Children's Therapy

Many children and teens have struggles. These struggles can affect how they think, feel and act. Therapy can help your child process and resolve experiences that may have negatively affected their mental health. Our therapist will provided tools to help them cope, communicate and work past the struggles they may be experiencing.

Common struggles that might elicit the help of a therapist include (but are not limited to): anxiety, depression, suicidality, relationship struggles, self-esteem, grief/loss, parent-child relationship, etc. Children and teens should access therapy when they can't cope with their stress alone. Additionally, support is imperative when problems affect their mood, interactions with others and thoughts about themselves.

In therapy, some individuals learn by doing, while with others, traditional talk therapy is more beneficial. With younger children, this means doing things like drawing, playing, and talking. For older kids and teens, therapists share activities and ideas that focus on learning the skills they need. Talking through feelings and understanding problems is necessary.

Therapists give praise and support as children learn, and provide ongoing empathy and validation for the struggles they may be facing. Therapy supports children to believe in themselves, find their strengths, build helpful thinking patterns and healthy behavioural habits.

When parents bring their child to therapy, they may meet with the therapist as a unit or the child may meet individually with the therapist. This depends on age of child and their ability to give consent. Another option is for a parent to meet individually with the therapist to explore the struggles on a different level and to provide support and education on child development and parenting skills.

If you are in Kitchener-Waterloo and surrounding areas and interested in counselling for your child or want parenting support , call us at 226-647-1710 or email at info@exhaletherapy.ca to set up an appointment.