As children get older, their emotions become more complex, as is the case for Riley (age 13) in Inside Out 2. As adults, we can probably all remember times when our emotions seemed to be on a roller coaster and were very difficult to understand, let alone talk about.

The school year is coming to an end, and many families are excited for fun in the sun and a break from the hustle and bustle of the school year. However, summer can be a source of stress for many parents with the change in childcare and schedules.

When a child has an anxiety and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a parent’s actions – even with good intentions – can accidentally make things worse. Understanding how parents take part in the anxiety cycle is important in helping kids get better.

Learn how we work with children, teens, young adults, and their caregivers to break the anxiety/avoidance cycle. We help them learn flexible responses to their anxious thoughts and feelings through exposure and response prevention, and acceptance. We create fear hierarchies and work our way through them, one step at a time.

School avoidance is a term used when a child or teen avoids going to school for an extended period of time and/or consistently arrives late or leaves early. It can happen for a variety of reasons, including emotional distress, which is particularly challenging and the focus of this blog.

Exposure is about gradually facing the people, places, things, situations and activities that cause anxiety so that the brain can create new, more adaptive memories to compete with fear memories.