Services are available for children beginning at age 5. We offer in office services as well as school-based services in select schools in Kershaw and Chesterfield counties. In counseling, clinicians will work with the children, parents or guardians to explore needs and collaborate on a treatment direction to help. A parent or legal guardian must accompany anyone under the age of 16 and sign for consent.
ALPHA clinicians utilize evidence-based practices to engage children/adolescents to include Cognitive Based Therapy (CBT), Trauma Focused CBT and Play Therapy. CBT and Play Therapy are utilized to assist children in identifying, communicating, and coping with big emotions. As clinicians, they are also trained in Trauma Focused CBT to assist children in processing traumatic experiences. For children, it can be difficult to understand what they are feeling and how to express those feelings. These types of therapies can assist the child in sharing as well as help them to learn coping strategies that will help them.
Substance use/misuse counseling is available for adolescents to explore the negative risks associated with alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use. Clinicians work with them to explore the factors underlying/contributing to their substance use as well as explore healthier alternatives. Adolescents have a high level of risk for developing substance use disorders due to brain development. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that helps in decision-making and does not fully develop until mid 20s while the areas of the brain that process feelings of reward and pain mature during childhood.. So adolescents are more likely to take greater risks without stopping to think about the consequences of their actions. With repeated use, this could lead to addiction. Counseling services can help.
Changes in behavior to look for in children/teens that may indicate a need for counseling: changes in socialization habits, withdrawn/isolation behavior, increased irritability/aggression, sudden onset of bedwetting without medical cause, school refusal, increased misbehavior at school, hypersexual behaviors.
These treatment services are designed to serve the children and adolescents based upon their identified specific need to help them reduce identified problems.
