Therapy

 At the Child Advocacy Center, a team of therapists provides individual, group, and family counseling for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma, including human trafficking, political violence, domestic violence, neglect, and physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. We also provide services to siblings of these children, and their non-offending caregivers.  All of our therapists have been trained in evidence-based treatment methods that are proven to be effective in reducing trauma symptoms and improving functioning.

Evidence-Based Therapeutic Interventions Offered at the Center:

Play Therapy 

Child-Centered Play Therapy is a therapeutic intervention wherein children can process traumatic experiences in a safe, nonjudgmental environment at their own pace. Play is the natural language of children, and a child’s play reveals their life experiences and gives voice to feelings and thoughts associated with these events. Trauma issues present as repeated patterns/themes in play. Coping strategies are expressed in play, as well as a child’s wishes and needs for resolution. This is a journey that moves at the child’s pace without any influences from the outside. Play therapy can be used for children as young as 2 years of age.

Trauma-Focused Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

TF-CBT is a treatment modality designed to decrease trauma symptoms in children 3-18 years of age. This is a structured model that is usually completed in 18-24 weeks of treatment. Caregivers are involved in this treatment and receive psychoeducation and support. For children who have experienced complex trauma, additional treatment may be needed after the completion of the TF-CBT model.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a treatment that focuses on unprocessed memories of trauma through bilateral stimulation of the brain. In the face of trauma and danger, the sympathetic nervous system activates and children and adults experience what is called a “fight, flight, freeze, fawn” response. EMDR helps clients process traumatic memories such that they do not continue to have these trauma responses when they think of the traumatic event(s).

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)

PCIT is a therapeutic intervention for caregivers and their children aged 2-7 to address behavioral problems, such as tantrums, defiance, aggression, and attachment issues. In this modality, the therapist coaches the caregiver while they play with their child. PCIT is implemented in two phases of play, one child-led and the other caregiver-led. Child-led sessions focus on the caregiver-child dyad to foster secure attachment, connection, trust, decreased tantrums and negative attention-seeking behaviors, increased self-esteem, and increased pro-social behaviors. The caregiver-led sessions focus on increasing a caregiver’s sense of confidence and calm when addressing the child’s behaviors, providing caregivers with discipline strategies that support a child’s healthy emotional development, decreasing corporal punishment and physical abuse, increasing a child’s compliance and responsiveness to directions, increased respect for caregivers and caregiver rules, and decreasing aggressive and destructive behaviors.

Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)

TBRI is a treatment model that helps caregivers meet their child’s needs, focusing on three main areas: physical, attachment, and behavioral needs. Meeting the physiological and environmental needs of a child help develop a sense of felt safety. Developing and sustaining safe, nurturing relationships between caregivers and child help foster secure attachment. Addressing disruptive behaviors that are often seen in children who have experienced trauma focuses on the child’s ability to regulate their emotions and utilize effective coping skills.

Group Therapy at the Center:

Groups for Children:  Therapy groups are offered to child victims of sexual abuse. Groups can consist of children and adolescents, usually divided by age and/or gender, with common therapeutic goals. Group therapy helps foster a sense of community and support for children whose abuse can make them feel isolated and ashamed. Specific groups can have a number of different goals depending on the needs of the children involved, including enhancing interpersonal skills, developing appropriate social and sexual boundaries with others, developing coping skills to aid in emotional regulation, and learning skills to ensure future safety and reduce the risk of future victimization.

Groups for Non-Offending Caregivers: Groups are offered to caregivers of abused children who have not perpetrated child abuse and are not the subject of current or ongoing child abuse investigations. These groups help the caregivers incorporate methods to best support their child during their healing process. Caregivers of children who have experienced trauma can sometimes feel alone, ashamed, guilty, angry, or lost. Group therapy normalizes these emotional responses and provides psychoeducation to caregivers in parenting strategies, processing self-blame, learning prevention strategies.