Types of Therapy for Young People

Psychological Therapies

Practitioners at Mental Health Spot use flexible therapeutic approaches for our clients and focus on the latest, evidenced based treatments. We preference interventions and assessment with objective results and indicators to provide our clients maximum confidence and avoid where possible typical placebo (short term) effects or costly and unhelpful misdiagnosis.

We do not simply rely on traditional ‘talking’ therapies to ensure our clients reach their goals quickly and minimise distress during the process.

CBT

Many clients have little insight into their feelings and thoughts and the patterns causing problems or conflicts to repeat. For these client Cognitive Behaviour Therapy can help clarify their needs, change their thinking and facilitate lasting changes in relationships, behaviour and mood.

ACT

Some clients are all into their minds, having difficulty getting out of there long enough to take stock and rebalance. For these clients an aspect of CBT called Acceptance Commitment therapy works to allow the mind to let things come and go. This often allows a person to ‘get on with life!’ and gain more meaningful connections with others

Neurofeedback

For some young people, it’s difficult to sit still, it’s difficult to divulge personal details or they just plain “do not want to be here”. Neurofeedback may prove an ideal option and should be considered by parents to support a young person’s engagement in their own health. Neurofeedback reports success in assisting with emotional self-regulation, a critical goal for all young people, and may assist a young person to engage in further supports later on. The effects of behaviour changes in Neurofeedback have been demonstrated 5-9 years down the track and it’s a drug free treatment option, when other treatments may not prove effective.

Neurofeedback has been used strongly in the fields of Trauma, ADHD, PTSD, ASD, depression and anxiety and for regulating behavioural problems.

Play/ Art and other

Play therapy and other modalities may be used for (and is not restricted to young people!) where dialogue with a clinician is too confronting or possible.

We also offer family therapy if we feel that family dynamics are perpetuating or creating difficulties for a young person.

Types of problems we treat:

ADHD
Autism Spectrum
Depression
Self harm
Anxiety
Phobias
Panic Attacks
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Low Self-esteem
Anger
Aggression
Defiance
Adjustment Disorder
Trauma
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Peer relationship difficulties
Academic or school-based issues

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Social Skills Training

Almost all psychological issues for both young people and adults affect social contact and relationships and in turn can be affected the failure or conflicts within these connections. Whilst everyone is different in their needs, the evidence is very clear on the innate need humans have for successful interactions with each other.

These skills can form the basis for our success in many fields of our lives, from friendships to school and work settings.

Social skills can be affected by culture, beliefs and attitudes and include both verbal and non-verbal behaviours, that we use in order to communicate with others.

Young people may develop deficits in social skills for a number reasons, including mental ill health, cognitive deficits, presentations such as ADH and ASD (including Asperger’s) or they may not have had the opportunity to model them effectively from parents or family in developmental periods.

Social skills at Mental Health Spot is offered as a part of a complete mental health intervention and is not ideal as a stand alone therapy. Social anxiety and other presentations for example may mean helping people learn necessary social skills and also treating the underlying reasons why people are experiencing social difficulty with with cognitive therapy, neurofeedback, more general psychological therapy, or even in some cases with medication.

And you don’t need a ‘deficit’ to benefit from social skills training, many companies offer these skills as executive/ sales or management training!

Example of important social skills include:

Eye contact
Appropriate facial expressions (e.g. smiling at others when greeting them)
Appropriate social gestures (e.g. shaking hands when meeting someone)
Using the right tone and volume of voice
Sustaining conversations
Assertiveness e.g. expressing opinions without being too domineering or passive
Correctly reading others body language and emotions
Responding appropriately to others
Using the correct type of language in certain situations and with certain people (e.g. manners and more formal language with superiors)
Knowing how to navigate social media correctly
Understanding humour and subtleties of language such as sarcasm
Sharing & reciprocal behaviour.
Empathy
Training in theory of mind (understanding things from others points of view)

What does social skill training involve?

Identifying the problem underlying the social issues (2) Setting goals for therapy (3) Modelling of certain behaviours & role playing (4) Practice and feedback (5) Homework challenges

Make an initial appointment now.

Behaviour Management and Parent Skills

A family system c an be a challenge at the best of times and self regulating a mind that is specifically designed to be growing outways in every direction (adolescence) is no charm either sometimes.

Mental Health Spots work with parents and young people to strategise for behavioural success. Through the work of accomplished researchers such as Dr Mark Dadds and his team, we know that difficult behaviour in adolescents and childhood needs a fully functioning parental response. The goal at Mental Health Spot is to assist a young person to regain control of their own lives and come to believe in themselves, in a safe, consistent and supportive parenting environment.

Negative and disruptive behaviours can be isolating. From peer and sibling rejection, to punishments across the many domains in which a child is raised; society, school and home.

Young people may develop deficits in behaviour management for a number reasons, including mental ill health, cognitive deficits, presentations such as ADHD and ASD, or they may not have had the opportunity to model them effectively from parents or family in critical developmental periods.

Helping young people understand their behaviour in context of their goals is often a first step to assisting them in challenging unhelpful behaviours. This helps young people develop a better sense of determining what outcomes they would prefer and how to make that happen. This is a long term approach to develop skills for life, not just today.

To really support them, Mental Health Spot recommends Neurofeedback to assist in the development of self -regulation. Especially if outbursts are occurring to quickly for the young person to initially manage at all. Often is this is the case, the first goal is to minimise over-arousal of the nervous system, to a point where we can work effectively with emotional regulation and communication strategies.

The key to child management and development is however parenting. At Mental Health Spot we have developed a style that embraces how difficult it can be for parents when young people present with such challenging behaviours.

They say there is no “rule book” however there are some very good, evidenced based interventions for parents. Usually a combination of all three angles of interventions provides the best chance of success.