Childhood and Adolescent Anxiety Treatment

Anxiety Therapy for Kids and Teens

Does your child or teen struggle with intense worry, persistent fears, or avoidance that disrupts their daily routines? Anxiety in youth often impacts school, friendships, family life, extra-curriculars and overall confidence. With the right support, children and teens can learn to manage anxiety and feel more capable navigating things that feel difficult.  

At Featherstone Psychology, I offer specialized anxiety treatment for kids and teens by empowering them to understand how anxiety works, cultivate effective coping skills, and gradually face the situations anxiety tells them to avoid. 

The objective is not to eliminate anxiety altogether. We actually need anxiety—it helps keep us safe and alert. Rather, the goal is to help your child learn that they can manage uncomfortable feelings without letting anxiety run the show.

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Identifying Anxiety In Your Child

While some anxiety is developmentally appropriate throughout childhood and into adolescence, it becomes a concern when fears turn persistent or begin to impact your child's daily functioning. If anxiety is disrupting your child’s day to day routines, it may be time to seek professional support.

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Anxiety in children and teens looks different than anxiety in adults.

Instead of identifying as anxious, children often show their anxiety through physical complaints (like stomachaches, headaches) or behaviors (such as school avoidance, reassurance seeking ). Your child or teen may display:

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  • Excessive worry about school, friendships, health,  or what "might" happen

  • Difficulty with independent sleep or separating from caregivers

  • Significant fear of making errors or "failing"

  • Increased irritability, frustration, or feeling easily overwhelmed

  • Unexplained somatic symptoms like headaches or nausea

  • Sleep difficulty caused by racing thoughts or worry

  • Fear of being judged, embarrassed or making a mistake in front of others

  • Intense fears or specific phobias

  • Distress when plans change or situations feel uncertain

  • Getting stuck in repetitive "what if" cycles

  • Avoidance of situations that trigger discomfort, such as social activities, school, or new experiences

  • Attempts to avoid school or other activities outside the home

I offer clinical assessment and specialized treatment for a range of anxiety concerns, such as:

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder

    Kids and teens struggling with GAD often experience pervasive worry across multiple areas of life—spanning from academics, friendships and health, to family safety and future events. They may have difficulty quieting worries and intrusive thoughts, even when there is no immediate reason to be concerned.

  • Separation Anxiety

    This manifests as intense distress during  transitions away from parents or caregivers. You might notice your child struggling to sleep independently, resisting school attendance, or persistent fear that something bad might happen while away from a loved one.

  • Social Anxiety Disorder

    Children and adolescents with social anxiety may fear being scrutinized, embarrassed, or negatively evaluated by others. This often leads to the avoidance of social situations and parties, classroom participation and presentations, or any situation where they might feel "on the spot.” .

  • Specific Phobias

    Some children develop an intense fear in response to specific triggers—such as medical visits, certain animals or insects, vomiting, heights, or other objects or experiences.  When a child begins to organize their life around avoiding these specific fears, it can significantly limit their world, health and daily functioning.

  • Selective Mutism

    Selective mutism is characterized by a consistent failure to speak in specific social situations, despite being able to comfortably speak in other settings. A child may talk freely at home with family yet become very quiet, unable to speak, or communicate only through gestures, facial expressions, or other nonverbal ways at school or in social situations.

  • Panic Disorder

    Panic disorder involves unexpected, intense episodes of fear or discomfort that can feel overwhelming and may come with physical symptoms such as a racing heart, dizziness, shortness of breath, or nausea. Children and teens may also begin worrying about having another panic attack or avoiding places and situations where they fear one might occur.

  • Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors

    BFRBs are repetitive behaviors such as hair pulling, skin picking, or nail biting that can be difficult for a child to control and may occur automatically or in response to stress, boredom, or uncomfortable emotions. These behaviors can provide a temporary sense of relief or regulation, while sometimes leading to physical discomfort, embarrassment, or distress.

  • Trauma-Related Conditions

    Trauma impacts children and teens in deeply personal ways. Behavior changes are common, such as increased irritability, difficulty trusting, changes in their sleep patterns, or appearing easily startled or "on edge." Children and teens may re-experience or reenact the trauma, or avoid situations that trigger reminders.  Because children often lack the words to express what they’ve been through, these changes are often their way of communicating that they are hurting or overwhelmed. 

  • School Anxiety or Avoidance

    Anxiety can make school feel overwhelming or even impossible to attend. Children may experience morning meltdowns, physical complaints, frequent requests to stay home, or increasing avoidance of school.

    More About School Avoidance →

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies

    Obsessive-compulsive tendencies in children and teens can involve unwanted, intrusive thoughts, fears, or doubts that create distress, along with urges to perform certain behaviors or mental rituals to feel more certain or safe. These patterns can show up as excessive checking, reassurance-seeking, repeating, avoidance, or a strong need for things to feel “just right,” and may begin to interfere with daily life.

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My goal is to help your child gradually change their relationship with fear, instead of simply avoiding the things that feel hard.

I utilize specialized approaches including:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Acceptance-based Strategies

Parent-focused Interventions

Depending on your child's age, developmental level, and specific concerns, I may also incorporate mindfulness-based and behavioral strategies to help children build confidence and become more willing to approach the things anxiety tells them to avoid.

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    Therapy for Littles

    “Littles” and younger children learn best through play, games, art movement and hands-on activities rather than sitting and talking about their feelings for an entire session. 

    In session, children have the opportunity to practice identifying emotions, tolerating uncomfortable feelings, trying new, brave behaviors and experiencing success in a safe, validating environment. 

    Therapy for Littles
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    Therapy for Teens

    The teenage years bring in their own unique stressors-, from academic demands and social media to shifting friendships and increasing independence. Continuously evolving expectations can often feel overwhelming, and can contribute to anxiety. 

    Adolescent anxiety treatment provides a space where teens can openly explore their worries, build a practical toolkit of coping skills, and build the confidence needed to navigate this exciting and challenging stage of life.

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The Parent's Role in Anxiety Treatment

When your child or teen is struggling with anxiety, it is natural to want to make things easier for them! Parents often find themselves providing constant reassurance, answering repetitive "what-if" questions, or allowing avoidance when a situation feels too overwhelming.

These responses are rooted in care and love, yet some well-intentioned reactions can accidentally reinforce the cycle of anxiety.  

Parental involvement is a cornerstone of effective anxiety treatment.

Your child’s treatment will include parent-focused sessions. These sessions aim to help you understand the mechanics of anxiety, identify patterns of accommodation, and build  a toolkit of responses that support your child’s long term confidence and independence. 

The objective of parent training is to empower you to feel more capable responding to anxious behaviors while maintaining the warmth and connection your child or teen needs to feel safe.

More about Parent Training →

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The Therapy Process for Treating Anxiety

01. Understand the Bigger Picture

After the initial consultation call, I will schedule an intake session with caregivers to learn more about your child’s current presentation, history, and unique needs. This means looking beyond the symptoms themselves and understanding your child within the context of their developmental stage, personality, family dynamics, academic environment, and social relationships and pressures.

02. Identify Goals

From there, we will work collaboratively to identify specific treatment goals tailored to your child and family.

03. Implement Strategies

Treatment then shifts toward implementing concrete, age-appropriate tools that your child can use both inside and outside of therapy. Depending on your child’s unique needs, treatment may include a combination of child-focused therapy and parent training, ensuring that the skills developed in therapy can be supported and reinforced at home.

FAQs

  • For anxiety treatment, I see children of all ages - as young as age 4 through age 18. I also provide anxiety therapy for young adults and adults.

  • Anxiety doesn't always look like worry—especially in children and teens. Younger children may communicate anxiety through behavior, physical complaints, or avoidance, while teens may be more likely to internalize their worry, withdraw, become irritable, or hide how overwhelmed they feel.

  • While some anxiety is developmentally appropriate, it may be time to seek support if the anxiety begins to impact your child's daily functioning. If anxiety is disrupting school, friendships, sleep, or family routines—or causing them to organize their life around avoidance—it may be time to reach out.

  • Yes. When appropriate, I can provide a diagnosis as part of your child’s evaluation. I look beyond the presenting symptoms to understand the bigger picture, including your child’s development, temperament, family, school environment, and overall functioning, so that we can better understand what they are experiencing and determine the most appropriate treatment plan. 

  • No, but I regularly collaborate with several psychiatrists and can provide referrals to pediatric specialists who I know and trust.

  • I sure do! I work with adults 18 and older to manage anxiety and OCD, build effective coping skills, and navigate the unique stressors that come with college, careers, relationships, parenthood, and beyond.

    Young Adult Therapy →
    Adult Therapy →

  • I provide treatment for a diverse range of anxiety disorders,, including generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobias, panic disorder, body-focused repetitive behaviors (such as hair pulling and skin picking), and selective mutism. I also work with children and teens experiencing school anxiety and avoidance, perfectionism, and trauma-related concerns. While OCD is no longer classified as an anxiety disorder, it often overlaps with anxiety and fear-based patterns, and I have extensive experience in the assessment and treatment of OCD.

  • Not necessarily. Therapy is adapted to your child’s developmental level and personality. While teens often benefit from open conversation and building a practical toolkit, younger children—or "littles"—frequently learn best by practicing brave behaviors through play, art, and movement in a validating environment.

  • Then you came to the right place! Whether its social anxiety, perfectionism or phobias - anxiety can make participation at school feel impossible. Whether your child is struggling with separation at drop-off or experiencing somatic symptoms like stomachaches before class, treatment focuses on identifying the underlying drivers of school avoidance. Through collaborative efforts with caregivers and school teams, we work to help your child build the brave behaviors necessary to navigate the classroom with greater ease and confidence.

    More Info on School Avoidance →

  • Both! The most effective treatment is a collaborative effort that includes both child-focused sessions and caregiver involvement. Because anxiety frequently weaves itself into family dynamics, participation by parents is essential. We work together to identify patterns where anxiety might be running the show at home, equipping  you with tools to support your child’s long-term independence and confidence. Treatment may include varying levels of child-focused and parent sessions, depending on your family’s needs and the goals we are working toward.

    More Info on Parent Training →

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