Unique Families, Unique Therapy
Types of Therapy Services
Couples and Co-Parenting Therapy
Marriages or partnerships require constant nurturing and growth throughout our lifetime together. Working jobs, managing daily schedules, and raising children are just a few things we take on during our partnerships or marriages. Raising a child with special needs can add additional strains because it often requires more time, energy, patience, and money. Days can feel long, exhausting, frustrating; leaving little time or priority to nurturing the partnership. Couples therapy can help you reconnect by sharing your feelings of grief, hopelessness, and disconnectedness that has evolved overtime into dysfunctional interactions.
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The key to positive and effective co-parenting is having reasonable expectations, routines, and providing dedicated time and attention for all children/adolescents in the home. Children that live with separated or divorced parents often face differing or contradictory rules, expectations, and routines which leaves the child feeling stressed due to the inconsistent environments. Working together and communicating effectively in how to raise your children is process that requires work and collaboration but can result in healthier outcomes for your child and you. Therapy that revolves around positive parenting approaches that can create positive family dynamics.
Family Group Therapy
Family dynamics can be frustrating and a lack of harmony can create a painful cycle that feels endless. While one family member may feel stress and grief, another may feel anger and resentment. Families that have children with special needs can often experience conflicting feelings and have difficulty communicating them in a productive manner. At times, family members may feel hope and disillusionment, resilience and hopelessness, connection and isolation, pride and guilt, acceptance and denial. These feelings are all valid emotions and can co-exist within a family where there is support, love, empathy, and understanding. Our therapist can explore negative perceptions, counterproductive interactions, and dive into family dynamics to help the family members come together to understand one another better and develop healthier ways of relating to one another.
Child and Adolescent Therapy
Our therapists understand that you want the very best for your child. Parents want their children to be healthy, self-confident and feel loved and happy. It can be heart-wrenching to watch your child struggle and it is doubly painful to feel helpless and uncertain on how to best help your child.
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We provide a safe and nurturing environment for your child/adolescent where they can grow, and thrive socio-emotionally. We provide therapy for the child or growing adolescent in various modalities such as play therapy, art therapy, talk therapy, mindfulness and relaxation training.
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We believe that therapy for the child/adolescent is most effective when it is done in conjunction with therapy for those caregivers that interact with the child. We can empower parents to build their relationship with the child/adolescent to create resiliency in the child/adolescent.
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Individual Therapy
Feeling frustrated and judged by those who have no understanding of your struggles or context can take a large toll on your well-being and happiness. The elderly woman who gives a disapproving stare when they don't realize that your child is simply different can be easily brushed off but still leaves a mark. Advice from friends and family that everything will be "ok" or unsolicited advice on how to better parent when you know that the triggers for your child change from day to day and context, can feel exhausting and burdensome.
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We offer a safe environment where you and every family member can individually share their struggles, process their feelings, and develop strength when coping with daily struggles. While individual therapy is important, we believe that the whole family and its relationships must be included eventually to help the "individual" as a whole.
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Individual therapy can help strengthen and foster positive family relationships.
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Specialized Services
Parent Child Interaction Therapy
Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an innovative approach that provides parents with the opportunity to learn, practice, and master positive parenting skills and nurturing discipline during interactions with their child. The parent(s) is coached through an ear piece in real-time by a trained professional who is observing through a one-way mirror. This strategy is an effective and proven model of treatment that has been found to strengthen parents in reducing difficult-to-manage behaviors, as well as build social and emotional skills such as sharing, impulse control, frustration tolerance, and communication.
This approach can be used for children ages one to approximately 8 years old, adaptation for older children may be possible. A more in-depth discussion can be had with your therapist to determine whether this model of treatment makes sense for your family.
PCIT has been found to help children who have any of the following:
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frequent temper tantrums
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act defiantly &/or refuse to follow directions
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whine &/or cry easily
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are experiencing adjustment problems
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constantly seek attention
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interrupt others
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short attention span
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engage in power struggles with parents/caregivers
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difficulty behaving in school, preschool, and/or daycare
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are aggressive, who hit, throw things and express great anger
For more information about PCIT, go to https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/parent-child-interaction-therapy-pcit
Online Therapy
We know how busy life can be and your time is extremely valuable. We understand that our families' job commitments can often make it difficult to participate in therapy, so we want to ensure access if available during work day-time work hours. We offer online therapy, whether it is from your home or office, or child's school.
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Please be aware that it is important to establish an in-person therapeutic relationship first prior to moving into online therapy. We can work with employers to come to your job site for these in-person sessions to facilitate the transition into online therapy.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) & Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related conditions
Do you find yourself often having trouble controlling and regulating your anxiety, obsessions, or rituals? Have you stopped enjoying life? Or do you feel like your anxiety, worries, compulsions, or rituals are taking control over your quality of life?
Living with OCD can be quite emotionally, physically, and physiologically exhausting. When OCD is untreated, it can have a significant impact on your daily functioning and your family’s ability to cope.
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Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) is an evidenced-based form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and is considered the gold-standard for treatment of children, teens, and adults with OCD, as well as for other anxiety disorders like PTSD and Social Phobia. While ERP is the primary treatment modality we utilize for OCD in our program, we also incorporate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a supportive treatment modality to ensure you are more mindful and accepting of yourself, your actions, and ultimately committed for life-long change.
ERP treatment works by gradually exposing people to the thoughts, images, rituals and the objects that trigger their anxiety. Through repeated “exposures” over time, the anxiety associated with these triggers starts to subside. The ACT framework supports the ERP process by helping the person alter how obsessions and compulsions are experienced so you can feel more comfortable in experiencing uncomfortable emotions and events. In order for ERP practices to have the greatest impact, ERP strategies and techniques should be applied inside and outside of therapy sessions so skill sets can be incorporated into your daily routine, schedule, and eventually generalized with the goal of allowing you to live a more full and enjoyable life.
We offer social skills groups for children ages 4 - 11 years of age, educational seminars and other support services that help strengthen our families.​
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Our Center's goal is to provide programs that vary in topic and scope, from supporting the child with special needs, supporting our siblings to offering educational seminars that help train caregivers and nannies who care and take care of children with special needs.
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For more information on what programs we are currently offering, please click here.
Psychological Assessments & Consultation Services
Psychological/Psychoeducational Assessments
Providing comprehensive psychological assessments is a service that we provide at Talk-a-While by a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. Assessments are a way to provide testing with psychometric measures to assess if your child may suffer from a clinical mental health disorder such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); Autism Spectrum Disorder traits; Depression; Anxiety; Bipolar Disorder; psychosis, etc. We also provide assessments to evaluate your child’s cognitive and academic abilities to assess whether your child may have a learning issue or could benefit from further accommodations at school or in the community.
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Cick here for our FAQs.
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Psychoeducational History Consultation
Parents of children exhibiting emotional, behavioral, or academic difficulties at school face many challenges navigating the educational system and in obtaining the supportive services at school that will best meet their child’s needs. Many parents are uncertain about what psychoeducational test results mean and what to do if their child has a Student Success Team (SST), 504 or comparable accommodation plan, or an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). You may even suspect your child needs additional school support or additional psychoeducational testing to rule out other causes for academic/learning and emotional challenges at school but aren’t sure how to best present this suspicion to school personnel.
Psychoeducational History Consultation may be what you need! Our clinical psychologist examines all past school, cognitive, or psychological testing/results and provides an interpretation of the educational history, testing results, and school-based recommendation(s) made by the evaluator and/or evaluation team on what additional support your child or teen may need for personal and school success.
The goals of a Psychoeducational History Consultation are to:
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help you better understand your child’s/adolescent’s educational history testing results;
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help you and any current or future treatment providers better understand your child’s challenges and strengths;
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provide guidance in what further testing may be appropriate;
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assist in possible therapy or treatment recommendations;
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ensure your family can discuss the specific needs/challenges of your child during school-related meetings.
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​​We believe that consulting with a psychologist (outside of school) who understands assessment measures and testing results is a critical tool that can provide helpful information for parents/caregivers to better advocate and support their children inside and outside the classroom.
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Click here for our FAQs.