Childrens & Teens

Childhood and Adolescence can be particularly stressful time. Karen and the CRS team specialize in helping children/teens find the words for and deal with the emotions and stress they experience in the course of ‘growing up’. She uses her custom developed Tools for Life to help kids navigate through the challenges of growing up. As she does in all areas of her counseling work, Karen uses humor and patience to help adolescents and teens feel comfortable. Karen’s unique and non-judgmental methods and approach have been extremely successful in inspiring communication with this age group and the many challenges they go through, including:

How To Know When Your Child Needs Help

• Marked change in school performance.
• Frequent worry or anxieties, as shown by regular refusal to go to school, go to sleep or take part in normal activities.
• Hyperactivity; fidgeting; constant movement beyond regular playing.
• Persistent nightmares.
• Persistent disobedience or aggression (longer than 6 months) and provocative opposition to authority figures.
• Frequent, unexplainable anger.
• Many physical complaints.
• Sexual acting out.
• Depression shown by sustained, prolonged negative mood and attitude, often accompanied by poor appetite,difficulty sleeping or thoughts of death.
• Abuse of alcohol or drugs.
• Intense fear of becoming obese with no relationship to actual body weight, purging food or restricted eating.
• Threats of self harm or harm of others.
• Self injury or self destructive behavior.
• Frequent outburst of anger, aggression.
• Threats to run away.
• Aggressive or non-aggressive consistent violation of rights of others; opposition to authority, truancy, thefts or vandalism.
• Strange thoughts and feelings; and unusual behaviors.

No matter who you are or what kind of family or community you come from, the fact is, growing up is hard. Every kid needs support. Every kid needs an adult they can talk to. At CRS we are experts in helping children, adolescents and teens cope with not only the big stuff, but also the everyday issues of growing up.