Therapy for Children

Sometimes kids struggle. As a parent, this is probably the most difficult part of the role.

How do we help our kids when they feel anxious, depressed, they’re getting bullied or acting out at school? Maybe you’re going through a divorce and you want to not screw up your kids. Perhaps there’s been a death in the family, or you just feel like you’re losing influence over them - they don’t listen, don’t talk to you about what’s going on in their lives… You just feel like you can’t reach your kid. You want that loving, close relationship back. You want your child to be okay!

Our Approach to Therapy for Kids

As a parent, you are the most influential person in your child’s life. That’s why we don’t just see your child on their own. We work with the whole family. That means often parents and children are all in the room together. Sometimes we see just the parents. Sometimes just the child. 

Our hope for you is that your family can shift from survival mode to thriving in positive relationships with each other.

Modalities we use:

• Play therapy

• EMDR for children

• Safe & Sound Protocol

• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

At InnerWorks, we help kids with:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Peer relationships

• Managing big emotions

• Suicidal thoughts

• Improving parent-child relationships

How we start therapy with children

When you get in touch with us, we’ll send you a parent intake form to fill out. We encourage you to get input from your child about their concerns, if you feel it’s appropriate. This form will help us match you with the best therapist for your child.

Next, we will schedule a parent intake session. This is a time for you as a parent to meet with your child’s therapist to provide more information, and for us to properly assess how we can help your family. 

After your intake session, you and the therapist will book the ongoing appointments for your child. The therapist will work with your child on the identified concerns, and will also discuss with your child how you as a parent will be included in their therapy. 

At InnerWorks, we value the family as a system in which your child lives. We know that problems don’t happen in isolation, they don’t tend to just appear overnight, and that a child’s emotional wellbeing and behaviours evolve over many years. This means that we expect parents be involved in their child’s treatment. This might look like a quick update at the end of sessions, sometimes sitting in together for the entire session, or one-off parent sessions with your child’s therapist.

We may also recommend that you as parents attend your own therapy, and/or work with one of our parenting coaches. This gives your family the best chance of success in getting back to the kind of family environment that helps all members thrive.

Family issues that we refer out to other providers who have specialized training in these areas:

• Explosive/violent behaviours

• Disordered Eating

• Domestic Violence

• High conflict custody & access situations