Child Psychologists and Child Therapists in Willowbrook, CA.

The teen years can be challenging, and it is not uncommon for teens to experience emotional imbalance and upheavals during adolescence. As an experienced teen therapist, I can help families address any adolescent phase of life issue you may be experiencing. I have extensive experience working with shy and sensitive teens, as well as diverse, multi-cultural families. If your teen is struggling, I can help you to discover the cause of the problem and address it. I support teens and their parents in finding alternative ways of responding to adolescent phase of life challenges. Schedule a free consultation and allow me to demonstrate the support I can offer your family.

Your child or teen deserves the best. There are many therapists in Orange County, most of them with only masters degrees. Only the top 1% go on to achieve a PhD, doctoral training, and pass national and state board examinations to become a licensed clinical psychologist. Need help with your child or teen? Make an appointment with Dr. Nikolaidis, call and text 24/7, (949)791-7127.

Working with children requires a unique set of skills and experience. Children require a careful balance of approaches in order to be reached effectively. I have more than a decade of experience working with children and families in various capacities and I have built up these skills over that time. I can help with behavioral issues, learning struggles, family conflict, and peer interactions. Let me help your family operate more effectively by addressing your child’s needs.

As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, I specialize in understanding all variables surrounding a child or teenager's behaviors, including school and home stressors, natural development, social skills, and academics. Through intervention, children and teens learn to understand why they feel the way they feel, improve socialization, self-advocacy, and communicating with parents, teachers, and other adults. Additionally, parents learn about how to manage challenging behaviors and establishing a system that promotes growth and reaching personal, professional, and academic goals for their children.

Children experience life just as we adults to. Taking time to discuss emotions and feelings, the child will be able to gain tools to access feeling words and express themselves appropriately. Sometimes life becomes chaotic for children (new baby, school transitions, etc.), having a safe place to talk where someone listens will create a positive outcome on their outlook.

Too often therapies are not targeted at children's age levels. I specialize in play therapy with young children. Play therapy is an opportunity for children to express feelings, emotions or trauma in a safe environment. Developmentally, children are not able to adequately express their feelings or experiences in words. Through play therapy, the therapist can interact and help the child to express and heal important feelings related to their experiences. I have specialized doctoral clinical training in play therapy and child therapy. I have found play therapy, combined with family therapy, to be an effective technique to help children with anxiety, trauma, depression, and behavioral problems.

My practice is specifically focused on children, adolescents, and young adults. Working with younger children requires a playful insight and I frequently employ play therapy and games to challenge anger, anxiety, and frustrations. Further, through play I am able to work with children on managing social situations, dissapointments, and develop problem solving techniques. Following these sessions I work closely with parents to train on these behavioral interventions in order to further reinforce in the home environment. This consistency and collaboration allows us to more effectively shape behaviors and booste self esteem beyond the therapy session.

I utilize developmentally appropriate, play therapy to gain knowledge and understanding of how young children perceive themselves and their world. Older children, tweens and adolescents benefit from therapeutic activities and talk therapy, as vehicles for gaining insight and self-understanding. I have provided therapy, on campus at a K-8th grade school and previously worked as a Certified Child Life (Development) Specialist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. As a mother, I deeply empathize with parents whose children are experiencing difficulties and welcome your questions and concerns regarding the therapeutic process for your child.

Young children respond well to play, art and music, and these activities can help them in expressing their strong feelings, while also developing new, healthier ways of coping with their experience. Children and their parents often enjoy the benefits of therapy in addressing behavioral issues, life transition, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, Sexual abuse, aggressive or defiant behavior, difficulty with peer relationships and learning issues, like ADHD. The focus of my work with young children is to help them thrive again. If you’re wondering whether your young child may benefit from therapy, I invite you to contact me, as I would be more than happy to speak with you about your concerns and how we might best address them in support your child.

Blending a family should be a happy event. A new marriage should be all about partnership and building life together. But all too often blended families are filled with conflict rather than harmony. Instead of compromise, it’s often about who’s right and who’s wrong. And the relationship with the step-children is always going to be strained. It’s no wonder that second marriages with blended families have a higher likelihood of divorce. But if you and your spouse are unified and take everyone’s needs into account, your family could function more smoothly. Many stepparents are defensive about “their” children. Each has a different upbringing and different parenting experiences and styles. What m....

Many times parents are at a loss on how to help their young children. Sometimes the parents are worn out from trying to deal with a "Strong Willed Child" and so either become too strict or become too passive. Neither approach helps to raise a child to be a grown adult that you are proud to claim as you child. In our work here at Schwarz and Associates we strive to take a balanced approach to helping parents to learn skills to parent in a way that truly helps them become the adults God wants them to be and you will be proud of!

Young children are one of the most complex groups to work with as a clinician. Children have a unique way of revealing very little, yet so much at the same time. As a clinician who regularly works with children, I have come to know the art of exploring beyond what a child may say, in order to understand the deeper context of what a child means. Working with young children offers an opportunity to embark on a unique therapeutic experience, one that clinicians typically don’t experience when working with adults. I appreciate you trusting your child’s therapeutic needs with me.

Parenting can be a wonderful experience and at the same time a difficult and even a daunting one. If you are overwhelmed at times, suffer from pangs of anxiety or guilt around being a good enough parent or need someone to just talk to about the daily/ weekly ups and downs of being a parent then counseling with Dr. Ellie can be of great support. Aside from being a counselor, I am also a mother of two and have personal experience with being a parent. I know how difficult it can be, but I also know what a difference it can make when you have the right kind of support.

From 0 to 5 years, children are at a pivotal age for therapeutic intervention. Children are growing in many important areas, especially in their social and emotional development. Family therapy can help to enhance child development and parent-child relationships. Through guided therapeutic interactions, such as art and play therapy activities, parents can enrich their bond with their child.

Very few therapists specialize in therapy with young children. Fortunately, we have several on staff at the La Vie Center. Because we have over 25 therapists on staff, we have counselors that specialize in many different areas and working with young children is a particular area of expertise for us. Give us a call and we will find just the right child therapist for you.

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.

The inner world of a child is rich with emotion and depth. It can be difficult to watch your child struggle, whether it is socially, academically, or in the home. Child therapy can be beneficial in not only providing current support and problem-solving, but can also serve to be preventative for potential longer-term issues. Young children in particular have a language of their own -- play! I will work with your child using play and art therapy techniques to communicate and develop more effective coping tools to thrive in his or her environment and family.

Children grow and change on a daily basis, which can be a difficult process not only for the child but for the parents as well. I assist children in learning how to express themselves through fun, creative outlets that are both age appropriate and applicable across multiple settings. Such settings may include home, school and multiple social avenues.

Stress for young children can often be challenging to discern. Parents may notice that their child begins to experience a greater incidence of tantrums and/or angry outbursts, but often attribute such changes to growing up. Children may also demonstrate strict rules for their play and become upset when their schedule is changed without warning. Sometimes parents may not be able to identify obvious signs of stress in their children, but recognize that their child has encountered a number of stressors. In any of these cases, children can benefit from therapy wherein they can explore how to express their feelings and learn to process their emotions in a safe non-judgmental environment.

We enjoy working with children as young as 4 years of age. We begin with a psychological assessment, history and obtain any relevant medical information. Then we meet with the primary care givers, usually both parents, or grandparents who provide us with their concerns and observations. We recommend the child be assessed by a medical doctor to rule out any medical cause for the problem behavior.Then we educate the adults with parenting skills. If the parenting tools are not enough to correct the problem behaviors then we will do play therapy with the child to better assess the child's problem.

Every behavior is a way of communication. Children communicate with their caregivers through their behaviors such as (hitting, throwing, kicking, having nightmares, screaming eating too much, not getting along with others, not doing homework, having anxiety thoughts) and so on. In therapy with children I use play and art therapy interventions in order to reduce behavior. I work closely with parents to increase communication and strength the child-parent relationship. I teach and practice reward system, time out, positive communication, boundaries with parents. I attend IEP meetings when necessary.

One of the ways children improve behavior & make positive change is through play. Some of the ways I help kids make change is through: games, storytelling & artwork. I set clear expectations, & create a supportive, fun-loving atmosphere. I focus on strengths: I identify & address problems and then focus on what’s right & how to do more of it. I work with your family, teachers & others to make sure the improvements made are reinforced in all areas of life. Family members are taught tools to ensure your child continues using new, positive behaviors. I help with: Managing upsetting feelings & tantrums; using effective discipline; managing opposition & aggression; school challenges & more.

Young children get scared and anxious, too. They express it differently from the adults. So you may see stomach aches, headaches, crying, worry, shying away from interactions, being afraid to go to school, or even school refusal. With the help of child friendly language, I use a program to help children 6-12 overcome their fear and anxiety. Excessive fear and anxiety is not just a childhood thing that they will outgrow. If their fear seems more than normal, please take action on their behalf. You may save them years of suffering.

One of my specialties is working with elementary age (and adolescents). A child or young person's struggles with difficult feelings and unhelpful behaviors can impact the rest of his or her life. Addressing these challenges during the child's critical developmental years can rebalance and set the stage for a happier and healthier future. I have a special feeling for young people in distress, and feel my professional and life experience has enabled me to be especially attuned to their feelings, needs, and pain. I have over 13 years experience working with children facing emotional and behavioral challenges. Please feel free to call.

The goal is to help your child identify and cope with any issue or issues they are experiencing in a healthy way.Many of the issues these children face mimic the issues adults face in their day-to-day lives. Some of these common issues include anxiety, depression, and grief. The goal of child counseling, however, is to break down problems into manageable parts, so children can better understand and cope with them.