Therapy for Children (Ages 5-12)
We provide a warm, safe space where children can express themselves, build confidence, and develop emotional skills through play-based and age-appropriate therapeutic approaches.
Common Concerns
Children often struggle to put their feelings into words. These are some of the challenges we frequently help with.
Childhood anxiety and worry do not always look the way parents expect. Rather than expressing fear directly, many children show up with stomachaches before school, meltdowns over small changes in routine, or fierce reluctance to separate from a parent at drop-off. What can seem like defiance or misbehavior is often a child's way of communicating that something feels overwhelming. Difficulty making friends, emotional outbursts during homework, and avoidance of new situations are all common ways anxiety surfaces in children ages 5 through 12.
Early intervention matters because a child's brain is remarkably adaptable. When children learn to identify and manage their emotions now, they build a foundation of resilience that serves them through adolescence and beyond. Without support, avoidance patterns tend to grow: a child who skips one birthday party may eventually resist school altogether, and family dynamics can shift as parents naturally try to accommodate their child's distress. Recognizing these patterns early gives families the opportunity to change course before a child's world begins to narrow.
Therapy for children works differently than it does for adults. Through play-based approaches, children express what they cannot yet put into words, processing big feelings in a space that feels safe and natural. Our therapists also partner closely with parents, using SPACE-informed strategies that help families respond supportively without reinforcing anxiety-maintaining accommodation. For families across North Fulton, this collaborative model means that progress made in the therapy room extends into everyday life at home and at school.
- Anxiety & Worry
- School Avoidance
- Behavioral Challenges
- Difficulty Making Friends
- Emotional Outbursts
- ADHD & Focus Issues
- Grief & Loss
- Adjusting to Change
Our Approach
We use evidence-based methods tailored to how children naturally learn and communicate.
Children learn through experience, not lecture. Our therapists create a therapeutic environment where healing happens organically: through play, art, storytelling, and movement. Parents are integral partners in this process, learning how to respond to their child's anxiety and big emotions in ways that build independence rather than reinforcing avoidance.
The goal isn't just to reduce symptoms; it's to help your child develop emotional literacy and resilience they'll carry into adolescence and beyond.
CBT for Kids
Using age-appropriate cognitive-behavioral tools, we teach children to identify and reframe unhelpful thoughts, manage big emotions, and develop practical coping strategies they can use at school and at home.
Family Involvement
Parents play a critical role in a child's progress. Through parent coaching and the SPACE framework, we equip families with strategies to support their child's emotional growth and reduce anxiety-maintaining patterns.
Treatment Modalities
Our therapists draw from a range of proven approaches to create individualized treatment plans.
Each of these modalities serves a specific purpose in children's therapy. CBT is adapted to be developmentally appropriate, using games and visual tools rather than worksheets. The SPACE framework (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) empowers parents to make changes in their own behavior that reduce a child's anxiety, even before the child is ready to engage directly.
TF-CBT addresses trauma in a structured, gentle way that helps children process difficult experiences without being overwhelmed.
Psychiatry and testing, in the same practice
When therapy alone isn't enough, Dr. Amar Chakra, MD, who is double board-certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, works with children as young as 6. Medication is one option among several and is never assumed. If you're wondering whether ADHD, a learning difference, or autism is part of the picture, Dr. Rebecca Marshall, a clinical neuropsychologist, provides psychological testing at our Alpharetta office, and her findings can inform your child's care with our therapists.
Recommended Therapists
These team members work with children ages 5-12.
