If you’re somebody who has always wanted to make a difference to children’s lives, a career in child therapy could be for you.
As a child therapist, you can work in Action Behavior centers, schools, hospitals, and community centers. It’s a rewarding career path with high earning potential and a diverse range of specialties. Nowadays, you can even provide online therapy for people across the world.
You will use a range of techniques and strategies to help children up to the age of 18 from all backgrounds. You’ll work closely with your patients to tackle their deepest thoughts, identify their emotions, and change their behaviors.
Types of Child Therapists
There are lots of different types of child therapists, each of which focuses on a specific aspect of health and behavior. If you’re not yet sure what type of child therapist you’d like to become, here are four therapy specialties to consider.
- Behavioral Therapist
As a behavioral therapist, you will work with children who have been diagnosed with behavioral disorders and mental health condition, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Your patients may struggle to interact with other students at school and find it hard to integrate with properly into a friend group.
You can help your patients to develop healthy coping strategies to deal with their negative emotions and prevent tantrums. You’ll also work closely with each patient’s parents to provide them with techniques to use at home if their child gets upset or angry.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapist
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that looks at the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. As a cognitive behavioral therapist, you will help your patients to identify how their thoughts lead to certain emotions and actions.
You’ll teach them how to change their thought patterns from negative to positive to improve their behaviors. You can further specialize as a cognitive behavioral child therapist to address more specific issues, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
- School Therapist
As the name suggests, a school therapist works in schools to help students who are struggling. You might work with students who have behavioral issues or mental health disorders, or those who require emotional and social support.
You’ll also help students to develop their skill sets to make their school life easier and set them up for future career success. You might help them to set goals and create action plans to ensure that they reach these goals.
- Psychodynamic Therapist
As a psychodynamic therapist, you will look at your patient’s unconscious thoughts and how these thoughts influence their behaviors. During your sessions, you’ll use talk therapy to delve deep into the unconscious mind and uncover hidden thoughts.
Over time, your patients will learn how to effectively self-reflect and identify their negative thought and feelings. With your help, they will learn simple techniques to adjust their thought patterns to lead healthier and happier lives.
