Clinical Work

Figuring out What’s Wrong

I can assist with diagnostic issues. This means getting a detailed history of the presenting problem, learning about your child’s overall developmental history, and assessing important domains of functioning across environments to determine what is going on with your child.

Setting Goals

My real interest is helping to highlight individual strengths and challenges in order to improve children’s functioning and make them feel happier. My focus is on cultivating in your child the necessary tools to combat challenges and to feel successful.

Help Comes in Many Forms

Some of the specific therapies I provide:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps kids to understand the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. By shifting any one of these, there can be positive changes in the others. CBT is a very helpful treatment for various anxiety disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as well as for low mood (depression).

Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT)

Even though Tourette Syndrome and other tic disorders are neurologically based, we now know that behavioural treatment can be very effective. In CBIT, kids become “tic detectives” who look for clues that the tics might be coming and learn strategies to better manage them. Click Here to Learn More

Greene’s Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS)

Formerly known as Collaborative Problem Solving, this is a helpful parenting approach developed by Dr. Ross Greene. It targets inflexible and noncompliant behaviour in kids. Parents learn to think about their children’s challenges as related to underlying skills deficits that can manifest as difficult and disruptive behaviours. This is a preventative approach. Instead of providing rewards and consequences after a problem occurs, this approach fosters collaborative conversations with kids in order to prevent problems. Click Here to Learn More

Kids Don’t Live in Isolation

This is why it is important to spend time with parents. I offer guidance for how best to support your child at home. Having children with unique needs sometimes requires families to equip themselves with specialized parenting approaches. And of course I consult to schools as necessary.

Work happens IN the sessions. Progress happens BETWEEN the sessions.

Treatment is goal-oriented. This means that we will work together to determine the treatment goals and how we can measure success. This also means that kids (and parents!) who work with me get homework between sessions. Therapy sessions are important but to maximize success, your child and you have to apply the work of therapy to your real lives.