• Child Therapy

Congratulations! By making a decision to seek mental health services for your child, you are about to discover that there is much to be gained and very little to risk.

This decision is one of the more difficult yet courageous ones a parent must make because it isn't a popular thing to do; it evokes feelings of anxiety and fear of judgment. Moreover, many parents obtain professional assistance in spite of their child's objection and must contend with their complaints as the day of reckoning looms. Parents often have additional fears, such as what psychiatric diagnosis might be proffered and whether the therapist will blame them for the problems, excluding them altogether from the sessions or immediately recommend powerful psychiatric drugs.

"I want to reassure you that these feelings are normal and understandable. I know this to be true after spending 20 years working with parents and children, and as the parent of 3 children. I want to allay some of your anxiety to some measure by explaining, in advance, my approach to child and teen behavior difficulties." - Dr. Barclay

• Most emotional and behavior problems result from the interaction between personality, environmental stresses, and genetics. Since children are members of families and schools, their difficulties rarely improve unless intervention involves their parents and family as well as school personnel, if school problems are an issue.
   
• Therefore, all youth participate in an initial family interview, followed by 2-3 individual evaluation sessions. We also gather information from other professionals who may already be involved. We then usually meet with the parents privately to review impressions and treatment recommendations before any treatment begins.
   
• We do not restrict ourselves to a medical model of practice. While psychiatric medications have their appropriate place under certain well-defined circumstances, they are no substitute for learning new coping, parenting, and teaching skills and the acquisition of insight into ones problems through family and individual therapy.
   
• We encourage parents to contact us with questions or concerns via email in advance of any evaluation interviews or anytime during the course of evaluation and treatment. Our therapists also welcome the opportunity to meet with parents in person with or without their child as schedules permit. We offer this because we would want the same courtesy if we were entrusting one of our children to a mental health professional.
   
• Parents are welcome and involved here!