Child Counseling & Psychotherapy

Available by telehealth in California and Arizona.

Our Providers

Brooke Pence, LMFT

What is Child Counseling & Psychotherapy

Children, like adults, can experience emotional struggles, but often lack the words or understanding to express their feelings. Child therapy provides a safe and nurturing space for children to process emotions, develop coping strategies, and improve their overall mental health.

It’s an essential tool for supporting emotional development and helping kids navigate life’s challenges. Children face unique developmental challenges, and their emotional health is often impacted by their environment, relationships, and life experiences. Therapy helps children work through these challenges in a way that promotes self-awareness, resilience, and healthy emotional expression.

Types of Child Counseling & Psychotherapy We Offer

At Merit Psychology Group, we use the following evidenced-based models in our therapeutic care:

Play Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Family Therapy
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
Behavior Therapy (BT)
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-TF)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT)
Family Education and Support

More About Our Therapeutic Approaches:

Our therapy approaches are grounded in science. If you are not sure about starting therapy, below are some of the types of treatment we offer.

What is Play Therapy?

Play therapy is a therapeutic approach used primarily with children to help them express emotions, resolve conflicts, and work through difficult experiences.
Since children often don’t yet have the verbal skills to fully articulate their feelings, play therapy provides a natural outlet for them to communicate through toys, art, and games.
In play therapy, the therapist observes and engages in the child’s play, offering a safe space for exploration.
Through activities like role-playing, drawing, or using figurines, children can act out scenarios and work through their fears, anxieties, or trauma.
This process helps them make sense of their emotions and learn coping strategies.
It’s especially useful for addressing issues like grief, trauma, anxiety, behavioral problems, or social difficulties.
Play therapy builds trust, boosts emotional expression, and promotes problem-solving skills in a way that resonates with a child’s developmental stage.

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Children?

This is an evidence-based, structured, and goal-oriented therapy that helps children understand the connection between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
The goal of CBT is to help children identify and challenge unhelpful or negative thoughts and replace them with more realistic, balanced, and positive thinking. This, in turn, helps to improve emotional regulation and behavior.
In many cases, parents or caregivers are involved in the process to support the child’s progress.
Parents may be taught how to reinforce the skills learned in therapy at home, encourage positive behaviors, and help the child practice new coping strategies.
If your child is experiencing persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, or behavior issues that impact their daily life (such as school performance, social relationships, or family dynamics), CBT can be an effective treatment option.
It’s especially helpful when a child’s emotional struggles are linked to negative thinking patterns or unhealthy behaviors.

What is Family Therapy?

Children are deeply influenced by their family environment, and their challenges—such as emotional struggles, behavioral issues, or difficulties at school—are often linked to interactions within the family.
Family therapy helps uncover patterns of communication, behavior, and emotional responses that may be contributing to the child’s struggles.
It can also teach family members how to provide better support for the child and improve relationships within the family unit.

What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Children?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Children is an adaptation of the standard DBT, designed to help children (and their families) manage intense emotions, improve emotional regulation, and develop healthier coping strategies.
Originally developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan for individuals with borderline personality disorder, DBT has been adapted for various populations, including children and adolescents, especially those dealing with severe emotional dysregulation, behavioral problems, and trauma.
DBT assists in developing skills in mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and social connectedness and interactions, and increases problem solving.
DBT can also help children who complete self-injurious acts or who have suicidal ideation and intrusive thoughts to harm themselves.

What is Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)?

PCIT is specialized therapy designed to improve the quality of the parent-child relationship and change disruptive behaviors in young children (typically ages 2-7).
PCIT is an effective, structured treatment approach that focuses on teaching parents or caregivers specific techniques to manage their child’s behavior, improve discipline strategies, and foster positive interactions.
The goal of PCIT is to help parents develop skills that lead to a more positive, harmonious relationship with their child while also promoting healthy child development.
PCIT is typically delivered in two main phases, with both parent and child actively involved in the therapy process.
Throughout the therapy, the child’s behavior is directly addressed, and parents are trained in real time to implement strategies.

What is Behavior Therapy (BT)?

Behavior therapy focuses on modifying or changing specific behaviors in children.
It is based on the principles of behaviorism, which suggests that behaviors are learned and can be changed through reinforcement, punishment, and other techniques.
Behavior therapy is especially effective for addressing challenging behaviors and is commonly used to treat children with a variety of concerns, including disruptive behavior, anxiety, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and more.
The core goal of behavior therapy for children is to increase desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable behaviors by applying principles of learning theory, particularly through reinforcement and behavior modification techniques.

What Is Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-TF)?

This is specifically designed to help children, adolescents, and their families recover from the effects of trauma.
It combines elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with trauma-sensitive interventions to address the emotional, psychological, and behavioral consequences of traumatic experiences, such as abuse, neglect, loss, accidents, or witnessing violence.
TF-CBT is a structured, short-term therapy that helps children and their caregivers understand and process trauma-related thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and teaches coping strategies to manage trauma symptoms like anxiety, nightmares, or avoidance.

What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Children?

This is an adaptation of the adult-based ACT model designed to help children and adolescents cope with difficult emotions, thoughts, and behaviors while learning to live in alignment with their values.
Like traditional ACT, ACT for children encourages psychological flexibility—the ability to be open, aware, and present in the moment, even in the face of distressing thoughts, feelings, or situations.
However, the approach is tailored to be more engaging and developmentally appropriate for younger individuals.
ACT for children focuses on helping kids accept their emotions, develop coping strategies, and commit to values-driven actions, rather than trying to control or avoid difficult experiences.
It can be particularly effective for children dealing with issues like anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, chronic pain, and behavioral problems.

What is Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT)?

ABFT stands for Adolescent and Family Therapy, and it is often used in treating adolescents who are struggling with mental health issues such as depression, self-harm, trauma, and suicidal thoughts.
The therapy model is grounded in the belief that attachment—the emotional bond between the adolescent and their family members—is crucial for emotional well-being and effective coping.
This is a specific, evidence-based therapeutic approach designed to help adolescents and their families strengthen relationships, improve communication, and address emotional and behavioral challenges.
It is a specialized form of therapy that focuses on building and repairing emotional bonds within the family, particularly between adolescents and their parents or caregivers.
ABFT is particularly effective for adolescents experiencing depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and interpersonal conflicts.

What is Family Education and Support?

Family psychoeducation programs are designed to achieve improved outcomes for people living with mental illnesses by building partnerships among families, providers, and others supporting the child and family.
Family psychoeducation programs are often led by therapists and can also be led by family members.
These programs focus on creating an atmosphere of hope and cooperation. Through relationship building, education, collaboration, and problem solving, these programs help consumers and families to learn more about mental illnesses and effective treatment options; master new and effective ways to manage the illness; acquire strategies for handling crises and relapse; provide social support and encouragement for each other; teach caregivers to reduce stress and to take care of themselves; focus on hope and the future; and help families better understand how to help consumers on their road to recovery.

How Does Therapy Help a Child?

Therapy helps a child by providing a safe space to explore and express their emotions, learn healthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress and challenges, develop better communication skills, and build resilience, all with the guidance of a trained professional who can help them identify the source of their problems and work towards positive changes in their behavior and thinking patterns.
Therapy helps with emotional regulation and allows the child to learn to identify and manage their emotions like anger, sadness, and anxiety in healthy ways.
Communication skills allow the child to develop better ways to express their thoughts and feelings verbally and non-verbally.
Coping strategies allow the children to acquire tools to handle difficult situations and stressors effectively.
Therapy helps self-esteem building by improving the child’s sense of self-worth and confidence by addressing negative self-talk.
Therapy helps increase positive thinking patterns and allows the child to learn to identify and challenge unhelpful thought patterns.
Therapy helps relationship building and allows the child to develop healthy interpersonal skills and improve interactions with peers and family.