FOR CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS, AND FAMILIES

Services for Children, Adolescents, and Families

I work with a wide variety of problems in children and adolescents including ADHD, anxiety, depression, adjustment disorders, oppositional defiant disorders, response to divorce, medical conditions and other family problems. I do not work with children or adolescents in which substance abuse is a significant problem.

In addition, three specialty areas that I offer are:

1. Psychological Consultation for Challenging Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Children and Teens

I often work with parents in uniquely difficult situations whose only parenting tool is a book offering vague solutions. However, in these stressful and complicated situations, a simple parental platitude such as "pick your battles" is not specific enough to say which battles to pick or how to handle these difficult parenting situations. What is needed is an objective but personalized consultation that provides specific feedback based on a child's particular strengths and weaknesses. In this way we take into account the whole child including his or her particular family situation and specific school needs.

It has always been my position that the best diagnosis of a child/teen is the child's actual name because the child's name is the label which most completely describes him or her, including all strengths and weaknesses. Psychiatric diagnoses are limited because they highlight specific problems or weaknesses. Therefore, I use psychiatric diagnoses conservatively, striving to comprehensively emphasize the child's individuality.

Many parents come to me with guilt or self-blame. Self-blame always puts the person on the defensive, saps strength, and limits creative solutions. In fact, studies have shown that negative child behavior is more likely to create negative parent behavior than negative parent behavior creates negative child behavior. One of my first goals in the therapeutic process is to quickly move beyond blaming so that the family can find constructive ways to move towards healing.