Is your child flunking out at school? Struggling to make friends? Isolating themselves and staying in their rooms? Refusing to do new things?
Are you struggling to cope with your child’s behaviour? Experiencing anxiety about their choices and wellbeing? Or just feeling unconfident in your parenting decisions?
From rooms in Double Bay, Sydney, I work directly with children and adolescents to help them build the skills and strategies they need to improve their wellbeing.I can also work directly with you as a parent, to help you build skills to effectively support your child and feel confident that you’re doing the best to set them up for a healthy and productive life.
When working with children and adolescents, I adopt a family-focussed cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) approach. This approach has widespread support among both researchers and clinicians. I make every effort to develop a strong connection to your child. I believe the key is to add an element of fun to sessions, so I often incorporate games and novelty.
When issues are affecting school, I can (where appropriate) liaise with the school to promote healthy functioning in this environment. The extent to which you as a parent will be involved will depend on the child’s presentation, age, and their preferences. For example, when working with younger children it’s typical for parents to take on the role of ‘coach’ to make sure the skills learnt during our sessions are put into practice at home.
To give you an idea of the skills I might teach a child, let’s consider an example of an eight-year-old child who is suffering from separation anxiety and not wanting to go to school.
Every child is different, and there is no one-size fits all approach in therapy, however these are techniques I may use:
The Cool Kids Program is a widely regarded CBT program that teaches children and teenagers and their parents how to improve management of anxiety.
I am currently a supervising clinician on the Cool Kids Program (Macquarie University). I am also accredited to deliver the Cool Kids Anxiety Treatment Program in my own Double Bay private practice.