Helping Our Children Face their Fears

Is your child or teen avoiding activities, interactions, not raising their hand in the classroom, freezing up when called on by the teacher.  Maybe they show a low opinion of themselves and compare or put themselves down often.  As the parent are you feeling helpless not knowing how to help? This can be especially true when there is a resistance or an inability to open up about what they are feeling or going through.

Often times the best, most loving parents can be the worst at helping our children and teens through anxiety.  The key word here being *through*not around. We often times feel we are helping by aiding in avoiding the situation and making the discomfort go away.  This is done instead of supporting them in staying with a difficult situation and seeing it through.  The latter can be much harder for a parent to do without support at times.

Therapy provides strategies to aide in facing fears through gradual exposure exercises.  Therapy can empower parents to feel they have the tools needed to help their child or teen face and take control of their anxiety and fear.  Therapy can show parents how to supportively provide the space needed for the individual to begin practicing coping skills and facing fears on their own.

Many parents have questions such as when is it time to seek therapy, what treatment will look like, and will they be involved in the process? If you would like to explore treatment options for yourself or a family member please get in touch with me to discuss further.