ADD/ADHD

Are you or your child having difficulty concentrating, focusing, sitting still, or controlling your behavior? If so you may have ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Proper diagnosis can make all the difference in both understanding your symptoms and treating them. At Granite State Child & Family Counseling we provide treatment for ADHD and assessment referral to local psychologists who can properly diagnose you or your child. You don't have to struggle day-to-day with these symptoms; you can learn how to manage them with or without medication.

Behavior Problems

Parents often contact us due to their child's behavior. Often parents believe kids are deliberately misbehaving and at times this could be the case. However, at other times there is another explanation and we can help to determine what is causing the misbehavior and help you, the parent, discipline effectively. When working with kids behavior it is important to have parents involvement, participation, and cooperation. Children are not able to make adult decisions or changes within the home that can improve their behavior. These changes need to come from the adults in the home. This is why we work collaboratively with children and parents through this treatment process.

If you are concerned that your child is acting out, angry all the time, disrespectful, disobedient, talks back, doesn't follow the rules at home or school please contact us for help. You do not need to manage this alone.

School Difficulties

Is your child struggling to keep up in school? Is he or she failing classes and not wanting to attend? Is she or him having trouble with peers or being bullied? At Granite State Child & Family Counseling we can help identify what may be causing your child to have difficulty in school. We work in collaboration with the local school systems in order to determine the appropriate course of action, both in the school and in therapy. We teach kids effective study habits and coping skills to manage the pressures of school. We work with them, you, and the school to alleviate any issues of bullying in the school. We teach kids how to manage peer conflict and improve self-esteem. We make appropriate referrals for children who seem to have difficulty academically to receive needed testing and proper services within the school.

Relationship conflicts, depression, and anger management

Are you struggling to cope with current stressors or unexpected pressure? If so, we may be able to help. At times it may become difficult to cope with stressors resulting in poor work or school performance, conflict within relationships, recurring distress, depression, helplessness, and social withdrawal or increased anger. Therapy can help to alleviate these symptoms and teach effective coping skills to manage your stressors. Please contact us to learn more and to schedule an appointment.

Anger Management

At times you may experience excessive anger or irritability. Often anger is an emotion that masks other feelings, such as sadness, fear, or anxiety. There are techniques you can learn to help manage anger in order to reduce the frequency of this experience. Children often exhibit anger due to not having other communication skills to express themselves. They also don't often recognize what their feelings are and thus cannot express them in an appropriate way. Anger management therapy for children often consists of feeling recognition and communication skills in addition to techniques to use when experiencing anger. Relaxation skills are often taught as a tool to use when angry. These skills need to be practiced daily in order for them to be effective. If you or a loved one seems to be irritable or angry most of the time please contact us to discuss how we may help.

Loss and Grief

Have you lost a loved one through separation or death? Do you have difficulty coping with this loss? If so, we can help! Losing someone close to you can be very difficult to manage. People often go through many stages of grief, sometimes all at once, that may be confusing or hard to understand. We can help you manage this process of grieving by exploring your grief, identifying the various stages, and developing effective coping skills to manage your feelings.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal response to perceived danger or threat. It can be experienced as a panic attack, excessive worry, or feeling overwhelmed. It can cause distraction, preoccupation, tension, and a heightened level of alertness.

There are different types of anxiety disorders including Generalized Anxiety Disorder (where a person worries excessively about many things), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (characterized by bad thoughts and compulsions or actions that attempt to relieve the bad thoughts/anxiety), phobias (intense fears of specific situations or things such as heights, flying, dogs, bugs, etc.), social phobia (triggered by social situations or talking in front of others), panic attacks (sudden and intense anxiety responses characterized by racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, and numbness or tingling feelings throughout the body), and post traumatic stress disorder (resulting from a traumatic or terrifying event or experience).

If you experience anxiety and are unable to cope please contact us for treatment. You do not have to be debilitated by this experience. We can help!

Depression

Depression effects many people in various ways. Depression can be experienced as intense sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, lack of energy, lack of motivation, lack of interest in previously pleasurable activity, anger or irritability, lack of concentration, withdrawal from others, sleep difficulties, appetite changes, somatic complaints such as headache, pain, stomach aches, and fatigue, and thoughts of death or suicide. In children depression may be experienced more as anger, irritability, somatic complaints, appetite changes, and sleep difficulties.

Depression can be caused by many things such as an unexpected event, loss of a loved one, loss of a job, or resulting from a chemical imbalance in the brain. Treatment exists for depression including cognitive behavioral treatment, coping skill development, and medication management.

Relational Problems

Without human contact we would not thrive. However, at times this human contact causes difficulty in the form of relationship problems or social problems.

Do you or your child suffer from social difficulties, frequent relationship changes, lack of social interaction, inappropriate responses to others, difficulty negotiating relationships, or poor boundary management? At Granite State Child & Family Counseling we can help determine the reasons for these difficulties and then help you or your child learn effective and appropriate social skills.

We need others around us and it is important to know how to respond appropriately in social situations.

Trauma Assessment & Treatment

Trauma is an emotional response to an intense or unexpected event. There are many events that may cause trauma including witnessing natural disasters, being witness to murder or death, being physically or sexually abused, losing a loved one unexpectedly, or learning of a life-threatening or disabling condition. At times it is not the event itself that causes the trauma but the response to the trauma instead that causes the emotional response.

Some symptoms of trauma may be depression, anxiety, withdrawal from others, avoidance of events, people, or places that resemble the traumatic event, panic attacks, fearfulness, anger or irritability, difficulty sleeping, changes in appetite, experience of physical pain not explained by medical means, difficulty focusing and concentrating, difficulty remembering and making decisions, experiencing flashbacks or intrusive thoughts of the traumatic event, experiencing nightmares, and/or feelings of guilt or grief.

If you or a loved one has experienced trauma please contact us for assessment and treatment.

Couples and Marital Therapy

At Granite State Child & Family Counseling we work with couples both married and unmarried to address issues of communication, intimacy, fidelity, parenting, and how to be a partner with your mate. At times couples feel powerless to effect change within their relationship and we can help you determine how to do this. During couples therapy it may be necessary to address individual issues and this is done within the context of the couples therapy. If a situation arises that requires more intense individual therapy we may suggest an individual therapist to address those issues separately while the couple continues with their therapy. If this should happen we would ask that a release be signed so communication can occur between each of the therapists. Please feel free to contact us to discuss your needs.

Parenting Skills

If only our children came with an instruction manual...how much easier parenting would be. Or would it?

Parenting is wonderful and challenging all at the same time. Each child is so unique that a one-size fits all parenting approach doesn't work. As parents we have to be aware of the specific qualities of each child and learn what works well and what doesn't. At Granite State Child & Family Counseling we can help you learn what will work for each of your children. We can also help divorced or separated parents learn effective co-parenting skills and work together for the best interest of your children. You may have divorced each other but your children still need two parents who can put their differences aside in order to raise them and provide them with the skills necessary to be contributing members of our society. Contact us today to learn how we can help in your parenting needs.

Separation/Divorce

At times couples experience difficulty beyond their ability to cope and thus choose to separate or divorce. At Granite State Child & Family Counseling we can help you determine whether this is the right step for you, or if you and your spouse/partner can work toward reconciliation. If divorce is inevitable we can help to make it as smooth an emotional experience as possible. We are not attorneys, and cannot give legal advice about divorce or custody. However, we can help to heal those wounds caused by divorce and help you learn how to co-parent your children.

Stress Management

In todays world most of us experience an increase in stress. Whether it's the economy, job difficulties or loss, relationship issues, peer issues, financial strain, or medical/emotional issues stress can take its toll. There are many techniques you can use to reduce stress. We can teach you these skills and techniques so that you are better able to cope with life's stressors and better able to function in your day-to-day life.

Substance Abuse/Addiction

At Granite State Child & Family Counseling we provide treatment for substance abuse or addiction. We are not LADAC certified and thus cannot provide services for those referred by the court or for those who have received a DUI/DWI. We are able to provide services focused on recovery and abstinence. We can help you learn how to replace dysfunctional behavior with more functional choices. We can help you develop a recovery plan that will help you maintain your sobriety. We can work with you to figure out the reasons you abuse substances or self-medicate and then work on replacing them with more productive behaviors.

If you are the loved one of someone who abuses substances we can help you learn how to set boundaries and care for yourself. We can help you develop a plan for how to not enable the substance abuser and instead hold them naturally accountable for their actions. We can work with you on learning coping skills and dealing with the emotional response you may experience as a result of this disease.

If you or a loved one is in need of services please contact us today.