Mental Health Services
Child and Family Counseling
Families are an integrated, interconnected unit in which psychological functioning is influenced by each and every family member individually and collectively as an entire system. At Moving Mountains Therapy Center, we strive to meet our client’s needs as well as the needs of their family and loved ones.
Forms of Therapy Offered at Moving Mountains Therapy Center?
Family-based Behavioral Treatment – Parent/Caregiver Only
Caregivers are an essential part of therapy for children, and in family-based therapy, research has shown that it can often be beneficial to include only the parent(s) in the therapy process. Taking this approach often involves parents practicing modeling, identifying rewards, implementing consequences, and being more mindful of how children’s behaviors get reinforced.
Multidimensional Family Therapy
Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) is a family-centered treatment that addresses the individual, family, and environmental factors that influence a variety of behavioral issues in youth. This treatment is based on the idea that behavioral problems in adolescents are caused by many factors and treatment should come from a place of respect and compassion. In MDFT, youth learn coping, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, and the family learns ways to enhance family functioning.
Individualized Child Counseling
Children of all ages can attend counseling sessions, from young preschoolers to teenagers. Child counseling is a specialized area of psychology focused on working with children who have a mental illness, have experienced a traumatic event, or are facing a difficult family situation. Child counseling often addresses many of the same concerns or challenges that adults do, such as anxiety or grief, but this type of therapy focuses on breaking these problems down so that children can understand and make sense of them.
Moving Mountain Therapy Center’s mental health specialists offer insight into the inner workings of your child’s development that are not necessarily visible to even those closest to the child. Most important of all, your child may not be able to tell you what sort of help they need, so your judgment is critical in ensuring your child receives the therapeutic intervention that is best for them.
Child counseling aims to help children work through their emotions so they can live normal healthy lives without fear, confusion, anxiety or trauma in their lives.
Issues Addressed by Counseling
If your child has experienced tragic or unsettling events in his or her life, such as the unexpected loss of a loved one or an abusive episode, the stress of the situation may be difficult for them to understand. Some of the most common issues that child counseling addresses are:
• Divorce
• Death of a loved one and grief
• Witnessing or experiencing a trauma
• Mental health diagnoses, including anxiety and depression
• Bullying
• Sexual, emotional, or physical abuse
• Relocating schools or cities
• Substance abuse or addiction in the family
Counseling Can Help
A child who displays developmental problems or acts out in ways that are beyond what’s considered normal can likely benefit from counseling, especially if there has been a recent trauma or significant event that impacts their lives, like a death or divorce. Some of the signs that your child is in distress and could need counseling include:
• Unwarranted aggression
• Incontinence
• Difficulty adjusting to social situations
• Frequent nightmare and sleep difficulties
• Sudden drop in grades at school
• Persistent worry and anxiety
• Withdrawing from activities they normally enjoy
• Loss of appetite and dramatic weight loss
• Performing obsessive routines like hand washing
• Expressing thoughts of suicide
• Talking about voices they hear in their head
• Social isolation and wanting to be alone
• Alcohol or drug use
• Increased physical complaints despite a normal, healthy
physician’s report
• Self-harming behaviors