Real Talk specializes in working with children, teens and young adults who are struggling with behavioral and emotional issues. Often times, the typical clients seen at Real Talk are children and young people who show symptoms of trauma, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, disruptive behavioral disorders, anger and aggression.

At Real Talk, support for parents, caregivers and families is an integral part of the therapeutic process. It’s understood that when working with children, involving and supporting parents in therapy and interventions is the key to success.

At Real Talk, services provided include family and individual therapy. Often times, families choose to have the child with the primary behavioral or mental health concern be seen for therapy services. Additionally, some parents need support with coping with the strain and difficulty of being a parent. Parents are also often included in their child’s treatment through family sessions, meant to repair or improve the parent-child relationship.

Many families utilize their insurance to pay for therapy services, where the therapist will submit the claim to insurance to be paid directly from the insurance company. Clients will be financially responsible for their portion of the cost of service based on their insurance plan.

Real Talk also accepts families who’d prefer to use OON benefits, HSA/FSA, self-pay or are in need of sliding scale fees. Real Talk is committed to making therapy accessible to all. Your mental health is worth it.

The first session is an intake appointment, this is typically used to gather information, get to know client, or parent and child, and accurately identify the concern that brings you to therapy. The session will typically involve both parent and child/client, depending on age and needs.

Individual sessions following will typically be 45-60 min and support the identified concern through a variety of modalities, methods or play that are best suited based on clinical discretion and client needs. This can look like card games, different activities, art, talking, role-playing or skill lessons. Sessions are always tailored to the clients specific needs and evidence based best practices.

Therapy, like many things in life, are about what you put into it. One hour a week will not change your life, it’s about the other 167 hours that make a difference.

Therapy is a space for you or your child to accurately identify a concern or a goal and then work towards that goal, while building skills to meet the goal or address the concern.

Whatever the problem may be, therapy will work significantly better when you take what is discussed in therapy, out the doors and apply it into your life.

Real Talk believes that family involvement is key to a child’s success in therapy. Caregivers are encouraged to participate regularly, either through check-ins, partial parent-child sessions or separate family therapy sessions depending on the child’s age and treatment plan. Real Talk is dedicated to supporting the whole family system.

Discipline is tricky, and there is always a new strategy or philosophy out there, telling parents that they aren’t doing it right. Discipline, consequences, rewards, sticker charts, often will not work if the relationship has been damaged or isn’t there in the first place. Through individual and family therapy, the process towards change starts with rebuilding, repairing or strengthening the parent-child relationship, basing it on trust and understanding. This solidifies the foundation for consequences and rules to begin to matter again in the home.

It’s common for children and teens to feel unsure or resistant at first to meeting with a stranger. Therapy takes time and Real Talk utilizes a relationship-based approach to help clients feel safe and understood. Therapist and client can work together to build trust and engagement in therapy services and support. It’s important to support children in their hesitancy, while also giving them sufficient time to allow a relationship to develop.