Are you feeling stuck
worrying about your child or teen?
Are you struggling to cope with your child's difficult behaviours?
Is your child/teen suffering from worry, isolation from peers or deep sadness?
Is your child or teen making your family life chaotic?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then you and your child could benefit from parent and child counselling support.
Some common signs of stress and anxiety that your child may be experiencing:
- anxious about or avoiding new activities
- restless, unable to relax
- oppositional behaviour
- frequent irritability
- difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
- frequent nightmares
- changes in eating habits (eating more or less than usual)
- complaints about physical problems (headaches, stomach aches etc.)
- trouble separating from you for school or other activities
- ongoing worries about performance in academic, athletic or social activities
- preoccupied with concerns about the well-being of family members
- behaviour problems at school (aggression, social isolation etc.)
- school avoidance or difficulty keeping up with school work
Sign up to receive “10 Tips for Helping Your Anxious Child” and find out how to understand and respond to your child’s needs, create a happier child and improve your relationship.
Has your family experienced a major stress that is distressing you and your child? i.e. a loss such as a move, death in the family, separation or divorce? Are you struggling to connect with your child who is adopted? Feelings from the impact of stressful, traumatic or painful life events can lead to overwhelming feelings of worry, sadness, fear and difficulty coping.
Have you lost confidence in your parenting skills? Are you feeling stuck?
Parenting Can Be Very Exhausting
If you are parenting a troubled child or teen here are some common signs of stress that you may be experiencing:
- feeling alone and embarrassed to ask for help
- thinking you have failed as a parent
- frustrated that it’s never enough no matter how much you give
- ashamed of your child’s behaviour
- afraid for your child’s future
- worried that your reactions are making matters worse
- fear that you are losing your relationship with your child
It can be really tough trying to solve your child’s problems. You may feel exhausted from the continuous need to comfort and support your child’s emotional needs. You may long for the child you once knew. There may be times where you can’t seem to connect with your child no matter how hard you try. You may feel that your relationship with your child has become more distant. All of this can result in feelings of worry, frustration, sadness, anger and helplessness over your inability to help your child or teen.
Blaming yourself for your child’s struggles will not help the situation.
Normal child behaviour can be challenging even at the best of times…it can become even more difficult when crises or stressful events occur.
You may have exhausted advice from friends and family, read child behaviour management books, attended parenting workshops, but are still struggling to help your child.
Without support and guidance, parenting can be a very challenging role.
You are not alone…
Parenting Can Make You Feel Hopeless and Defeated at Times, But A Skilled Counsellor Can Help You Turn Things Around…
It’s never too late to help your son or daughter. Through child or family therapy, you can develop new parenting strategies for managing your child’s behaviour. You can learn to communicate support and empathy for your child to help them feel understood. This will also help decrease their need to seek negative attention. You can rebuild your connection and secure your relationship with your child through healthy ways of communicating and being together. You can help your child regain his or her positive strengths and talents and enjoy being a child again. You can also discover how to enjoy being a parent again!
“We are so fortunate to have worked with Janice. It was quickly apparent that I had been referred to a highly trained and skilled professional with such far-ranging expertise, awareness and insight, that… right from the start… I felt safe, comfortable, and hopeful for the future.”
- Jody (mother of a teen daughter)
Would you like to have a closer relationship with your child?
Discover how to strengthen your parenting skills and become a more confident parent through counselling. It is possible to increase closeness with your child or teen and encourage them to look to you for help and guidance. Through parent, child counselling or family therapy you will experience more peace as you develop greater trust and connection with your child. You will become more confident in your parenting skills and discover your own strengths as a parent too.
“Thank you for all your support and guidance and the strength I wasn’t sure I had”
- WM (mother of a 4 year old daughter)
The benefits of counselling for your child can include:
- reduction or elimination of behaviour problems
- relief from overwhelming feelings
- new skills for coping with worry, loss, fear and sadness
- closer family relationships and more secure attachment to you
- improvement in peer relationships
- increased school performance
- resolution of past traumatic or stressful events
- a happier child or teen
“I just wanted to thank you for helping me when I was hurting the most and tell you that the wounds are healing. …you really helped me learn how to talk and to express myself. I want to thank you once again for being there when I needed to talk and when I needed to cry and when I needed to let go…”
- CR (17 year old)
The benefits of counselling and coaching for you as a parent include:
- increasing your confidence as a parent
- improving communication with your child
- supporting your child to develop greater coping skills and confidence
- developing a stronger relationship to your child
- increasing your sense of hope for your child and the whole family
- becoming the parent that you want to be
Yes, You Can Feel Hopeful About Your Child’s Future and Successful as a Parent Again
If you want to feel more confident as a parent and help your child, teen, or family to develop greater coping and communication skills and see your child happier and more confident, then...
Please call for your free 10-minute consultation at 604-787-7258
Janice Ebenstiner, MA, CCS, BCRPT
E-mail: janiceebenstiner@hotmail.com
Sign up to receive “Ten Tips for building secure attachment” and find out how to understand and respond to your child’s needs, create a happier child and improve your relationship.