Child & Teen Therapy in Mississauga

There isn’t one right answer—it depends on how old your child is, their personality, and what your family’s particular needs are. Typically therapies used with children and teens include CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) for anxiety, self-esteem, and other complications like separation anxiety, as well as play therapy for young children and behavioral therapy for ADHD or emotional outbursts. We use the therapy that best fits your child and customize the approach (or combination of approaches) to their personality at Evolution Psychotherapy.

Child therapy helps children in a supportive, structured process, giving them insight into their emotions, behaviors, and experiences. It is a safe and age-appropriate place to talk, play, express feelings, and develop skillful coping techniques. Our clinicians employ well-researched techniques such as CBT, play therapy, EMDR, and parent coaching to help your child excel both in school and at home.

We provide therapy for children who are as young as 7. Children at around this age start to show capacity to express themselves with a little help (i.e., play-based, art, or somatic) strategies. We frequently recommend parent-centered work or family support, often for children younger than 7, to build emotional regulation and structure in the home.

During a typical session, your child will work individually with a therapist in age-appropriate techniques—like games, art, storytelling, mindfulness, or talk-based conversation. The sessions are meant to feel safe and dynamic while helping to tackle such problems as anxiety, social stress, behavior difficulties, or trauma. The therapist may debrief you afterward and give you home-based strides or tools. The therapist cannot provide confidential information from the session.

This depends on whether your child or teen is attending individual sessions or family sessions. If they are attending individual sessions, the parents may meet separately with the therapist for coaching and progress updates. This arrangement is done to ensure children feel safe and supported, ensuring confidentiality. If the goal of therapy is family sessions, then yes—parent involvement is a critical element to success. In either case, parents can set up the initial session with the therapist to discuss their concerns, highlight the issues, and help with therapy goals for their child(ren). We collaborate closely with parents so that you are supported and empowered to reinforce the gains made in therapy at home.

We know how crucial a perfect fit is. At Evolution Psychotherapy, we provide a tailored match between your child and his or her therapist based on his or her needs, personality, and lifestyle—and if something’s not quite working, we make transitions quick and seamless, without any waiting or scrutiny. Trust-building is our priority.

The focus of therapy for children is to aid your child in developing emotional regulation, resilience, and healthy coping abilities. Whether your child is worried, angry, shy, or stressed out, therapy is about developing vocabulary for feelings, cultivating relationships, and growing as people. Over time, it translates to improved behavior, better school performance, and tighter family relationships.

Play therapy can provide children a way to express things they might not have words for—especially after a trauma, change, or difficult experience. With toys, art, roleplay, or stories, children may be supported to spend time with and explore difficult feelings in a way that is natural and not threatening. It’s best for ages 7 to 12, or for the highly sensitive, neurodivergent, or nonverbal children and teens.

Therapy for children with ADHD often consists of behavioral strategies, emotional regulation tools, and parent coaching. CBT can assist in the improvement of focus and negative thinking, while DBT skills address impulsivity and frustration. The goal of treatment is to help regulate the nervous system (using somatic and mindfulness skills) and enhance body awareness. Children’s brains are all different, so we cater our approach to their strengths.

Yes—therapy is one of the most effective strategies for treating child anxiety. With CBT, children learn to reframe their anxious beliefs and adopt different perspectives, which helps decrease their anxiety symptoms. More somatic symptoms like stomachaches or sleeping difficulties can be reduced via EMDR and mindfulness-based therapy. Many children experience visible relief within a few sessions.