Child Psychologists and Child Therapists in Strathcona County, AB.

Therapy for young children provides an opportunity for the parent to work together with the child toward healing. As a parent, your way of being with your child can be a tremendous healing influence, especially when your child is having difficulties. Your place as their primary attachment figure is respected and supported. Tuning into your child's perspective, listening effectively, and being aware of what they need takes skill and careful attention by both counsellor and parent. Child therapy is thus an opportunity to create a safe place for confident and comfortable interactions that support healing for the child.

Our therapists can help your kids to • Grow strong and face tough situations without losing confidence • Manage all types of moods and behaviours effectively • Increase self confidence and learn to overcome stress and suffering • Learn to create a good relationship with everyone • Develop skills to overcome pain and unhappiness • Improve the relationship with siblings

Children are experiencing serious mental health challenges early in life these days. Whether they have personality issues (low confidence/self esteem issues, need for control, perfectionism ideals) that make them more susceptible to stressful emotional moments or whether they are facing external life factors (school, family, friends, peer pressures, bullying issues) that result in a breakdown of their ability to function successfully, our children need just as much support as adults do. And it is only with the support and encouragement of the significant adults in their lives that our children can overcome these challenges and build the resiliency they need to grow into capable adults.

I work with children from the age of 3 to 17. While adolescents are able to engage appropriately in more traditional "talk therapy," younger children do not have the skills to verbally share their feelings or experiences. Instead, they will often work through their issues in more symbolic ways, such as through play. Different types of play are used, such as sandtray play, dolls or puppets, books, art, storytelling, and therapeutic board games. While the child plays, I ask questions and probe for more information, in an attempt to assist the child to share feelings, resolve difficulties, gain a sense of mastery, and problem solve in a healthy manner.

Parenting is hard and there is so much conflicting information available that it is often even more hard to figure out what the 'best' advice is or what is even trustworthy. I'm not in the business of giving advice, particularly because all children, and all families are unique. However, I have been working with children and families in a variety of settings for over 10 years. By working together to seek a greater understanding of what children's distress is about we can often figure out the most compassionate and helpful approach helping them better manage their experiences.

Loving, good-enough parents are the natural vehicles through which children learn to engage the world. When children are said to "need help," it is generally the case that their adult caregivers need help, too. Psychotherapists who work with children do well to engage parent figures in the process. The impact of therapy upon children is strongly influenced by the parent-child system. That said, children commonly encounter personal issues which their parents are unprepared to help with or manage. Childhood depression is among the most under-diagnosed medical conditions. Children who learn to effectively engage in therapy enjoy lifelong benefits from this important experience.

At SunRise we offer a variety of services for young children. We do play therapy for children, where the focus is on establishing a trusting relationship, where important themes can be processes. We also offer assessments in school psychology, both clinical and psycho-educational. Young children in school, in families and in friendships can have daunting challenges, and we are here to help with transitions, delays in emotional functioning, bullying, and socio-emotional traumas.

We have psychologists and counsellors who offer play, and art therapy to assist your child. Therapy can help your child who may be struggling at school, with friendships, adjusting to change, divorce and other difficulties. Art and Play therapy can be especially helpful with autistic, young children, and children and adolescents who struggle with articulating their feelings. Play and art therapy offer a non-verbal mode of expression. Through these treatment modalities children can learn new ways of problem solving, healthier ways of expressing themselves, develop empathy and respect for others.

Our office has child psychologists to help with a variety of issues such as anxiety, behaviour issues, trauma, or parent divorce. We want you to have the relationship with your child you want, and want to see your child to grow to their ultimate potential. Please email me for more information about your child, your needs, and goals - and we will connect you with one of our psychologists that will be the best fit for your child.

Many times, child therapists overdo the family system in their quest to seek effective solutions for emotional, learning or behavioral concerns with young children. And many times doctors overpathologize issues that shouldn’t be medicated necessarily. This leaves parents wondering what is the best route for their child? Introducing brainwave optimization technology. A fast, effective, natural, and less expensive way to allow your child's brain to make the optimizing changes it desires to make---on its own! Without any external force, opinion, medication, diagnostic, etc. Contact kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

As children we acquire non-nurturing elements in our formative years we can either be raised in nurturing environments or non-nurturing environments. Regardless of which environment we were raised in there are always flaws that get in the way of us being adaptive or feeling like we’re unconditionally supported and loved. There can be themes such as a caregiver being critical or controlling, never being home, or having addictions.

My focus for young children is to work with their parents to develop parenting strategies. For direct work with children or to build attachments between child and parent, I work closely with other therapists in my office that specialize in these areas. In many cases, co-ordinating specific work with the parents while addressing the child's individual issues can have a large impact on the overall health of the family.

Children are clearly different from adults, their therapy needs to be as well. Children, especially young ones, are not developmentally able to express their feelings through conversation like adults can. Therapy that allows children to share their thoughts, struggles and experiences in ways they have already mastered are much more effective than those that rely on verbal communication skills. Playtherapy, Art therapy, Sandtray and Theraplay allow a child's imagination to communicate for them. These kinds of modalities help children communicate their inner world in familiar ways, process big feelings and cope with difficult situations and behaviours, definitely a plus for the kiddos!