We so often see children for their incredible growth and resiliency, that we sometimes forget that inside of their little bodies is a mind that is trying its best to develop healthy coping tools, skills, and other mental health-related strengths.
Those skills are developing now, right before our eyes, in ways that we may not always be able to notice. It is why is it so important to pay attention for signals that our children may benefit from additional support, even if we assume or feel that what they’re experiencing may be normal.
What Child Mental Health Services Teach
At Long Island Psychology, our role as therapists for children in the area is to not define your child by a specific childhood mental health condition, but to instead work on the skills that your child will benefit from as they get older. These skills, which we work on during therapy, including:
- Sharing and Communication – Children are still learning how to communicate feelings, how to share their experiences, and how to put trust into people that can help them. Therapy teaches those things early, allowing them to learn very important skills that will last with them as they get older.
- Coping Tools – Therapists that work with children use techniques to teach skills that can help young people cope with stress, anxiety, depressive thoughts, and other issues. These are skills that will last with them into adulthood. Many of these techniques are the same as adults learn, but others are unique to children in a way that will help them develop adult skills in the future.
- Trauma and Life Discovery – We don’t always know what our children experience. We don’t always know their traumas, or if they are being bullied, or if they secretly find school a challenge, or how they are navigating the world. So, through therapy, sometimes we can discover things that are going on with your child that they may not otherwise share – potentially sharing something that could help them receive earlier intervention.
We typically see therapy as a way to address known conditions like anxiety and depression, and that is still true. However, we should also see therapy the same way we do tutoring, or extracurricular activities – a way for us to help our children gain talents, skills, and abilities that they need in order to thrive. For more information about child mental health services on Long Island, please contact us today.
