Helping children and teenagers with their behavior, feelings, communication and relationships to improve home and school issues.

Behavioral Health Services near Naperville, IL, Wheaton, IL, Warrenville, IL, Oswego, IL and Plainfield, IL!

Inner Courage Counseling is here to help your child, tween or teen with their behavior, feelings, communication and relationship issues presenting in any environment; home, social or school.

The great theorist Carl Jung believes: “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.”

Before children can talk, they play. Play is a child’s first language. The use of play is how children explore and learn from their environment. Kids utilize play to experiment with behavior, model relationships, express feelings and communicate. Play allows children to practice what they are learning (Mr. Rogers).

At Inner Courage Counseling, we utilize play, art and other forms of alternative expression in our therapy to assist children and teens in developing new ways of communication. In allowing the client to connect to new ideas through counseling, they can feel more invested in personally following through with those changes. Helping teens and kids to feel more in control of their environment can allow for prolonged modification and help reduce parental stress.

Parents want what is best for their teen or child. Sometimes the best way to help your child or teen through their struggles is to provide them with the resources they may need to move through any difficulties they are experiencing. Similar to a tutor for math or a doctor for physical illness, our teen-focused therapists are motivated to work with the parents and teenager to define the problem(s) and teach the skills needed to improve day to day life.

We offer behavioral health services to help counseling and parental needs for the below issues and many more:

Behavior

– Acting out

-Aggression

-Attention issues

-Coping skills

-Easily distracted

-Hyperactivity

– Identity searching

-Organizational difficulties

Feelings

-Anger outbursts

-Emotional Regulation

-Excessive worry

-Reduced motivation

-Sadness/loneliness

 Communication

-Name calling

-Healthy ways to talk

-Parent/child arguments

-Positive ways to ask for help

-School related issues

-Shutting down

-Social skills

Relationships

-Attachment/Bonding

-Bullying

-Divorce/separation

-Family changes

-Friendships

-Parent-child relationship

-Parent Coaching/Skill Building

-Peer pressure

-Respect for authority figures

-Sibling relationships

The above areas are only some of the reasons for parents to seek help for their child or teenager. Our therapists work alongside parents to address a variety of behavior issues. Perhaps a teen starts acting out at school, responding aggressively towards their parent or sibling, or struggles to focus on school work or chores. Our counselors are passionate about teaching coping skills, finding ways to positively utilize hyperactivity and redirecting emotions to positively effect organizational difficulties. Therapy typically works best when the client’s personality, strengths and weaknesses are taken into account to find the best fit for behavioral interventions. A client’s identity is very important to our counselors in providing an authentic skills fit for their behavioral health services.

Starting in childhood through adolescents, emotions are growing and emotional expression is trial and error. The frequent changes occurring during these vital years can be scary for parents and their kids. Frequent anger outbursts, excessive worry or consistent sadness/loss of interest are areas of valid concern. Therapists at Inner Courage Counseling understand the peaks and valleys of emotion can be hard to control and love validating and educating the developmental emotional expectations for your teen. Counseling goals surrounding emotional issues may include: Increasing emotional regulation skills, labeling of feelings and healthy emotional expression.

Communication continues to be the largest hurdle for children, teens and parents to manage. Differences in temperament are barriers frequently impacting the progress made at home. Inner Courage Counselors explore the keys to unlock healthy and effective communication between parent and child. When broadening communication skills in therapy, we typically see a reduction in name calling, shutting down/refusal to talk, and arguments. Behavioral health services can improve healthy ways to converse, how to ask for help, advocate for yourself and social skills in various relationships.

Relationships occurring in everyday life will display themselves within the therapy office. This helps our counselors to directly explore ways to assist in parent-child relationships, friendships, dynamics with authority figures and interactions with siblings. Parents and siblings are always welcomed and encouraged to be a part of counseling. In doing so, Inner Courage behavioral health specialists can observe, direct and intervene to assist in long lasting changes for the child or teenager. Family changes such as divorce, separation or effects on bonding or attachment can impact the entire family system. The best way for our therapists to influence change is to assist the family system as a whole.

Other relational issues that are commonly found during this stage is the influence of friends. Common concerns addressed can be related to bullying, peer pressure or self-discovery resulting in negative effects in functioning. Inner Courage Counseling uses friendly dynamics to prepare your teen or child for interactions they may encounter when their parent is not present. With behavioral health skills, We can help prep your child to stand up for themselves on the playground, your adolescent to fight against peer pressure and your teenager to advocate for their rights in college/workforce.