Children, Adolescents & Family Therapy

Children and adolescents rarely struggle in isolation. Anxiety, emotional dysregulation, school difficulties, withdrawal, conflict, or changes in behavior can quickly affect relationships throughout the family. Parents may find themselves unsure whether to push, protect, set firmer limits, or step back—and different family members may have very different ideas about what the child needs.

At GK Behavioral Health, we look beyond the immediate behavior to understand what may be happening emotionally, developmentally, and within the family as a whole.

We work with children beginning at age 6, with a parent actively participating in treatment. Rather than asking a young child to carry the responsibility for change alone, therapy helps parents better understand what their child may be communicating through emotions or behavior and develop ways of responding that support both connection and healthy limits.

As children grow into adolescence, the balance changes. Teenagers need increasing privacy and independence, while parents still play an essential role in their emotional and practical lives. Therapy can provide adolescents with a space of their own while helping families navigate the tension between autonomy, connection, expectations, and safety.

Adolescence and young adulthood can bring significant changes in identity, relationships, school, independence, and family roles. Difficulties may show up as withdrawal, school avoidance, intense emotions, family conflict, risky behavior, anxiety, depression, or a young person who simply seems increasingly disconnected from the people around them.

We work to understand what the behavior is doing or communicating rather than focusing only on stopping it. Treatment may involve individual work with the adolescent or young adult, parent consultation, or family sessions depending on what is most useful.

Family therapy isn't only for families with young children. We work with parents and adult children, siblings, and families dealing with longstanding conflict, changing roles, difficult boundaries, estrangement or disconnection, and patterns that may have developed over many years.

The goal is not to determine who is right. It is to understand how the family became stuck, what each person contributes to the pattern, and whether the family can begin interacting differently.

Kristin Katz, LCSW, works extensively with children, adolescents, parents, and families and brings a direct, engaged, and emotionally attuned approach to helping families understand what is happening beneath the conflict and create meaningful change.