We believe. . .

It is our job to put the pieces together
If your child has a sore throat then you rush to the pediatrician to check it out. If you have a social or emotional concern then let us do the detective work. We develop a picture of both the brain and the mind. We will review the genetics, the medical, and the psychological. We assess the patient’s social life and relationships. For children and teenagers, we will speak to teachers, coaches, tutors, doctors, and sitters in order to develop an understanding of a child’s challenges at home, in school, on the playing field or the performance stage and even online. We also get to know the family. We want to understand the family culture, style, expectations and daily routines. We use all of this data to offer thoughtful and practical recommendations.

Less is more.
Our goal is to thoughtfully curate the services that your family needs. We work to neither over diagnose nor over medicate your child. We don’t believe throwing the kitchen sink at a problem. We look for creative strategies. The goal is not to maximize services but make interventions effective.

It takes a village.
Teamwork is a key part of our treatment plans. We meet regularly and our team weighs in on every patient. You may be paying for one clinician, but actually receiving a multi-disciplinary group of experts and consultants. A board certified child psychiatrist will be involved in the team even if medication is not on the table. Our biggest succeses are when our team can provide multiple services to a family and remain in constant communication.

If it takes a village, then we need to get to know your village. We want understand and work with your medical providers, tutors, specialists, babysitters and coaches. Our treatment plans often recommend modifying (or maximizing) the roles of your team members.

Medication is always a last resort.
We believe that medication should be used when there are no other options. If medication is needed, low dose and conservative approach with the need to build skills and strengths beyond pharmacology

Tweets, Snaps & Friends IRL (in real life) are a critical part of growing up.
We believe that one of the jobs of adolescence is to develop good social skills and learn to cultivate meaningful relationships. Our approach is to understand the unique dynamics of your child’s social life. We offer a multitude of social skills groups, facilitated play, home and school based interventions. We also help kids to find a balance between their online connections and their real life friendships.

Playing to Your Strengths
A huge life skill is being able to honestly recognize your strengths and weaknesses. We help families to identify and understand their temperaments. We also work with families to understand a child’s learning styles and strengths. We help parents to strategize on how to best support a child’s strengths. Even the smallest accomplishment can be a building block for improving a child’s self-confidence and ultimately his true passion.

Meeting Social and Emotional Milestones matter
Our goal is to keep your child on their trajectory, or to get them back onto the trajectory that is right for them. We track social and emotional milestones and will keep you up to date on your child’s progress. We like to keep kids in their communities, schools and homes. If a child needs a specialized school or a therapeutic placement, we will work with you to find the right fit. We will also collaborate with programs to make sure that they meet their intended goals and the child or adolescent stays on their best track.

“Blessing of a Skinned Knee”
There is a great deal of research about the importance of developing resilience and grit. Our mission is to help children and families to overcome obstacles and develop the skills to manage adversity. We use a range of strategies from mindfulness to cognitive behavioral therapy to improving studying skills.

Moms & Dads must stay calm & parent on
We provide support and strategies for parents. We view parenting as a development skills that evolves as a family grows and ages. Whenever possible, we will work with parents in lieu of putting younger children in therapy. With teenagers, parents often benefit from parent management skills and support.

You must parent your child online and offline
We help parents to manage their own relationship with digital technology and to create a developmental approach for their children and teenagers. Our goal is to help cultivate resilience and citizenship online and offline. We can help parents identify warnng signs and address problematic use of the Internet and games.

College prep is life prep
Of course, SAT and college placement are important but that is not the what we mean by “college prep”. We try to help teenagers to develop the life skills needed for success such as time management, self regulation and initiative.

Late Bloomers & Delayed Launchers get to their destination
Kids no longer “grow up” when they leave for college. We find that the transition out of college is often more challenging. We work with young adults who are “stuck” and struggling with the anxiety involved with carving out an “adult” life.