Signs Your Child Needs Counseling

Jul 1

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When to Seek Help

All children have periods of struggling with managing and expressing emotions, trouble with peers, and learning which behaviors are acceptable versus not. But how do you know when your child is struggling with something more serious and could use a little extra help?It may benefit your child to go to counseling if he or she is struggling:

Socially

When your child withdraws from friends and family and isolates themselves.
When your child seems to have difficulty getting along with multiple peers, or seems to be losing a lot of friends.
When your child has difficulty connecting to other kids his/her age.

Emotionally

When your child is experiencing low self-esteem and saying things about him/herself such as “I’m no good”, “No one likes me.”
Expressing fear and excessive worrying.
Expressing unusual sadness, loss of interest in favorite hobbies and activities.

Behaviorally

Difficulty controlling actions, impulsive behavior, aggression, or hyperactive.
Trouble paying attention and focusing at school and at home.
Sleep habits or appetite change, nightmares, excessive headaches and stomachaches.
Having difficulties at home, in school, and beyond. Has behavioral difficulties in multiple settings.
Regressing, clingy behavior, bed-wetting, whining, fearfulness, or tantrums
Displays self-destructive behavior or says things like “I wish I was dead”.
Talks about death, thinks about it repeatedly.

Experientially

If your child has been through highly stressful events such as a trauma or abuse.
If your child suffered a significant loss of an attachment figure, close friend, or family member.

How to Get Help

At Sunny Path Counseling in Johnson City, TN, we help parents learn how to help support their child experiencing any of the difficulties listed above. We specialize in helping children learn how to recognize, express, and resolve troubling emotions which often leads to resolved behavioral issues. We want to work with parents who want to understand their child, and help support their child instead of simply "fixing" their child.If any of the above sounds like your child, and you are located in or near Johnson City TN or the Tri-Cities area, please give our office a call at (423)328-1289. It would be our pleasure to help your child return and find their "normal" so they can be their best selves.Click here