Anxiety can present in a lot of different forms and co-occur with numerous other challenges. We are skilled at treating generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, school refusal, sleep struggles, social anxiety, fears and phobias including emetophobia (vomiting fear.) Anxiety is an expected, normal and healthy part of our human experience. We would be in bad shape if somehow we got rid of it entirely.
Too much anxiety, when out of proportion to the actual danger, is miserable, exhausting and risks feeding on itself and growing. Pushing back against anxiety is a big ask of anyone let alone kids. We will spend time learning about anxiety, growing the motivation to push back (ACT), building coping skills and practicing them in manageable and sustainable ways. Parents again can be invaluable here because they typically and naturally have been working hard to help alleviate their kids’ stress. This means that the parents are extremely well positioned to both support their children in their experience and slowly take back the power from anxiety.
We use the SPACE method to facilitate this process. This method is fantastic for families where the kiddo isn’t interested or able to participate in treatment and is also incredibly useful in addition to a CBT therapeutic approach.