Child Therapy

In person in North Bethesda, MD and Tysons Corner, VA. Same-week, after-school and evening appointments.

Do you ever feel like you can’t get through to your little one?

The stomachache comes every school morning now, or the meltdown comes at every no, and the calm talk in the car or at the kitchen table changes nothing.

And it’s starting to become a real problem.

When you say no, it turns into a meltdown on the kitchen floor, a slammed door, or a shove at a sibling or a teammate, and nothing you say gets through.

Bedtime is your least favorite time of day. You desperately want your child to settle down so the entire family can get a good night’s sleep, but it turns into a drawn-out battle.

You may have even received a call from school or daycare, or a teacher mentioning that they seem anxious or checked out in class.

You don’t know how things got to this place…

You want to be able to comfort your child.

What happened to the days when your child would fuss, and you were able to rock them to sleep?

Now, it’s like you’re walking on eggshells at home for fear that you might upset them. You just don’t know how to calm your child, whether it’s an explosion or a silent, miserable morning.

It worries you, and you can’t seem to get a handle on it.

What does this mean for their future?

New parenting strategies aren’t working…

You’ve confided in your friends, desperate for guidance on how to move forward, but what they said about doubling down on discipline isn’t working with your child.

They’ve even recommended a few parenting books that helped them navigate some of their issues at home. While they say it’s been helpful, your child doesn’t respond well to these new strategies.

Or your child already has an ADHD diagnosis, and the charts and routines that worked for other families don’t hold for yours.

You’re not failing as a parent.

We know how frustrating it is to feel you can’t comfort your child. But when a child can’t yet calm their own body and feelings, the key is to teach them coping skills in a way they can understand.

In children’s therapy, child therapists and child psychologists speak your child’s primary language: play. In the room, that means toys, puppets and drawing. Your therapist reads what your child is showing and teaches them, through play, how to calm themselves and say what is wrong.

Play therapy can look different with every child. Treatment plans are shaped to your child, and they change as your therapist gets to know your child and hears from you about what is happening at home and at school. With older children, sessions lean more on talking, drawing and practicing skills, and we use other proven methods alongside play.

We know how to help your child.

Over the first visit or two, you and your child work with a child therapist or a child psychologist to put together a plan for your family. From there, you stay connected to us throughout the whole process.

Some families get the most from family therapy: you, your child and the therapist in the room together, working on the patterns that play out at home. Our clinicians offer it alongside your child’s own sessions, and we’ll tell you on the call whether it fits your family.

Our child therapists are clinicians licensed in Maryland and Virginia. They use play therapy and other proven methods to help children with anxiety, anger, ADHD, tantrums and sadness learn to manage their emotions.

Fill out the form, write a line or two about what’s going on, and request a free, confidential call to match your child and family with the right therapist. Your first appointment is a 60-minute intake in our office.