Child, Adolescent, and Adult Therapy Near Chicago

There are times in every person’s life when navigating through a school day, a work day,  interacting with family members and peers, as well as learning about oneself prove to be overwhelming. Many children, adolescents and adults need extra supportive therapy in order to effectively manage their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

• Once you have verified your behavioral health insurance benefits for in network and out of network insurance carriers and completed the intake process, one or several of the following services may be recommended for your child and family.

Individual Therapy

Within individual therapy, the clinicians at Afg Guidance Center strive to create a safe and comfortable environment in which a child, a teen, or an adult can use a variety of tools to understand their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in order to promote change. Given that older children and teens are often better able to communicate verbally, cognitive interventions, better known as talk therapy, in addition to behavioral interventions allow an older child or teen to identify, express, and explore the link between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Also, expressive activities such as creative writing, art, and music allow older kids to express themselves. Younger children, including preschoolers, can also use creative activities, better known as play therapy, as a natural way to express themselves. Through a variety of tools, including dolls, sand tray, art, play, and dance/movement, younger children can communicate their thoughts and feelings.

Family Therapy

Family therapy is an extremely useful intervention to help a family cope with changes or transitions. We believe in the traditional use of family therapy, where all identified family members join together and guided by a clinician, focus on the acknowledged and agreed upon difficulties. We believe that working with a family provides individual members an opportunity to grow and develop independently, yet collectively as part of the family system. Within the context of family therapy sessions, members learn to understand, appreciate and cope with presenting emotional, behavioral or social problems of a child, teen or parent. Many interventions may be utilized such as talk, play or behavioral strategies aimed at promoting encouragement, nurturing, understanding and ultimately change.

We commonly explore the behavioral, social and emotional expectations of each member, and their roles within the family system. We also explore patterns of interactions, as well as, communication between family members. In order to promote change, we look to identify the dynamics that contribute to challenges while seeking to identify the strengths of each member and the system. Additionally, we view family therapy occurring when siblings work together to resolve issues such as concerns of rivalry or adjusting to changes in the family system. It is not uncommon for other identified extended family members such as grandparents or stepparents to become involved in a session if deemed appropriate or helpful.

ADHD Coaching

ADHD Coaching focuses on help one learn to self-regulate or manage their behaviors. Essentially, the goal of ADHD coaching is to give children and adolescents tools they will be able to use eventually on their own to function more effectively in a variety of problematic situations. Also, coaching targets only 1 or 2 specific behaviors at a time, such as using an assignment notebook daily and putting all completed homework assignments in a designated folder, that are directly related to one’s goals. Additionally, there are daily coaching homework assignments given designed to continue to enhance developing skills. Ultimately, the goals and interventions of ADHD coaching are designed to develop effective habits through the use of repetition and practice that will enable your child or teen to function independently at school, home and within the community.