What Does Online Child Therapy Look Like?

You want to get your child started in therapy, but are hesitant to consider going online. How is my child going to interact, learn, and demonstrate their symptoms to the therapist? Wouldn’t it be hard over the video chat, you ask? Maybe your child is all over the place, wanting to play with multiple different toys, being too excited, or simply not engaging or being able to focus at all.

Although we do prefer to see our younger clients in person, online therapy is showing to be just as effective.

We still conduct all the necessary evaluation, therapy sessions, and can learn a lot about your child through video chat. In fact, some kids may end up enjoying video chatting with their therapist. Online child therapy isn’t just for the kids – we incorporate you and your family into it. We want to include everyone in the household as we strongly believe in the value of working with the family as a whole.

There are many benefits to holding therapy sessions online. It can bring you and your family comfort, reduce stress on commuting, and is equally as effective as in-person therapy. It can be hard to engage kids over video chat, which is why our therapists are equipped with tools to keep them interacting with us. Online child therapy isn’t just for your child – it’s for you and your family, too, to give everyone an opportunity to learn and grow together.

Online therapy for your child is a good fit if your child has behavior problems that only occur at home or out in the community. They may not present those behavioral problems in a new, foreign area with a stranger present at first. Children who have a hard time opening up about tough subjects may also benefit from online therapy as they have the option to curate their own safe space at home and complete activities with the therapist virtually. 

child holding the mouse of a computer

Perhaps it plays out with you and your child like this..

Recently, the tantrums have been overwhelming for you. Little things seem to stress your child out, leading to yelling and crying fits. As a parent, you know that you could use some additional support in terms of better parenting skills or someone who understands your child’s emotions better than you do.

Due to the COVID climate, you are unable to try and see out therapy in person. You live with high risk people, and you don’t want to risk the chance of anyone in your family catching it. You are struggling with the idea of therapy as having it online seems like a challenge.

Your child is excitable and likes to move around a lot. They are constantly shifting their focus from one thing to another, and are always talking about something different, whether it be a made up story or creating hypothetical scenarios with their toys. It’s hard to get them to focus on something important.

This is why you are hesitant about starting online therapy. How will it help my child learn and grow through a screen? Will I be able to learn something from their therapy sessions? All of these questions are flowing through your head, causing you more stress and anxiety. You know it would benefit the family to get help, but you want some answers first. 

It’s ok to not know everything right away. Looking into therapy is a process of its own, and our Simi Valley Therapists are more than happy to get you started.

The truth is, child therapy requires work from you, the child, and the therapist combined. It’s about finding a rhythm and discovering what works best between your family and your therapist. Oftentimes, we don’t consider what we go through to get our child the help they need. It can be a time constraint just to get them over to child therapy in person. 

At Simi Psychological Group in Simi Valley, we value the importance of including the family into sessions. We believe that family dynamics are important, and it’s important 

girl on a computer sitting at a table

What Does Online Child Therapy Look Like? No roadblocks or barriers

With online child therapy, there’s no roadblocks or barriers. This could describe needing to rearrange schedules, driving time, loading kids into the car, convincing them to get dressed and ready for the day, or being held back by waiting on the kids or other family members. 

Schedule flexibility is a big key in why online child therapy works so well for a lot of people. We understand that as parents, you’re either busy working during the day or have your hands full with the kids and house keeping. 

By starting child therapy online, you don’t need to worry about re planning out your whole day or schedule. Find a time that works for you when you and your child are in a safe and comfortable environment that is connected to WiFi and you can go from there. 

Maybe you have a busy work schedule which only gives you a sliver of time to commute home. This can be inconvenient if your only opening is right after your work day ends, and you still need to get the kids ready to commute over to the therapy office. With online therapy, your whole family is able to relax and hold sessions from the comfort of your own home. 

We want to work around your child’s schedule if they are in school or child care. In child therapy in Simi Valley, our priority is your family! We work together with both parents and children to determine how we can best work together by providing parenting tips and easy-to-understand analogies for your child.

What Does Online Child Therapy Look Like? Child Interactions

It’s always nice to be able to see our younger patients face to face while we are playing games together. However, thanks to technology, we have the ability to still play games face to face. 

Our therapists are equipped and ready to interact with your child virtually. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible – and what we’re doing seems to be working very well for our young patients.

Our therapy sessions are 50 minutes long. This can seem like a bit much for youngsters who are active, excitable, and like to move around a lot. Because of this, we like to incorporate different activities and exercises to go through with them in order to retain their attention and get some work done together.

mother and her child sitting on the floor together

We use different games for kids through using a shared screen, playing games where children have to point out how they’re feeling today with emojis, “Simon Says” to refocus their attention, and more.

Children can also read books aloud, complete worksheets to present to us for the next session, or partake in silly exercises like dancing to keep their attention on us. Our goal is to keep them engaged, happy, and expressing their feelings and emotions to us.

Depending on the age of our client, we like to incorporate play therapy into our sessions. As we cannot physically play with them in person, we may reach out to the parents to find out what toys they have at home; whether it be Barbies, Legos, toy blocks, figurines, plushies, etc. We can then purchase these toys for ourselves to show them over the video chat.

By having our own similar toys to our young clients, we are able to bond and connect over them. We can still play together as we have the same toys and are able to work on the same story line with them. We encourage parents and family members to join our video sessions and to also engage in play to demonstrate the family dynamic and to see when certain behaviors or actions may arise. 

What Does Online Child Therapy Look Like? Same strong connections

Kids enjoy showing off their favorite toys to us. As a matter of fact, kids love showing off a lot of their things! They take a lot of pride in their characters, drawings, books they are reading, or room set up. By using online child therapy, children can show the therapist their room and items in it. This will help the therapist better understand them as we see them in their “natural habitat”. 

Your child will have a lot of fun showing off their skills and talents in front of the camera to us. They have the flexibility to roam around their room and show us things that are important to them. We can draw together virtually by requesting drawings of situations or people to determine how they are feeling.  prefere

Online child therapy allows us to connect with you and your child while feeling safe and taking preventative measures. Just like in-person therapy, we’re still able to build a connection and respond to the needs of you and your child to make desired changes.

Not only are we building connections with your child, but we want to build connections with you – the parent. We understand that parenting is a growing process full of taking 3 steps forward and 1 step backwards. It is a learning curve where we face something new on a regular basis. Most of us are parents ourselves, having understanding of the frustrations and struggles that can arise when parenting. We are here to help you, provide you with skills and coping mechanisms, and work together as a team to promote desired changes. 

We can connect with you virtually to ensure that you are also receiving the support you need. Whether that be obtaining more parenting advice, parenting validation, or addressing any questions or concerns you may have.

Our therapists in Simi Valley, Ca believe that working together as a family is important. Families are teams, and in order to create real change, we all need to play our part in making that happen. We value families and want to ensure that everyone feels confident and comfortable throughout the session.

child with their hands holding their head up watching a laptop

What Does Online Child Therapy Look Like? Comfort of your home

Children can meet with their therapist from the comfort of their own home. Wherever their safe space is, you and your child don’t need to worry about rushing to get dressed, cleaning up the room before you leave, or struggling with getting set up in the car.

We appreciate the flexibility that Telehealth therapy provides us as we can serve quality care to our clients from the comfort of their own home. You all could still be in pajamas, with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, and we will not judge you. All we are concerned about is making sure we are keeping your child focused and engaged with us. 

We are highly experienced in working with children and have well adapted to doing so over video chats. By incorporating fun games, drawings, or providing worksheets for children to fill out, we can learn much more about them than one would think for a video session. 

Your family doesn’t need to worry about commuting to and from the therapy office, having to squeeze time into your busy schedule, or worry about holding therapy sessions online. We are more than happy to provide you with more information on our services, give us a call today!

Getting started with online child therapy can be confusing, but we can help you navigate it. Consider giving us a call today to learn more about our services and how we can help you and your child grow together to achieve your goals. 

Now Offering Online Therapy in Los Angeles and Online Counseling Ventura County 
At our therapy practice in Simi Valley, Ca we offer Child therapy and family counseling, Teen therapy, Anxiety Treatment, Depression Therapy, Marriage Counseling, and Neuropsychological Testing.

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