantly have access to each other, and the inability to disconnect has been linked to an increase in mental health challenges and greater difficulty adjusting to change.
Thankfully, your child’s life doesn’t have to be defined by anxiety. With the help of an experienced child and family therapist who specializes in treating anxiety, your child can develop greater confidence in themselves and their abilities.
Anxiety Treatment Can Help Your Child Find Relief
At Caring Cove, our first step is to identify the cause and function of your child’s anxiety so we can determine the most effective treatment. We tailor our therapy approach to your child’s unique experience and needs, whether your child is experiencing generalized anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobias, school avoidance, separation anxiety, or a combination. Throughout treatment, we strive to build a trusting relationship with you and your child, and we use structured therapeutic activities that are engaging and fun.
All of our treatment plans are designed to help your child see the connection between their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. When your child avoids the things they are afraid of, they are teaching their brain that whatever they are avoiding is too scary to overcome. Our goal is to help your child or teen engage in value-driven behavior that boosts confidence, instead of letting emotions or negative thinking dictate their actions.
Throughout our work together, we will draw from a variety of evidence-based anxiety treatments to give you and your child the specific support and guidance you need to find relief and foster greater self-esteem. Specifically, we specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), an effective, evidence-based approach that has been thoroughly researched and proven to help children with anxiety. CBT helps children recognize when they are anxious, differentiate between helpful thoughts and unhelpful thoughts that are holding them back, develop coping tools, and tackle their fears. Every session will work towards accomplishing individualized goals, so your child can learn how to function better at school, home, extracurricular activities, and with their peers.
Things may seem difficult right now, but we have seen that no matter how long your child has been struggling, or how severe their anxiety may be, they can confront anxiety and foster greater confidence. Our treatment methods have been proven to work, and we are committed to helping your child or adolescent lead a healthy, happy life.
You May Have Some Objections About Anxiety Therapy…
We’ve tried anxiety treatment before, but it didn’t work.
It’s possible that the treatment you tried before was not evidence-based. Or it may have addressed symptoms only, offering a short-term fix and didn’t provide your child with the skills necessary to manage anxiety long-term. We stand by our methods as being the most effective ones available. We tailor our approach to your child’s unique needs and goals, and we monitor the success of the approach throughout treatment.
Will my child’s anxiety worsen by facing their fears?
It may seem counterintuitive to have your child face their fears head-on when their natural instinct is to avoid them. However, during therapy your child will learn how to face their fears in a healthy, confident way. Instead of letting negative emotions or harmful self-beliefs dictate their behavior, your child can engage in value-driven behavior that fosters greater confidence and self-esteem. We help your child learn the skills they need to recognize and address anxious thinking before it gets out of hand, so they can feel empowered throughout our work together.
How do I find out if anxiety therapy is covered by my insurance?
Your insurance carrier can tell you whether or not out-of-network treatment is covered. We will provide a superbill for you to submit for reimbursement. You can visit our FAQ page for more information. And if you need further assistance, we would be happy to help you navigate the process.
Anxiety Therapy Can Help Your Child Thrive
If you are ready to meet with a clinical psychologist, we invite you to call Caring Cove at 973-370-9944 for a free 15-minute consultation to see if we are a good fit for working together. We look forward to hearing from you.