• Developmental Delays – Some children and teens can suffer from developmental delays as well. These are marked by delays in significant learning milestones such as talking, balance, walking, intellectual development, and potty training. Child & teen counseling therapists in Grand Rapids are skilled in understanding child development, and the treatment of these delays, can be extremely beneficial to your child’s development.
• Struggles at Home – Children and teens might also have struggles that show up at home. These struggles may take the form of enuresis (wetting), encopresis (soiling), hypersomnia, insomnia, mood swings, tearfulness, undereating or overeating, addiction to phone or computer screens, loss of pleasure in daily activities, and social isolation.
• Potential Phobias – Children or teens may also suffer from phobias and anxiety at an early age. Anxiety is a stress response that results in nervousness, worry, and dread. Feelings of anxiety can also be expressed through physical complaints such as headaches or stomach aches. Excessive worry is not something that a parent should criticize in a child rather it is a red flag that the child is suffering and may need help with his or her feelings.

These are just a few of the symptoms which may show up if your child or teen is troubled. It is important that parents or caregivers to try and listen to the needs and feelings of their teen or child and honor, rather than minimize, the stress they may be having that might require additional help. As our society advances, we continue to understand the importance of supporting our children and teen’s mental health. It takes patience, time, and at times the extra effort of taking them to teen and child counseling in Grand Rapids.

There are many types of counseling for children and teens in Grand Rapids.

• Play therapy is the use of creative arts and play as a technique to help young children identify and then address their feelings of stress. In addition, child behavioral therapy helps with emotional upset and troubling beliefs.
• Child behavioral therapy may help children with anxiety, phobia, and developmental delays in socialization, potty training, sleep schedules, understanding emotional situations, getting along with others, and so forth.
• Family therapy works with members of the family to see what the family as a whole can do to help to the child or teen and what the family may accidentally be doing to impede the teen or child’s happiness and health.
• Depth psychodynamic and humanistic child and teen counseling in Grand Rapids helps the child understand her or his inner world of needs, feelings, and stressors and helps with communicating and resolution of their inner conflict through support and awareness.

Let us make a final pitch to please listen to your children or teen if they are worried or stressed, in emotional pain, rather than minimizing their feelings hoping that their troubles will just go away. It is better to be proactive and help teens and children to feel understood and values. This will lead to improved mental health and an ability to handle stress, stressful situations, and other emotional difficulties.

If you feel your child or teen is struggling to handle feelings of anxiety or stress, give Sollars & Associates in Grand Rapids a call today! We have expert therapists that provide child and teen counseling in Grand Rapids that would be happy to assist your child through these challenging feelings.