Reasons to get your adolescent or young adult in counseling
Whether your child is dealing with a number of stressors from divorce, to bullying, to anger issues, counseling can help. Your teenager might be bisexual, gender questioning, LGBTQIA+, transgender or coming out. Your adolescent might have anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder. Or, your teenager may even an eating disorder and anxiety about their body image. You might be worried your child or teen is trying to change themselves to fit in. Maybe, your child is a victim of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or trauma. Having moved multiple times, witnessing a loved one die, and and experiencing COVID-19 can be traumatic events. Holistic, creative, child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut is available at Wisdom Within.
Misophonia is a speciality in holistic child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut
With misophonia, children and teenagers have emotional reactions to sounds that are triggering. Each child or teen has specific trigger sounds like chewing or pen clicking. An emotional reaction to the sound could range from anger and annoyance to crying, to a fight-or-flight response. Misophonia is often called selective sound sensitivity syndrome. Highly sensitive people may have misophonia too. Common triggers include oral sounds like breathing.
To begin, book your phone consult by click the button below for holistic, creative child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut.
What happens when a child has a diagnosis of misophonia?
A child with misophonia may run out of the room if they hear someone chewing or breathing. Eating lunch in the cafeteria can be very difficult, so children may skip meals. Sounds can be emotionally upsetting and cause a physical reaction. This may cause teachers to become angry or feel disrespected if they do not understand misophonia symptoms. A child may be bullied for reactions to sounds that don’t bother other children. To note, a child without misophonia would not feel bothered by the sound of breathing or chewing. Even chewing and swallowing sounds can be emotionally stressful. Children with misophonia may struggle in group settings like school and even eating dinner with their family. Holistic therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut at Wisdom Within Counseling supports children and teens with misophonia.
Highly sensitive people and people with misophonia feel negative emotions around certain sounds.
For instance, when hearing a trigger sound, a child with misophonia may feel angry. To note, other adults and children may not even notice these trigger sounds. But, for a child or teen with misophonia, these sounds can prevent learning. Also, hearing these trigger sounds can cause reactions of anger, hatred, irritation, panic, anxiety, fear, and general emotional distress. A person with misophonia may not be able to concentrate when listening to a trigger sound.
Holistic child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut can help children with misophonia cope in positive ways.
Many of the trigger sounds that both children and adults with misophonia are sounds related to the mouth. Children and adults may have anticipation anxiety about mealtimes if they know trigger sounds will be uncomfortable to listen to. Holistic, creative child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut can determine which sounds are triggering for your child. Your child can feel confident coping with sounds that are triggering from holistic counseling. As well, counseling can help identify misophonia accommodations that may be helpful for academic success.
Selective mutism counseling for children and adolescents
Children and teenagers with selective mutism may stop speaking in certain environments. Often, selective mutism comes with social anxiety and lack of friendships. However, many children and teenagers who develop selective mutism once had a large group of friends and spoke confidently. Due to high levels of anxiety, a child or adolescent becomes nervous and socially awkward. A diagnosis of selective mutism means your child or teenager needs a language beyond words in therapy. A child with selective mutism may be shy, disinterested, anxious, or clingy. For instance, a teenager who develops selective mutism may not have always been shy and withdrawn.
Due to selective mutism and the social anxiety that comes with it, they are now shy and no longer speak.
Children and teens who stop speaking or become mute can use art, yoga, and walking therapies. Due to the pressure of going to school, children and teenagers may become emotional or have temper tantrums upon returning home. A child or teenager with selective mutism may get home from school and saw only a few words. Parents may feel concerned if their once outgoing child is now struggling with selective mutism.
To begin, book your phone consult by click the button below for holistic, creative child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut.
What is selective mutism and how can holistic child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut help?
With selective mutism, children know how to speak, and have stopped. Failure to speak is not due to lack of language skills or knowledge of language. Children with selective mutism struggle with reading out loud in class environments. Due to social anxiety, children may refuse to speak in front of their class. Being asked to speak can trigger light, fight, and freeze stress responses. With selective mutism, a child may feel like they are on edge at school. Therapy can help identify accommodations that the school can provide to support your child with selective mutism.
Your holistic child and teen therapist in Westbrook, Connecticut can figure out what environmental issues or triggers cause anxiety and selective mutism.
Parents can learn to empower their child with selective mutism, without being forceful. When a child receives a selective mutism diagnosis, parent may feel protective or become overly controlling. Counseling can help parents know how to be supportive and use positive, gentle parenting skills. Musical instruments, art, yoga therapy, and walking in nature provide positive coping tools. As well, these holistic, creative therapies do not require talking. Children and teenagers with selective mutism can have a language beyond word to express emotions.
Eating disorders like anorexia, binge eating disorder, and bulimia
Dramatic weight loss is a sign your child may have an eating disorder. Children and adolescents may have body image issues due to peer pressure. Social media can make a teenager think they need to alter their weight to be liked. As well, disordered eating habits can be passed down in families. A teenager who watches their parent go on fad diets may have more body image issues as well. Teenagers who have eating disorder may have experienced bullying for being a certain weight. Adolescents who have insecurities can develop an eating disorder when bullied by peers. When a child is made fun of by peers for looking different, they may develop an eating disorder.
A sign of an eating disorder is obsession or preoccupation with body weight and shape.
Children and teenagers with eating disorders may obsess about calories, numbers, and be dieting. As well, children and teenagers with eating disorders have an anxious relationship with food. There is a high level of anxiety regarding body shape, weight, and anxiety around meal times. A person with an eating disorder may not order food at a restaurant. They may not eat in front of others, at social activities or gatherings. Teenagers who have eating disorder may only eat a limited range of preferred foods. It is a sign your child or adolescent has an eating disorder when they have picky eating that progressively worsens.
Other signs of eating disorders and a need for therapy
Even though dieting may be normal in the American culture, dieting is a sign of an eating disorder. As well, a highly athletic teenager with an eating disorder may put themselves on a restrictive diet. Binge eating disorder and over exercising can go together, bu not always. For example, an extreme diet could be the Atkins, No Fats, No Carbs, No Fruit, Liquids Only, South Beach Diet, or Keto Diet. If your adolescent or teenager is following an extreme diet, they have an eating disorder. Remember, dieting is not a healthy relationship with food.
Holistic adolescent and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut helps your young adult develop a loving, healthy relationship with food.
Fears of choking or vomiting can be a sign of an eating disorder. Obsessive compulsive exercising to burn calories and be skinny are signs of an eating disorder. With anorexia nervosa, there is a fear of weight gain, often alongside restrictive eating habits. Holistic child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut offers teenagers support for disordered eating habits. There are many different types of eating and feeding disorders that the team at Wisdom Within Counseling specialize with in children and teens. Some of the eating disorder the team of therapists work with include anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID, and PICA. Art, yoga, music, and creative therapies support teenagers in recovering from eating disorders.
LGBTQIA+ affirming therapy for queer, bisexual, transgender, and non binary children, teenagers and adolescents
At Wisdom Within Counseling, one of our specialties is working with LGBTQIA+, transgender, bisexual, or queer children, depressed teens and young adults. Young adults might be gender questioning or transgender and needing counseling. Parents may be wanting clarity around their child’s gender identity or sexuality. If you have a teen who’s self-harming, they may be needing to come out as gay or bisexual. As well, if you have an adolescent who’s having trouble sleeping, they may be needing a safe place to talk about sexual orientation. A gay, transgender or queer teenager is more likely to get bullied at school. Queer, LGBTQIA+, non binary, and transgender teenagers need some self-esteem tools. Our team of therapists at Wisdom Within Counseling specialize in LGBTQIA+ affirming and transgender supportive care.
Children and teens with depression and young adults can develop a sense of inner peace after trauma, loss, and bullying.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, we offer art tables in each counseling office for emotional expression. As holistic, creative, out-of-the-box therapists, we believe that art, painting, clay and glitter gel pens can relieve stress. Painting and watercolors helps adolescents with selective mutism, misophonia, and anxiety. Teenagers with sensory processing disorder can have a holistic approach in counseling. Children and young adults can build self-acceptance and clarity about their lives through creative options in counseling. Holistic child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut builds tools for lifelong confidence and self-esteem.
To begin, book your phone consult to help your child or your young adult develop confidence and self-acceptance through child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut.
Holistic, creative child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut
All of these stressors can cause low motivation, problems in school, or concentration issues. For children, adolescents, and teenagers, creative options provide leadership skills. Children and teenagers who have anxiety and low self-esteem are more susceptible to peer pressure. Teenagers may take part in teen drinking, drug use, vaping in the bathroom at school when low in self-esteem. Stealing, self-harm and cutting, and mood outbursts are common in teenagers who need counseling. Counseling can help your teenager learn to understand their anger outbursts. Positive coping skills can help your child manage frustration problems due to conflicts with parents and siblings. Red flag behaviors like anger and mood swings are saying, “I need help, I need someone to talk to.” Children and teenagers can process these big, intense emotions with their holistic therapist.
Wisdom Within Counseling helps teenagers with anger, mood swings, and irritability
So, next time your adolescent experiences frustration, they can have a positive coping toolbox to calm themselves. Adolescents can gain emotional confidence skills in counseling. Teens can gain self-esteem tools to say no to peer pressure and love themselves.
Children can learn positive self-talk skills to believe in themselves. Children and teenagers can have a quiet, safe space outside of school, outside of home. Holistic, creative child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut builds a sense of inner development and emotional expression.
A language beyond words through holistic, creative child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut
We offer art, painting, musical instruments, yoga therapies, and play therapy. If your child or teen wants to talk, they can talk about what they’re seeing. Or, if they have selective mutism, they can just paint as a language beyond words. They can build decision making skill by picking the paint colors.
Art is a non verbal way for children to share the stories of their life. Teenagers can paint about the challenges they’re facing at school. Talking can happen while they’re painting.
If your adolescent is struggling with selective mutism, art can help rebuild communication strategies verbally.
Painting about anxiety can be just as healing as talking about anxiety. With selective mutism, where children not talking or not verbalizing, art therapies are healing.
Art therapy is a form of communicating in a way beyond words. Therefore, yoga, musical instruments, play therapy and art are a language for children. Art therapies can be a way of relating and communicating feelings beyond just verbalizing. For many children and teenagers, talking is overwhelming.
Sometimes, children, teens and adolescents need more support beyond words than just sitting on the couch and talking.
So, yoga, music, walking outdoors, and art can be great ways to foster healthy emotional expression skills. Positive coping tools are available from holistic, creative child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut
To begin, book your phone consult to help your child or your young adult develop confidence and self-acceptance through child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut.
Why creative options are parts of therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling?
We also use fun things like games to get children and teens with depression playful. Anxiety can prevent children and teens from opening up and talking. So, a lot of times, just sitting face to face and having a conversation is overwhelming. Talking can cause more anxiety for your teenager or your adolescent. So, fun games like The Ungame, or going outside in nature on a sunny day for a walk are part of counseling. Furthermore, therapy helps your child or teen build that positive relationship in counseling with themselves.
Mind-body connection fosters emotional wellness for life.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, our team of therapists love helping teenagers build self-esteem tools. Counseling can help your child, adolescent or teenager be resilient. Developing emotionally resiliency, no matter what challenge comes their way, is a skill counseling teaches. Your adolescent can cope in a healthy way no matter what emotion they are facing.
To begin, book your phone consult to help your child or your young adult develop confidence and self-acceptance through child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut.
Self-soothe kit for self-harm, cutting, and self-injury
Therapy helps with stopping self-harm, cutting, and self-injury in teenagers
If your teen is self-harming, they are saying, “I need a therapist.” At Wisdom Within Counseling, you can use art, yoga, music, even outdoor walk and talk therapies. These holistic, creative therapies help anxious children and depressed teens. Children and young adults can build mind-body spirit connection and self-acceptance tools. Child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut teaches self-awareness tools for life-long mental wellness.
Jealousy and anxiety can cause your child to express frustration and anger.
Instead of being mad, counseling can really start to help your child communicate and verbalize their needs. Child and teen therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut provides a toolbox of skills for mindfulness. Your child can gain self-care skills for the rest of their lives. These emotional coping tools prepare your child for college life and independent living. Creative, holistic therapy in Westbrook, Connecticut helps your child or teenager healthy positive relationships with friends and family.
Painting, art and creative therapy for children, adolescents and teenagers in Westbrook, Connecticut
At Wisdom Within Counseling, our therapists use art, painting and watercolors to give children and teenagers outlets for anxiety. The anxiety around fitting in can be overwhelming. Maybe, your child is feeling left out or excluded at school and coming home mad and frustrated. Therapy can help uncover what is really going on emotionally. Your teenager can be less impacted by school drama and create inner peace. After bullying from peers, your teenager can gain self-acceptance skills.
Our team here would love to help your child or your young adult develop confidence and self-acceptance, through holistic art, yoga, music and even outdoor therapies.
Online and in person in Niantic, we help children and teenagers in neighboring towns. We help couples in Bozrah, Waterford, Old Lyme, Ivoryton, Centerbrook, Westbrook, Essex, East Lyme, Franklin, Griswold, Groton, Ledyard, Lisbon, Montville, Glastonbury, Colchester, East Haddam, Hadlyme, Hamburg, Old Saybrook, and Madison. In farther away towns, we offer video counseling in Connecticut to Portland, Berlin, East Hampton, Haddam, Litchfield, Simsbury, Fairfield, Cobalt, Cromwell, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Clinton, Wethersfield, Middlebury, Waterbury, Guilford, Chester, Deep River, Moodus, Durham, and Middletown.
