What to Expect from Child Therapy in Clermont, Florida
Deciding whether to seek therapy for your child can bring up a lot of emotions: overwhelm on where to even start, confusion over the therapy lingo and many modalities, worry over choosing the “right person” to help your child. First, let me say that all of these emotions are completely valid and totally normal. Truly, it means that you love and care for your child, and you want to add someone you trust to your team who can help your child be happy and healthy.
Finding the right child therapist in Clermont, Florida can feel overwhelming, especially when you want to make sure your child feels safe and understood. Let's address some of the most common questions I receive from parents who are starting the journey of supporting their child’s mental health.
When Should a Child Start Therapy?
This depends on parent preference. Some parents simply want to help their child build healthy coping skills and learn to process and communicate their feelings early on before anything is too challenging. Other parents reach out when their child displays difficulty in any of the following areas:
Big emotional outbursts
Anxiety or school avoidance
Difficulty adjusting to big life changes such as a move or divorce
Grief or loss of a loved one or pet
Behavioral struggles
Social challenges
My general rule of thumb is if any of these areas are leading to noticeable dysregulation of the child or family, or these challenges are impeding on your child’s ability to function to their full potential, it is time to reach out for help.
What Happens in the First Session?
Initial Consultation
The very first thing that occurs is the initial consultation phone call. These calls are completely free and give both you as the parent and me as the therapist a chance to ask and answer any questions that help determine if the particular modalities I provide will be helpful. In other words, it gives us the opportunity to decide if I am a good fit to add to your child’s support system.
Intake Session
For children under the age of 12, this session is for parents only. We can meet either in my therapy office in Clermont, or we can meet virtually. We discuss challenges your child is currently going through, therapeutic goals that are most important for your child, any history that may be helpful for treatment. Additionally, we talk about your child’s strengths and interests to better help me plan curated therapeutic interventions that will interest and better engage your child so therapy can be healing and fun at the same time.
For clients ages 12 and up, the intake is split between parents and teen. We still go through the same questions and formatting as I do for parents of younger children, but I invite the teen in at the end so that we have an opportunity to get to know one another and they have an opportunity to share any challenging areas they feel would be most helpful for them to work on.
Building Trust
After the intake session is complete, we schedule the first official therapy session at my Clermont office. The first therapy session is designed to build trust and the foundations needed for therapy to be helpful for your child. This is where the strengths and interests discussed during the intake session come into play. If your child enjoys painting, we paint. If your child prefers to make slime, we make slime. If your child wants to play board games, we play board games. This gives your child the opportunity to feel safe, seen, and heard, which allows trust to form between your child and me. Regardless of the activity chosen during this first session, this information gathered through talk and through interacting with them during this time is important for planning therapeutic interventions that will benefit your child most, topics that they gravitate towards on their own, challenges they organically share. Children don’t “spill everything” at once, and this first session is a big step in earning their trust so that they do feel safe to share more and are receptive to learning new skills as therapy continues.
What Does Therapy Look Like for Kids?
Traditional talk therapy for most kids is uncomfortable, boring, and feels more like an interrogation. It’s no surprise when I hear about a past therapy attempt done through traditional talk therapy that didn’t lead to change and growth. Children need engagement, intrigue, creativity, and play. Children need to feel that they can be open and be accepted for who they are, messy parts and all.
In my child therapy practice in Clermont, Florida, I use expressive arts and play-based interventions to help children feel engaged and supported. While talking is absolutely part of child therapy, expressive interventions such as art, play, music, dance, and games are used as a vehicle to engage children and generate a creative way to process feelings and learn new skills. For example, many board games are fantastic tools in learning frustration management skills, social skills, tolerance of disappointment, good sportsmanship, and flexibility. Many art projects can be individually used as coping methods themselves, tools they can take home, and even just an easy way to share how they feel when words are tough.
Special interests can be used to curate these expressive interventions specifically for your child so there is excitement, pride, and total engagement during the therapy process. When your child is totally engaged, this leads to accelerated sharing and processing, learning and application of skills, and overall growth and happiness.
How Long Does Therapy Take?
This is perhaps the question I receive most often and the one I wish I had a better answer for, but honestly- it depends. For some children, it can be short-term. Maybe they just need to learn some good skills, they feel motivated and immediately begin implementing them at home, challenging areas dissolve quickly with these new skills in practice, and they feel comfortable without the support of therapy. For other children, they can do the same things but it takes longer, or a new challenge appears that we can work on together, or they simply operate better and stay on track more easily when there is that therapeutic support in place. Sometimes, children grow into a new phase of life and come back after taking a pause. In other words, there is not a specific timeline because every child is different, every situation is different, and so meeting your child where they specifically are and for what they need may look different and that is okay. The important thing is treating your child as a person getting support rather than the challenges they’re facing needing to be “fixed” as quickly as possible.
Why Choosing a Local Child Therapist in Clermont Matters
Choosing a child therapist serving families throughout Clermont and the greater Lake County area can be highly beneficial in many ways. First, it makes therapy more easily woven into routine rather than something that takes juggling and logistic struggle to obtain. When the therapy office is local in Clermont, consistency becomes easier and less stressful for families to maintain. Additionally, choosing a local child therapist in Clermont means that there is familiarity with local schools, a deeper understanding of local community-based stressors, and additional resources are often more locally based as well. Finally, choosing a child therapist who is local reduces stress for the child and the family as a whole. Help is right around the corner rather than a traffic-fueled scramble right after school.
Taking the step to add someone to your child’s support system is hard. There is a lot to consider, and generally there is a bit of a learning curve too. However, I sincerely hope this helped ease any anxiety or overwhelm you may have been feeling. You can learn more about my child therapy services through my services page or schedule a consultation directly through my contact page. If you’re considering child therapy in Clermont, Florida, I’d be honored to answer your questions. Please feel free to reach out for a free consultation call if you’d like to explore inviting me to join your child’s support team. I’m here to answer your questions and help you determine whether therapy feels like the right next step for your family.
