Therapeutic Techniques and Interventions
Depending on the needs and goals of the child or teen, therapy may incorporate:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) interventions strategies to address unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour and to develop coping skills, strengthen emotional regulation, and process difficult experiences.
- DBT-informed interventions incorporating skills related to emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness.
- Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) when clinically appropriate for anxiety, fears, or obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) identifying goals, existing resources, strengths, and practical steps toward meaningful change.
- Mindfulness, grounding, relaxation, and biofeedback strategies supporting awareness of physiological and emotional responses while developing skills for stress management, relaxation, and a greater sense of calm and self-regulation.
- Emotion identification and regulation strategies to build self-awareness of emotions and develop effective ways to manage and communicate them.
- Problem-solving and coping skills to help children and teens navigate challenges at home, school, socially, and in everyday life.
- Communication and interpersonal skills to support healthy relationships, self-advocacy, boundary-setting, and conflict resolution.
- Art and creative activities to support self-expression, communication, emotional exploration, and self-understanding.
- Play-based and sand tray interventions using developmentally appropriate, creative, and sometimes non-verbal approaches to help children communicate and process experiences, explore emotions and relationships, express themselves, create meaning, develop self-understanding, and build new skills.
- Narrative storytelling and role-playing to explore experiences, identity, emotions, relationships, and strengths, while practicing communication, perspective-taking, problem-solving, and new ways of responding to challenging situations.
- Psychoeducation to help children, teens, parents, and caregivers better understand emotions, behaviour, psychological diagnoses, and the therapeutic process.