Adoption and Foster Care Support and Counseling
Counseling for Children and Teens
Stability and Security:
For many foster and adoptive children, experiences of instability and trauma underline a crucial need for consistency, safety, and permanency. To address the multifaceted challenges arising from experiences like child abuse, frequent moves, legal involvement, and other traumas, we work in close collaboration with families, caseworkers, and other professionals. Together, we confront issues such as trauma, attachment, effective parenting techniques, educational support, advocacy, and navigating intricate systems. This comprehensive approach is geared towards establishing and maintaining consistent, secure environments vital for the well-being of these children.
Trauma-Informed Care:
These children often require specialized care that acknowledges and addresses their past traumatic experiences.
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- Therapeutic Expertise: Therapists equipped with advanced training in trauma therapy and evidence-based practices offer specialized care tailored to the individual needs of foster and adoptive children.
- Multi-disciplinary Approaches: Utilizing a range of therapeutic modalities including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), as well as art, music, somatic, and play therapy enhances the effectiveness of interventions.
- Continuous Education: Commitment to ongoing education ensures therapists stay abreast of the latest research and advancements in trauma treatment, enriching their practice and benefiting the children in their care.
- Collaboration and Consultation: Regular consultations with other trauma therapists foster a collaborative approach to treatment, allowing for the exchange of expertise and insights to better support the mental health needs of foster and adoptive children.
- Attachment and Bonding: Foster and adoptive children may struggle with forming healthy attachments due to previous disruptions in caregiving relationships. Addressing attachment issues is a complex challenge for both children and parents in foster and adoptive families. Our therapists are extensively trained in the latest research and practices in attachment theory to effectively nurture and support each family’s journey towards permanency.
- Through trauma therapy, children, teens, and families can effectively regulate their emotions, reshape negative thought patterns, attain bodily calmness, and genuinely embark on a healing journey from the traumas they’ve endured.
Cultural Competency:
We recognize the significance of honoring and respecting the unique histories of each child and family. Our approach involves diligent efforts to understand the background and identity of every family we serve. By doing so, we aim to enhance their sense of belonging and bolster their self-esteem.
Parenting Support and Counseling for Birth, Adoptive, Foster, and Kinship Parents
Empowerment and Education:
We prioritize addressing the needs of the entire family unit. Whether it’s providing counseling or educational support to birth, adoptive, kinship, or foster parents, our objective is to nurture the development of your family, fostering increased strength, deeper connections, and pathways to recovery.
Birth Parents:
- Psychoeducation: Guidance on coping with grief, loss, and potential feelings of guilt or shame related to the separation from their child.
- Therapy: Support in processing emotions, addressing any trauma or unresolved issues, and navigating decisions regarding reunification or ongoing involvement.
- Advocacy: Assistance in accessing resources for parental rights, legal support, and family reunification services.
Adoptive Parents:
- Psychoeducation: Training on attachment-building techniques, understanding the impact of trauma, and managing potential challenges in the adoption journey.
- Therapy: Support in bonding with the adopted child, addressing any adoption-related issues, and coping with the adjustment period.
- Advocacy: Guidance on navigating adoption-related legal processes, accessing adoption subsidies, and advocating for educational and therapeutic resources.
Foster Parents:
- Psychoeducation: Training on trauma-informed care, behavior management strategies, and understanding the child welfare system.
- Therapy: Support in managing the emotional toll of fostering, addressing attachment issues with foster children, and coping with placement transitions.
- Advocacy: Assistance in advocating for the needs of foster children within the child welfare system, accessing support services, and collaborating with caseworkers and other professionals.
Kinship Caregivers:
- Psychoeducation: Guidance on understanding the legal and emotional implications of kinship care, including navigating family dynamics and potential conflicts.
- Therapy: Support in addressing the challenges of caring for a relative’s child, managing any trauma-related issues, and strengthening family relationships.
- Advocacy: Assistance in accessing financial support, legal resources, and community services specific to kinship care arrangements.
Learn More About Mental Health
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is characterized by symptoms that often develop after we go through a traumatic incident. These symptoms can include feelings of depression and anxiety, intense fear, difficulty relaxing, constantly looking for potential threats, intrusive memories of the trauma, nightmares, and difficulty concentrating. Our therapists are trained in state-of-the-art trauma therapy, helping clients to improve their symptoms and ability to function in everyday life.
Depression
Do you feel sad or depressed much of the time? Are you exhausted, despite getting enough sleep? Do you feel as though you have lost your motivation to accomplish your goals, succeed at work, parent, etc? Depression is characterized by these feelings, as well as changes in your eating and sleeping habits, difficulty concentrating, and feeling worthless or not good enough. Sometimes, depression can be associated with thoughts of suicide or self-harm. Our therapists provide support to help you feel better and enjoy life again.
Work/Life Balance
Do you struggle with the ability to find the balance between your marriage, parenting, work, friendships, interests, and hobbies? In the last few years, as work has moved from in the office to remote, it has been hard to create a boundary between work and your personal life. We can help to create a plan to help restore a healthy work and personal life. We can work with you to put that plan into action, setting small goals, and leading toward creating a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
LGBTQI+
We are allies of the LGBTIQ+ community and recognize the diverse needs and support individuals need. We have worked with clients in the process of transitioning their gender, who are looking for support with managing the effects of hormones, changes in relationships, and community support. We understand while individuals may come into counseling for any number of reasons not related to sexuality, such as depression, anxiety, and trauma, the LGBTIQ+ community has its own set of unique challenges as well. We are here to support our clients and provide a safe space to cope with stigma, discrimination, and mental health issues.
Relationships Problems
If you are struggling in your relationship, therapy can help! We address communication issues, emotional and physical intimacy, and creating a deeper more meaningful relationship with your partner. If stress is affecting your relationship, we can help to create a plan to address and improve both of your stress management skills.
Family Therapy
The goal of family therapy is to help improve your relationship with your spouse, partner, children, or parents. It addresses how the family deals with stress or problems, and improves communication and understanding.
Insomnia
Do you have trouble either falling or staying asleep? Have you tried doctors, medications, herbal supplements, and internet recommendations, without any real change in your ability to sleep and feel rested? Our therapists are trained in CBT-I, which is a state-of-the-art therapy that is very effective for insomnia. This is a relatively quick therapy, with fast results!
Anxiety
When anxiety becomes a problem, people can find themselves constantly worrying or afraid. They can feel physiological symptoms such as difficulty breathing, shakiness, rapid heart rate, exhaustion, and difficulty eating or sleeping normally. If you are struggling with anxiety, our therapists are trained in Mindfulness Based Therapy, which has been shown to be extremely effective in treating anxiety.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Do you struggle with unwanted and unreasonable thoughts that can cause you to feel anxiety? Thoughts can be related to contamination of germs, fears that you left your stove on in your house, fear of saying things because they may come true, or other distressing thoughts. These distressing thoughts then cause compulsions or repeated behaviors to manage them. Behaviors can include
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- Repeated checking of the stove, locks, or appliances, even if you know it is off or locked,
- Frequently hand washing, even to the point of rashes or skin irritation,
- Compulsive list making
- Superstitious behavior
- Compulsive hair pulling
- Compulsive collecting or difficulty getting rid of things
- Needing to repeat a routine, such as opening or closing a door
Grief/Loss
It is inevitable that at some point in our life, we will experience the grief of losing someone we love. It is normal for grief to affect our relationships, work, motivation, and outlook on life. While grief is a very normal process, it can be helpful to have some additional support from therapists who understand the process, and help guide you in your healing process.
Stress Management
Stress is a big issue this day, whether it is from work, family, or life in general. Stress can cause a whole host of medical and mental health issues, such as upset stomach, headaches, pain, and muscle tension. Long term, stress can seriously affect our health, leading to heart attacks, IBS, Stokes, and cancer. Our therapists can teach you healthy ways to manage and decrease stress. Our focus is on creating balance and wellness in your life. If stress is caused by other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD, we can help to treat both issues in therapy.
Sexual Dysfunction
Sexual dysfunction is a scientific term for problems with desire, pain, and orgasm during sex. Clients seek help when they have problems maintaining an erection or having an orgasm before they are ready. Clients might also have problems feeling desire towards their partner or sex in general. Or maybe you feel pain during sex, which doesn’t have any type of medical cause. Our therapists can help to diagnose and treat many different sexual dysfunctions that cannot be addressed by medical professionals.
Couples Counseling
Are you struggling with your relationship? Is it hard to talk about what is going on? Do you start fighting about one thing with your partner, only to find that you are fighting about something else entirely? Would you like to feel closer to your spouse? Our therapists can help improve communication.