Child and Adolescent Programs
A comprehensive array of programs specifically designed for the treatment of children and adolescents.
We are a uniquely comprehensive child and adolescent therapy Center for the treatment of children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral, social, academic and substance abuse difficulties, and for their families.
Our professional staff includes board certified child and adolescent psychiatrists, highly specialized child and adolescent behavior therapists and psychotherapists, substance abuse specialists, learning consultants, tutors and organizational and time management skills therapists.
Though our clinical professionals are highly skilled in diagnosis and treatment of childhood disorders, we know that all children and adolescents do not fit neatly into particular diagnostic categories. As such, we believe in not simply looking for a “diagnosis”. Rather, we strive to understand each child and adolescent and his or her needs, as well as those of their family, and identify their specific problem areas, whether they are emotional, behavioral, social or academic. Then we design an individualized treatment plan that effectively and practically helps each child and adolescent to feel better and function more successfully.
Children and adolescents who struggle with their MOODS may be experiencing one of a variety of mood disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders and childhood bipolar disorder, though it can simply be ‘an excess of emotional reactivity’, which causes a child or adolescent to experience life as an emotional ‘roller coaster’ that interferes with daily life.
Our goal in treatment is to help these children become more aware of their moods and learn how to influence, regulate and control them. Where appropriate, our child psychiatrists will expertly and judiciously consider with you the appropriate use of medication as part of a treatment plan.
We teach what depression, anxiety and childhood bipolar disorder are and how they can affect a child’s daily life. We have adolescent groups that meet regularly where teens can meet and discuss their experiences with bipolar disorder or depression, or simply their experiences with excessive mood swings, and its effect on their personal and social lives, and on their family.
Difficult, oppositional and defiant BEHAVIOR can disrupt a child’s interactions with teachers and classmates, with peers and with family. The tantrums or even “rages” of a child with Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Childhood Bipolar Disorder, or of a child with Asperger’s Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorders can tear a family apart with tension and frustration. We teach children new ways of managing their anger and teach parents specialized techniques to help them maintain their child’s behavioral control.
For children who lack the social skills or the self-confidence necessary to forge healthy relationships with peers, we help these children develop healthier and more effective social skills, within the framework of a group setting, where the intricacies of social interaction, as well as anger management and conflict resolution techniques, are taught.
Peer pressure or attempts at finding relief from the stresses and strains of adolescence can sometimes lead to unhealthy experimentation with drugs and alcohol. We provide evaluations not just to treat substance abuse, but rather to discover the underlying causes of the substance abuse and to treat them, as well.
Substance abuse is often a symptom of a greater problem, and is not necessarily the primary problem itself. In order to effectively treat substance abuse, it is critical that the underlying problems are also determined and properly addressed. These problems can be in the form of social or family issues, or can be due to an underlying psychiatric condition, such as depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder. Too often, “substance abuse programs” focus solely on the substance abuse, yet they ignore the factors that directly led to it.
We provide substance abuse monitoring and drug and alcohol education, while addressing and treating the underlying problems. We teach adolescents tools that will enable them to more healthfully cope with stress so that the lure of drugs and alcohol is no longer so attractive.