We Are Child Therapists
Counseling Children Ages 2-12

Progress in counseling can be seen through various ways, such as marked changes in behavior or mood, or the integration of new coping skills.

Progress should be specific to your child’s ability and treatment goals, but often include improved communication, better emotional regulation, and increased participation in activities.

Your child might show more resilience in facing challenges and exhibit reduced symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Regular feedback from our therapists and periodic assessments help track progress.

It’s important to celebrate small milestones and maintain open communication with our therapists to ensure alignment on goals and expectations.

A child therapist is someone who has specific training to help children with a variety of mental health concerns.

Their primary focus revolves around creating a safe and nurturing environment where both children and parents feel supported and understood in a therapeutic process towards lasting change.

Clinical child therapists have a minimum of a master’s degree and often carry with them certain child-focused training and certifications at kid matters.

Our counselors have relevant degrees in psychology, social work, or counseling, and appropriate state licensure.

Specialization in child therapy is crucial, and many of our clinicians hold one or several child-centered certifications, including our own in-house certification program that makes sure the children we see receive the best care using current evidence-based practices. 

For more information, please check specific certifications under each clinician’s profile page to learn more.

We believe parents and caregivers play a crucial role in their child’s counseling process. They provide essential background information and insights into their child’s behavior and development.

Parents and caregivers reinforce therapeutic strategies at home, creating a consistent environment for progress before we begin therapy with your child.

The first appointment is just with the parents or caregivers.

During this hour, we listen to your concerns, go through a detailed developmental history of your child, and then create measurable goals that we can track on how to best support your child.

An example of such goals could be: learning five coping skills to use when faced with anxiety at bedtime, increased positive coping strategies that lead to a marked decrease in hitting mom when mad after school, or the child will learn three ways to ask for help from a caregiver when distressed.

Our counselors typically meet with parents and caregivers regularly, either for a few minutes at the end of each session, or work to schedule a one hour parent session approximately every fourth counseling session with your child.

This ensures open communication with therapists, alignment with goals, and ability to check in about how progress is being made in the therapy room and at home.

Outside of the counseling room, there are two primary ways we support parents.

The first is our Parent Matters newsletter, where we provide parents and caregivers with resources to support their child.

And second, at the time of this recording, we offer complimentary group parenting classes held quarterly to parents of our current clients called Circle of Security. It’s an eight week class to strengthen the parent child relationship.

Our child therapists, our trained play therapists, which means they have a large toolbox to help kids find hope, healing, and new tools using the therapeutic power of play.

Play is the natural language of children and in therapy it is used to express feelings and work through problems. In play therapy, toys become the words children use to tell their stories and show us what their feeling inside.

Just like adults talk about their feelings in therapy, children use play to do the same.

Our play therapists create a safe and welcoming space where kids can play out their emotions and experiences.

This helps them understand their feelings and learn new ways to cope with challenges.

Our child therapists teach kids regulation tools, relaxation methods, problem solving skills, and ways to manage stress through play and conversation.

Over time, these playful and supportive strategies can help reduce symptoms of anxiety, anger, and many other presenting symptoms. 

I like to explain counseling to kiddos like this. Counseling is a safe place where you play with a new friend and learn about feelings.

A counselor is like a doctor for feelings to help us with our emotions and thoughts. They’re gonna help us figure out some new ways to be together.

Don’t over-complicate what you say about why you’re going to counseling, depending on the child’s age. Share more specifics if you like. 

Our counselors often collaborate with teachers and school counselors to create a supportive environment for the child.

With parental consent, we might share strategies to address behavioral or emotional issues in the classroom. Our counselors can attend school meetings or provide recommendations for educational accommodations.

We might also offer training sessions for school staff on specific techniques to support the child. This collaboration ensures consistency in approaches and helps reinforce therapeutic progress in home and school settings.

Since opening in 2016, our child therapists have helped thousands of kids and their families all over Chicagoland to provide transformative child counseling.