Child & Teen Therapy
For kids and teens who are struggling, and for the parents trying to work out how to help them.
You Noticed It First.
It is rarely one dramatic moment. It is a Tuesday. Your child will not get out of the car, or comes home and closes the door, or melts down over something that would not have touched them a year ago. You let it go, because kids go through things. And then it happens again.
What follows is usually months of quiet second-guessing. Is this a phase, or is this something. Is it school, or friends, or the phone, or us. Am I overreacting by worrying, or underreacting by waiting. You ask a friend, you ask a teacher, you read something at eleven at night that makes it worse. Most parents arrive here having already carried the question alone for a long time.
So let us say this plainly, because it is the thing most parents are braced for and almost never hear: bringing your child in is not a verdict on your parenting. You are not being evaluated. Most parents who walk through this door are not doing anything wrong. They are doing something hard, without enough information, and they came looking for some.
For a child or a teenager, therapy is one of the few rooms in their life where they are not being managed, corrected, graded, or compared. Someone is paying attention to what they think, at their pace, without needing them to be fine. That is often what starts to shift first, and it usually shows up at home before it shows up in words.
And sometimes what we find is that this is ordinary. Development is uneven, and a lot of what frightens parents is genuinely within range. If that is what we see, we will tell you so, and tell you what would change our minds. You do not need a diagnosis, or a crisis, to ask the question.
Child & Teen Therapy · Children, Teens & Parents
When it helps to bring someone in.
Families often reach out when:
- Mornings have turned into a fight about going to school
- Stomachaches or headaches that show up on school days and clear on weekends
- Bedtime takes hours, or they are awake at two in the morning worrying
- Meltdowns that are bigger, longer, or more frequent than they used to be
- A friendship ended, or they have been left out, and they have not been the same since
- Every conversation about the phone turns into the same argument
- They will not sleep at a friend's house, or will not let you leave the room
- Someone in the family died, got sick, deployed, or moved out
- A new diagnosis, theirs or a sibling's, that the whole family is still adjusting to
- They have quietly stopped doing the thing they used to love
- A teacher, pediatrician, or school counselor suggested you look into therapy
You do not need a diagnosis, or a crisis, to make an appointment.
What The Work Actually Looks Like
What the First
Session Looks Like
Usually we start with the parents, so you can say everything you need to say without your child in the room. Then we meet your child. You will know what happens next before you leave.
Talking, Playing,
or Doing
A seven-year-old and a sixteen-year-old need different things from the same hour. Younger children often work through play-based approaches; older kids talk, or draw, or walk and talk. The work meets them where they are.
Your Part
in It
You are not sending your child away to be fixed. Parents stay involved through check-ins, and you will be told what we are working on and how it is going, even when the details of a session stay in the room.
What Stays Between
Them and Us
We explain the privacy rules out loud in the first session, to your child and to you, so nobody is guessing. Privacy is what makes the work possible, and safety is where it stops.
In Person
or by Video
In person at our Peabody and North Andover offices, or by telehealth across Massachusetts. For some teens, video is the difference between attending and not.
Working With School
and Your Pediatrician
With your written permission we can talk to the people already involved: the school counselor, the 504 or IEP team, your pediatrician. Kids do better when the adults are saying the same thing.
Meet our team
Match with a clinician who does this work
Not every clinician works with every age, and the right person for a seven-year-old is often not the right person for a sixteen-year-old. Tell us how old your child is and what has been going on, and we will match you with someone who does this work, at the office that is easiest for you to get to.
Our approach
How the work goes
Start with what you are seeing at home
You have been watching this longer than anyone. We begin with what you have noticed, when it started, what you have already tried, and what a hard day actually looks like in your house.
Meet your child at their developmental level
What helps a child of seven is not what helps a teenager of fifteen. We use approaches suited to the age in the room, including play-based work with younger children, so your child can take part for real rather than sit through it.
Build something that holds outside the room
One hour a week is not where change happens. The work is aimed at the other hundred and sixty-seven hours: mornings, homework, bedtime, the car ride, the group chat.
What families start to notice
Progress is not a straight line, and it does not look the same for every kid. It also rarely announces itself. Most families notice the change in the ordinary parts of the week before anyone says anything about feelings:
- Mornings get less loud
- They can name what is happening before it takes over
- You stop bracing for the next blow-up
- The argument is about the phone again, not about everything
- They have somewhere to put it that is not you
- You have a plan, and someone to call when the plan stops working
Questions parents ask
My teen says they will not go. What do I do?
That is common, and it is not a dead end. Refusing is often about wanting some control rather than a sign that nothing is wrong. Many families start with a parent-only session so you leave with a plan either way, and plenty of reluctant teens come along once it stops being a battle. A first appointment is one appointment. They can decide after that.
What will the therapist tell me about what my child says?
We go through this out loud in the first session, with your child and with you, so nobody has to guess. In general what your child talks about stays between them and their clinician, because that privacy is what makes the work possible, especially with teenagers. There are limits: if we believe your child or someone else is not safe, or if we are required to report something, we act on it. You will always know what we are working on and how it is going, even when the contents of a session stay in the room.
Will my child get a diagnosis? Does it go on a record?
Not automatically, and never as a label handed down without a conversation with you. Some children clearly meet criteria for a condition, and naming it genuinely helps, because it explains what has been happening and it opens doors at school and with insurance. Other children do not, and we will tell you that too. Where a diagnosis is used for insurance billing, you will know what it is and why.
Will you put my child on medication?
Therapy is what happens here. Our clinicians are licensed therapists and counselors, not prescribers, and starting therapy does not put your child on a path toward medication. If medication ever seems worth discussing, that is a separate conversation with your pediatrician or a prescriber, and we will help you coordinate it.
Who has to give permission for my child to be seen?
For anyone under eighteen, a parent or legal guardian gives consent, and we will walk you through that at intake. If parents are separated or divorced, we ask for a copy of the custody agreement so we know who holds legal decision-making for medical and mental health care. Legal custody is not always the same as who the child lives with. If you are not sure what your paperwork says, bring it and we will read it together.
We tried therapy before and it did not help. Why would this be different?
Tell us that on the first call. Fit matters more in this work than almost anything else, and a poor match with a clinician is one of the most common reasons families stop coming. Tell us what did not work, whether it was the person, the approach, the schedule, or the way it was explained, and we will use that to match differently.
Do you take insurance?
We accept a wide range of private and public plans. See our accepted plans on the Insurance page, or ask us and we will help verify your benefits.
Have a question that is not here?
Most parents who come in are not doing anything wrong. They are doing something hard, without enough information.
North Shore Clinicians Group
How to get started
You bring what you have been noticing at home — we will bring the clinical care. When you are ready, begin intake and our team will follow up to match your child with the right clinician and confirm your insurance.
- Start intake to set up a first appointment and see whether we are the right fit.
- Not sure yet? Email main@nscliniciansgroup.com and tell us what is going on.