Feelings School is a manualized, skill-based psychotherapy program for school aged children and their families. It’s composed of two curricula: 

• BE A STAR: an 8-12 session psychotherapy treatment for children
• CALM: a series of 4 parental guidance session

As the therapist guides the child through BE A STAR, the therapist is working through the CALM curriculum in parallel sessions with the child’s caregivers.. 

When you begin to work with us, we will first gather information about your child, your family, and the presenting issue. We then use all of the information you provided us to tailor the course of Feelings School treatment and assist your child in building specific skills to improve emotional literacy, frustration tolerance, anxiety management, social skills, and inter-personal communication. Every week, the therapist will meet alone with the child to focus on a different skill. At the end of many of the sessions, the child and caregiver will share what was learned that week and you will be given exercises to practice together at home. Caregivers also participate in a series of sessions without the child present to gain parenting support and information about how to approach their child’s difficulties.

At the end of the program, we will assess whether you feel the goals have been met and will either move to the completion session or schedule further sessions to address remaining issues.  In some cases, as children grow and approach new developmental milestones, they may encounter new difficulties. In these cases, we encourage you to return for “booster” sessions.

Feelings School Philosophy

We believe that school aged children can best learn about themselves and practice new ways of being in relationship with their caregivers.

We believe that many issues children struggle with can be addressed in a short-term model of treatment that guides and teaches them new skills and ways of communicating–after a few months of work, many kids can get back to the business of being children (violin lessons, playdates, and running around at the park after school).

We believe that you, as a parent, are the sun and moon of your child’s life. Caregivers have enormous power to shape the way children feel about themselves and express their feelings.  Feelings School helps parents develop therapeutic skills to support and guide their child’s emotional development.

Your work with us is just the beginning of a new way of approaching and understanding feelings. We will provide you with  a space to connect and communicate, to explore your relationship, to learn new techniques to address  old problems, and new ways to grow together as a family.

Common issues addressed in Feelings School