COVID-19 Update
New Beginnings cares about your safety and is offering convenient telehealth services through video or phone sessions. You can use any device such as a smart phone or computer that has a camera and microphone to receive quality services with a simple click to a link we provide you. Our staff is available for support and if you should have further questions about the process. We will also continue to offer in-office visits. Schedule your first telehealth or in-office appointment today (209)892-5902!
Therapy for Children
New Beginnings provides therapy for youths between the ages or 4-18. Both individual and family therapy is available.
Areas of expertise with pre-teens and adolescents:
- Depression
- Shyness and social anxiety
- Anxiety, panic and perfectionism
- Cutting and self-injurious behavior
- Girls’ social and emotional development, self-esteem and body image
- Mother-daughter conflict
- Sexuality and coming out, gender identity, LGBTQ issues
- Bullying and relational aggression
- Cyber-safety, risky online behavior, overuse of digital media
New Beginning’s approach:
Adolescents can be resistant to participate in therapy to help with emotional health. New Beginnings has found a way to effectively engage, connect with and motivate even the most unwilling therapy participant. New Beginnings approach to therapy with pre-teens and adolescents uses a strength-based theory, that incorporates the minor’s interests into treatment. While New Beginning’s will often work with pre-teens and adolescents in individual therapy, we also include parents.
At times New Beginnings also includes the entire family system in the treatment, depending on the situation as it relates to minor’s therapy. This may entail bringing a parent into the last 5-10 minutes of a weekly individual session or scheduling monthly parent or family meetings. No matter how our therapists or parent partner includes the parents, we ensure it is done in a way that balances the privacy and confidentiality of the child or teen, with the need for parental involvement to support the treatment. If the issue is impacting the entire family system — i.e. family conflict, separation/divorce, remarriage, blended family or other transitions — the mode of treatment may be primarily family sessions, rather than individual work.
Children (Ages 4-10)
According to Garry Landreth a well-known play therapist, children must be approached and understood from a developmental perspective. They must not be viewed as miniature adults. Their world is one of concrete realities, and their experiences often are communicated through play. In seeking to facilitate children’s expression and exploration of their emotional world, therapists must turn loose of their world of reality and verbal expression and move into the conceptual expressive world of children. Unlike adults, whose natural medium of communication is verbalization, the natural medium of communication for children is play and activity.
Areas of Expertise with Children:
- Depression
- Shyness and social anxiety
- Social skills
- Abuse issues
- Trauma & PTSD
- Cutting and self-injurious behavior
- Social and emotional development
- Mother-daughter conflict /father-son conflict
- ADHD
- Overuse of digital media
- Behavioral Issues
- Divorce/blended family issues
- Bullying and relational aggression
- Anger Management
- Grief Counseling
New Beginnings Child, Adolescent & Family Counseling Inc. offer unique services for children including but not limited to:
- Play Therapy
- Sand Tray Therapy
- Art Therapy
Play Therapy
When considering play therapy it’s important to remember:
Children communicate through play rather than words. There are many different kinds of play therapy approaches depending on the child’s needs. For example, if the child is displaying harmful behaviors, it would be suggested to use a more direct play therapy approach, where the therapist chooses the toys, facilitating/guiding the treatment process. If the child is displaying more mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression, our therapists would take a more non-directive approach to play therapy.
What can play therapy help with?
- Facilitating Healing from Past Stressful or Traumatic Experiences
- Allowing the Expression of Feelings
- Encouraging Creative Thoughts and New Ideas
- Allowing the Development of Healthy Decision-Making Skills
- Enabling the Communication of Problems and Concerns to Others
- Supporting the Learning of New Ways of Thinking and Behaving
Art Therapy has been shown to significantly help individuals who struggle with anxiety, depression, and many more. The art-making process works to improve mental health and wellbeing through helping create a sense of calmness and grounding. The creative process promotes an outlet for self-expression that can help resolve inner conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behaviors, lessen stress and increase your self-awareness.
Art Therapy can also be an effective treatment for adolescents, as it may bypass their resistance to therapy and create a vehicle for expression of their experiences and emotions.
Art Therapy can be beneficial to help through traumatic life experiences. Art Therapy can help process traumatic events in a new way by providing an outlet when words are challenging to express. The art safely provides a space for survivors to address their experiences through the mind, body, and emotions to help the difficult/terrifying experience become a more neutralizing story from the past with a less impact.
What is Art Therapy?
Art therapy is an integrative mental health practice that combines theories of human development and psychology with visual arts to help individuals improve psychological health, cognitive abilities and sensory-motor functions. This type of therapy is based on the premise that art can help express emotions that are sometimes difficult to express in words. Art therapy can help process and work through emotions, resolve conflicts, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem/awareness, and achieve insight.
How Does It Work?
Art therapy has advanced to neuroscience research. When therapists have their clients put a brush to paper, they can engage in problem solving and decision making, which stimulates neuropathways and activities different parts of the brain.
Who is Art Therapy for?
Art therapy can benefit anyone of any age, with no technical skills required. It is all about the process not the product. Art can be a safe way to express thoughts and feelings. Art therapy can be especially effective for children with ADHD, as it keeps their hands moving and triggers an acute mental and emotional focus not always seen in talk therapy.Â
Get In Touch
Just when the caterpillar thought its world was ending, it became a beautiful butterfly.
Call
Addresses:
21 N. El Circulo Ave., Patterson, CA 93150
800 Coffee Rd., Modesto, CAÂ 95355
Phone Numbers:
Patterson office
P. (209)892-5902
F:Â Â (209)554-6865
Modesto office
P: (209)554-6808
F: (209)554-6865
Hours
Mon - Fri: 9am - 6pm
Weekends: Based on provider availability
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