Growing up comes with challenges, and sometimes children and teens need more support than parents can provide on their own. Anxiety, school stress, ADHD, friendship difficulties, changes in mood, behavioral concerns, or big emotions can begin to interfere with a child’s confidence, relationships, or everyday life.
At Colts Neck Psychological Group, our child and teen therapists help young people better understand themselves, build practical coping skills, and navigate the challenges they are facing. We also recognize that children don’t exist in isolation. When appropriate, we work collaboratively with parents to help families understand what’s happening and support meaningful change outside of the therapy office. If your child isn’t ready for individual therapy, our providers will guide you in being the support your child needs.
Our psychologists and therapists in Colts Neck, NJ work with children, adolescents, and families throughout Monmouth County.
When Should My Child See a Therapist?
Parents don’t always know whether something is a normal part of growing up or a sign that their child could benefit from additional support.
You may notice that your child or teen:
- Worries excessively or frequently seeks reassurance
- Avoids school, activities, social situations, or new experiences
- Has difficulty managing frustration or strong emotions
- Seems increasingly sad, withdrawn, irritable, or overwhelmed
- Struggles with attention, organization, or completing tasks
- Has difficulty making or maintaining friendships
- Is experiencing academic or school-related stress
- Has low self-esteem or is extremely hard on themselves
- Is struggling with family changes or other stressful experiences
- Has behaviors that are creating conflict at home or school
Sometimes there isn’t one obvious problem. You may simply recognize that your child doesn’t seem like themselves or that strategies that once worked are no longer enough.
Therapy can help you better understand what’s happening and determine what kind of support may be useful.
Therapy for Childhood Anxiety
Anxiety is one of the most common reasons parents seek therapy for their children.
In younger children, anxiety may look like stomachaches, difficulty separating from parents, trouble sleeping, frequent reassurance seeking, fear of making mistakes, school avoidance, or resistance to unfamiliar situations.
In teens, it may appear as perfectionism, academic pressure, social anxiety, excessive worry, procrastination, avoidance, or feeling overwhelmed by expectations.
Our therapists help children and teens recognize anxiety patterns, build coping skills, and gradually become more confident facing situations that feel uncomfortable.
Parents may also learn ways to support their child without unintentionally reinforcing avoidance or anxiety.
ADHD, Executive Functioning & School Challenges
Children and teens with ADHD or executive functioning difficulties may understand exactly what they’re supposed to do but have trouble consistently doing it.
Challenges with attention, organization, planning, time management, emotional regulation, or task initiation can affect school performance, family relationships, and self-esteem.
Therapy can help children and adolescents develop strategies that fit the way they think and learn. Depending on the child’s needs, treatment may also involve helping parents develop effective routines, expectations, communication strategies, and supports at home.
Our team’s experience in both psychology and school settings can be particularly helpful when emotional, behavioral, and academic concerns overlap.
Social Skills, Friendships & Self-Confidence
Relationships become increasingly important as children grow, but navigating friendships doesn’t come easily to everyone.
Some children have difficulty initiating conversations, reading social situations, handling conflict, or finding peers with whom they feel comfortable. Others become so worried about being judged or rejected that they begin avoiding social situations altogether.
Teens may struggle with changing friendships, peer pressure, social media, dating, identity, or feeling as though they don’t quite fit in.
Therapy can provide a supportive environment for young people to better understand social experiences, build confidence, practice communication skills, and develop healthier relationships.
Big Emotions & Behavioral Concerns
Behavior is often communication.
Anger, defiance, shutting down, meltdowns, or other challenging behaviors may reflect frustration, anxiety, difficulty regulating emotions, developmental differences, family stress, or skills a child hasn’t developed yet.
Rather than focusing only on stopping a behavior, we work to understand what may be contributing to it.
Treatment may help children develop greater awareness of their emotions, increase their ability to tolerate frustration, improve problem-solving and communication skills, and learn more effective ways of responding when emotions become intense.
Therapy for Teens
Adolescence brings increasing independence along with academic pressure, changing friendships, relationships, identity development, and decisions about the future.
Sometimes teens are reluctant to talk with their parents about what they’re experiencing. Having another trusted adult can give them a private, supportive place to work through difficult thoughts and feelings.
Our therapists work with teens experiencing anxiety, depression, school stress, social difficulties, low self-confidence, ADHD, family conflict, trauma, and life transitions.
Therapy isn’t about telling teenagers what to do. It’s about helping them understand themselves, develop useful skills, and become increasingly capable of navigating challenges independently.
Working With Parents
Parents are an important part of helping children succeed in therapy.
How involved a parent should be depends on the child’s age, concerns, treatment goals, and individual circumstances. With younger children, parents may be more actively involved. As children become adolescents, therapy generally includes more individual time and greater privacy.
When appropriate, our therapists help parents better understand their child’s needs and develop strategies they can use at home.
This may include improving communication, responding differently to anxiety or difficult behavior, setting effective limits, reducing family conflict, or helping parents determine when to step in and when to allow their child to practice handling something independently.
How We Help Children and Teens
There is no single approach that works for every child.
Our clinicians tailor treatment based on a young person’s age, personality, developmental needs, concerns, and goals. Depending on the therapist and the needs of the child, treatment may incorporate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), DBT-informed skills, mindfulness, behavioral strategies, parent coaching, family systems approaches, play or developmentally appropriate activities, and other evidence-based interventions.
Most importantly, we work to create a relationship in which children and teens feel comfortable being themselves.
Therapy works best when young people feel understood rather than judged and when the strategies they learn make sense in their actual lives.
Our Child & Teen Therapists
Our team includes psychologists and counselors with extensive experience working with children, adolescents, young adults, parents, and families.
George Asfendis, Psy.D.
Dr. George is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist who works with children and teens experiencing anxiety, OCD, emotional and behavioral concerns, and parenting-related challenges. Through his work, he helps parents regain confident leadership.
Elena Kochanek, Psy.D.
Dr. Elena is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist who works with adolescents experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, social confidence difficulties, and other emotional concerns. She also works closely with parents seeking practical strategies for managing emotional and behavioral challenges at home.
Alexandra Wiltshire, Psy.D.
Dr. Alex is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist specializing in children, adolescents, and young adults. She works with anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, behavioral challenges, and difficulties with emotional regulation, using approaches including CBT and family systems work.
Nicolette Salerno, MSEd, LPC
Nicolette is a Licensed Professional Counselor who works with children, adolescents, young adults, and parents. She supports clients experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, self-regulation difficulties, and social challenges using a warm, collaborative approach.
Child & Teen Therapy in Colts Neck and Monmouth County
Colts Neck Psychological Group is located at 411 Highway 34, Suite 10, Colts Neck, New Jersey.
We work with children, teens, and families from Colts Neck and surrounding communities throughout Monmouth County.
You don’t need to know exactly what diagnosis your child has—or even whether there is a diagnosis—to reach out. Sometimes the first step is simply talking through what you’ve been noticing and determining what type of support might be helpful.
Find the Right Therapist for Your Child
Finding a therapist who is a good fit is especially important for children and teenagers.
We offer a free 15-minute consultation to learn about what is bringing you to therapy, answer initial questions, and help determine which member of our team may be the best fit for your child or family.