Who We Serve
Children
With an excessive amount of information circulating out there, we find many parents struggling with confusion around how to raise healthy children. One of our favorite parts of working with parents is recognizing their investment in their children and that most often this investment turns out to be opportunities for parents to grow as well. Gathering parents insights and values and offering education on a variety of mental health diagnosis, brain development, and behavioral research, parents gets to explore what’s next for their family. As we know, some parents value play where others value direct therapy, we believe that offering both helps meet parents concerns. For parents to understand their child’s personality and temperament (or what makes them tick) it becomes easier to pinpoint an environment that is most effective for them. For example, what homework setup is best, what to expect in social settings from your child, exploring what is happening in your child when they have to come home from summer camp, why the Walmart trip can be a nightmare. Putting puzzling behaviors into context is one of the most valuable tools a parent can have.
What to expect for therapy with your child, is ideally adult involvement. While children benefit from individual therapy, we recognize that the environment that the child interacts in is equally as important. We often work with the following challenges:
Depression
Anxiety
Shame
Trauma (PTSD)
Mood Dysregulation
Behavioral Problems
Sexual Behavioral Concerns
Education for Developmental Stages
Parent Education
ADHD Concerns
Domestic Violence Exposure
Divorce Transitions
Self Esteem Concerns
School problems
Social problems
Parent Child Relationships
Given the tremendous influence that parents have on their children’s development, we value our ability to offer parents the tools they need to successfully handle challenges that inevitably arise in parenting. Parent-focused therapy sessions may be utilized to fix problems, resolve issues, and repair family relationships or they can be used to help prevent problems from occurring in the future. In parent-focused therapy sessions, we strive to help parents feel more satisfied with the ways in which you interact and communicate with your child. We work closely with you to develop a customized treatment plan that addresses your family’s needs.
Common treatment goals may include:
- Helping you better understand your child’s mood or behaviors
- Developing techniques for handling difficult behaviors
- Implementing behavior plans at home and school
- Finding ways to help your child listen and follow directions
- Enhancing co-parenting between parents
- Reducing parenting stress
- Understanding age-appropriate behaviors
- Assisting you in meeting your family’s needs during significant transitions, such as divorce, relocation, or loss of a loved one
Our therapists have expertise in providing support and guidance to parents of children of all ages and we pride ourselves in helping parents discover what works best for their individual child. We firmly believe that the most effective parenting takes place when there is a good fit between parenting style and child temperament/personality.
Families
Family therapy is rooted in the belief that what is happening to one member of the family system will have an impact on others in the family unit. Our therapists believe in the importance of a collaborative approach to figure out what is not working in your family and why. Family therapy provides an opportunity for all family members to come together and work through problems that are interfering with happiness in the home.
Family therapy treatment approaches may include:
- Practicing healthy communication skills
- Improving family interactions and routines
- Identifying and resolving family conflicts
- Learning effective ways to cope with stressors
Specific difficulties that may be addressed through family therapy include:
- Resolving conflict between parents and children/teens
- Managing anger more effectively
- Adjusting to family changes, such as birth of a sibling
- Dealing with divorce and separation
- Reducing depression and anxiety
- Coping with stress
- Handling parenting challenges
- Coping with grief and loss
Our therapists provide an opportunity and place for your family members to come together and safely address the difficulties that are preventing healthy relationships and communication in your family.
Adolescents
Adolescence will feel one way, one minute, another way another minute and will absolutely spin the adults in their life unless the adults understand what is happening and has strategies at hand to guide themselves. With Adolescent mental health concerns on the rise, we recognize the value of helping adolescents recognize what is happening within them and around them. Parent involvement is important in the growth of an adolescent and more often than not it is helping the parent examine their communication and learn a variety of viewpoints that align with diagnosis’s and developmental ages that help parents reorganize the relationship with the teen. We often work with the following challenges:
Depression, including sadness, hopelessness, irritability, and negativity
Anxiety, including fears, worries, and nervousness
Anger problems
School difficulties
Trouble with Friendships
Excessive Shyness
Grief and Loss
Coping with Trauma (PTSD)
Aggression and acting out
Identity Issues
Sexual behavior
Education for Developmental Stages
Parent Education
ADHD and ADD Concerns
Domestic Violence Exposure
Adjustment to family changes such as separation and divorce
Self Esteem Concerns
Self harm and other risky behaviors
Keep In Mind:
The process of therapy is often different for adolescents than for younger children. No matter how good your relationship is with your adolescent, it is normal for teens to pull away from their parents in an effort to become more independent. Thus, while we believe strongly that family involvement is vital to progress in therapy, adolescents typically need more privacy and confidentiality to make changes in their life. In our therapy with adolescents, we often talk about the stress of being a teenager today. Other common issues discussed in adolescent therapy include identity formation, struggle for independence, decision-making, and problem-solving. It is not unusual for adolescents to be hesitant about starting therapy. Our therapists work hard to help adolescents feel comfortable in therapy by offering a non-judgmental adult who will listen, minimize blame, and focus on their strengths.
Adults
Adult therapy helps individuals explore and improve their emotional, behavioral, and relationship functioning. By improving the ways in which you handle your feelings and interact with others, your professional and personal life also will improve. In therapy, our counselors work with you to understand your challenges and establish a positive therapeutic relationship that will help you achieve your goals as soon as possible.
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Mood swings
- Generalized anxiety and excessive worry
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Social anxiety
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Adult Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD)
- Self-esteem and self-confidence issues
- Anger problems
- Shyness and social challenges
- Adjustment to life transitions, such as divorce or relocation
- Grief and loss
- Problems establishing or staying in relationships
- Job, career, or school difficulties
- Parenting/caregiver stress
- Development of meaningful relationships
- Stress management
CFTI therapists also offer specialized therapy services for young adults.
- Offered for ages 18 to 30
- Will help you successfully manage the transition to adulthood
- Areas addressed may include financial independence, intimate relationships, career growth, social connectedness, and healthy living
- Will help you manage feelings such as frustration, anxiety, and uncertainty
- Will help you develop a sense of meaning and purpose
Our clinical therapists can help you learn new coping skills and develop greater confidence. We also can help you address any issues that have prevented you from reaching your goals in the past.
Couples
All close relationships are a work in progress. In healthy relationships, individuals are often able to make relationship improvements in relatively smooth ways. In other relationships, however, making positive changes can be extremely difficult. When negotiating changes in your intimate relationship becomes too challenging to manage on your own, couples therapy with a trained professional can often be what’s needed. Whether you want to enhance your relationship, resolve specific issues, improve trust and communication, or prevent divorce, our couples therapists can provide your partner and you with support, understanding, and strength to improve your relationship.
Couples therapy, also known as marital therapy or marriage counseling, differs from individual therapy in that the primary therapeutic focus involves improving the relationship rather than on helping someone with his/her individual issues. Our therapists work closely with couples to identify the areas of difficulty in their relationship and assist them in deciding what changes are needed, both in the relationship and in each partner. During couples therapy sessions, we help couples develop and practice more productive problem-solving and communication skills. We also assist partners in safely exploring their difficulties together, building on the relationship’s strengths and working through areas of anger and resentment, in order to form a healthier, happier relationship
Specific goals of couples therapy can be as varied as the couples themselves. However, a few examples of common couples therapy treatment goals include:
- Improving communication skills
- Building empathy and respect
- Learning effective problem-solving and conflict resolution skills
- Strengthening connections, including intimacy
- Minimizing ineffective, threatening, unproductive communication patterns
- Reducing power struggles
- Renewing commitment to the relationship
- Making decisions about separation and divorce
Our therapists are trained to help you establish a vision of how you want your relationship to be and then to help you make the necessary changes to achieve that vision. With support and guidance, positive relationship changes and increased satisfaction in your relationship are possible