Child Psychologists and Child Therapists in Elmsford, NY.

Dr. Joel and Dr. Sara provide comprehensive and educative consultations with parents to better understand their children's conflicts and self-destructive tendencies. As experienced, licensed and board certified clinical psychologists--who hold advanced degrees and certifications in clinical child psychology, Dr. Joel and Dr. Sara strongly believe that, for children to improve, the initial step has to involve their parents working with compassionate, high-level psychologists who can clarify for and guide them. Although Dr. Joel a and Dr. Sara do not presently accept children as direct clients, they will help you to find appropriate referrals for individual child therapists when necessary.

Often times children are struggling with issues in their own life and cannot communicate their need for help. It is a parent's job to recognize when something is not right. Helping children identify problems and work through them is a skill that lasts a lifetime. My work with children is based on trust. Only when they feel safe will they begin to reveal their inner thoughts and fears. This is achieved mainly through play therapy and parent child sessions.

The most malleable of us all. Therefore, that segment of our society that can be most easily molded, sculpted. Since the sculptist is almost always the parents their cooperation in the therapy process cannot be emphasized enough. They are makers or breakers of it. That is why the creation of a trusting alliance with them is critical. However, respecting the boundaries and confidentiality too of the child's work (therapy) with myself. The child is allowed to express, within reason, their individuality. Encouragement is given for adaptive risk-taking and self-soothing mechanisms. I create, a safe, predictable, environment.

When children have problems, those problems are directly related to their relationship with their parents. Hence, my approach to working with children is to work with the whole family. If a child is acting up at school, he generally has parents who are, often unintentionally, not giving him what he needs at home. All parents want to believe that they are good parents, and it is hard for them to accept that they may be doing things that are causing their children to have problems. My job is to gently and patiently create a constructive atmosphere and honest communication between parents and children, which help the children resolve their problems and learn to thrive.