Hearts Together Therapy for Children and Families

Finding the right therapist is very personal. It's important to find one that you trust, specializes in your concerns, and is able to address your specific needs. Try your best to come with an open mind when meeting someone new and if it doesn’t work out, don’t give up! You will know when it feels right.

For some therapy modalities, such as DBT, regardless of how you feel towards the therapist, it’s important to keep showing up! If there are things that bother you about your relationship with your therapist, it is very important and strongly encouraged that you bring it up to discuss in your next session.

Therapy is working when you start feeling more understood, develop better coping skills, and notice small positive changes in your mood, thoughts or behaviours. Trust the process, and remember progress can be gradual and isn’t always linear.

Sometimes you have to do the things suggested in your therapy sessions before your mood and thoughts will change. It takes time - Don’t give up, you got this!

Yes, what you share in therapy is confidential. Your therapist is here to create a safe, private space for you to be able to share, with the exception of if you share planning to cause immediate harm to yourself or others, abuse of an elderly person or a minor (child).

In rare cases, your medical file may be subpoenaed to court for legal purposes, to which your therapist would notify and plan with you around this circumstance.

For self-harm or suicidal thoughts, therapies like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is often helpful. These approaches focus on building healthy coping strategies to manage intense emotions.

It is so important that you are able to share openly about having thoughts of wanting to end your life in a safe space. Your therapist is there to listen without judgment and provide support, helping you work through those feelings in a safe, understanding space to see if we can take suicide off the table the list of solutions for now.

With the exception that if you share that you are planning to cause immediate harm to yourself, we would need to take important actions in order to keep you safe (we can’t do psychotherapy with ghosts).

Supporting a withdrawn, anti-social child starts with patience, open communication, and creating a non-judgmental environment. Encourage them to express their feelings, seek professional guidance, and show consistent love and understanding as they navigate their difficult emotions. A very helpful caregiver skill taught in our Parent Coaching sessions is called validation – it’s very easy to learn but very hard to put into use!