FAQs

If children experience difficulty coping at some time (at home, at school, with divorce and separation, with other children, etc.), or if they exhibit behaviors that concern parents or teachers, play-based therapy (or other interventions depending on presenting concerns) may be the recommended approach to help your child. A child is never too young to be seen at The Wise Family.

For children and teens, the first meeting we schedule is usually a 60-75 minute intake session, often with parent(s) and child. In this session, we meet to get to know one another, discuss some of the issues of concern, gather background information and form a treatment plan together.

We will always ask to connect with your child’s school and/or Pediatrician to discuss any concerns. While we strive to involve parents in what we do, our focus is on your child/teen. For that reason, we will connect with you by email or phone as needed, and we welcome your questions by email (and we will respond as confidentiality permits). We are unable to meet with parents before or after your child’s session unless an emergency requires it. Usually after 10-12 sessions together, we will schedule a parent session to discuss what we might have accomplished, where we are and what might be appropriate next steps in our work together.

Children can often have difficulty expressing themselves through words and understanding the complicated language of emotions. In play-based therapy, children experience a safe and non-judgmental place to express their thoughts and feelings through toys, games and activities. Play helps children gain problem-solving skills, practice self-control, rehearse experiences and develop communication and social skills.

It is important to not pressure your child to talk about their sessions. Therapists will talk with parents about anything that takes place in the session relating to the child’s safety or any other important information. Remember that your child is given privacy during his or her sessions in order to allow for self-expression. It is important to remember that progress takes time and children must be allowed to work at their own pace in order to build a trusting therapeutic relationship.

Sessions typically last between 45-90 minutes depending on the client and situation being addressed. Your Wise Family therapist will work with your family to make sure everyone feels welcome and heard and given the opportunity to contribute to the conversation if they so choose. Your clinician will be a non-judgemental listener to all family members involved and work with your family to come up with solutions for the issues you’re facing and move forward while making sure all sides feel heard and appreciated.

What issues can family therapy help with? Family therapy is helpful for a wide range of issues families face every day as well as more serious mental health matters, including:

• Mental health issues in children and teens
• Mental health issues in adults
• Behavior difficulties in children, adolescents and adults
• Parenting issues
• Family illness
• Separation or divorce
• Eating disorders
• Domestic violence or abuse
• Self-harm
• Drug and alcohol issues
• Trauma

The Wise Family is here to help your family with whatever difficulty they may be facing.

As with any counseling or therapy, it is often difficult to determine the exact number of sessions which will be needed to resolve problems or issues. Of course, some children will improve faster and others with more complex or on-going problems may take longer. The Wise Family is committed to providing comprehensive counseling until all issues are resolved.

Please note that we are only able to see a minor child if both custodial parents consent to treatment. If both parents have joint legal custody and one parent consents and one parent does not, The Wise Family will not be able to provide treatment to the child unless this privilege is given to the consenting parent via a court order. It is ideal to have both parents involved in treatment, even in high conflict divorce situations, although we realize this is not always possible. We are happy to discuss this issue with you over the phone prior to our first appointment. Read for more information about what to expect regarding your first session, therapy, or evaluations.

Our office has a combined nearly 50 years of experience in working with children, teens and families. Each therapist is highly trained and our Residents in Counseling are closely supervised by licensed staff with advanced training and credentials. All are licensed or working toward licensure and have degrees in mental health counseling or clinical social work. Most importantly, our therapists have experience and training in a variety of evidence-based treatment models.

We do offer telemental health therapy for teens and for parents when appropriate. We utilize a HIPAA compliant platform for video sessions and they are billed just as in-person sessions in our offices.

At this time we do not have a clinician on staff who is qualified to prescribe psychiatric medications. We do, however, maintain close relationships with many local providers so that we can facilitate a team approach to your family’s mental well-being

Yes. By law, we are bound to protect your confidentiality. The exceptions to this are related to child or elder abuse, a threat to harm another person or if you are in danger of self-harm.

Full list coming soon! Contact our Director of Details if you are in need of a particular assessment and she can help answer any questions.