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Counseling ServicesA child who has struggled with anxiety, social challenges, or self-doubt deserves a space to work through it. Rebecca provides warm, goal-oriented counseling for children and adolescents when schedule openings are available.
This page covers counseling for children and teens. Young adults through age 22 are also seen. For session details and the full range of therapy services, see Therapy & Counseling.
Children and adolescents face real pressure, and not all of it shows up the same way. Rebecca works with four specific areas where she has deep experience, and where targeted counseling makes a meaningful difference.
Anxiety is one of the most common reasons families seek counseling for a child. It shows up differently at different ages: a younger child may refuse school or complain of stomachaches before tests; a teenager may withdraw from friends or avoid situations that feel overwhelming. Both are legitimate and both respond well to the right support.
Navigating friendships, peer dynamics, and social situations is genuinely hard for many children and adolescents, especially those who have struggled academically or who feel like they do not fit in easily. Counseling gives them a place to process what is happening, build skills for handling difficult interactions, and develop a stronger sense of who they are socially.
A child who has spent years struggling in school, watching peers seem to manage more easily, often carries that experience into how they see themselves. Low self-confidence is not a character flaw; it is usually a reasonable response to a hard situation. Counseling helps children and teens separate their worth from their academic struggles and build a more honest, grounded sense of who they are and what they are capable of.
Children with attention difficulties often struggle not just with focus, but with frustration, organization, and the emotional fallout of feeling like school is harder for them than it should be. Counseling is not a substitute for evaluation or treatment, but it offers practical coping strategies, emotional regulation tools, and a space to process what attention challenges feel like from the inside.
Counseling with Rebecca is warm and goal-oriented. She is not a passive listener; she works with children and teens on specific skills and insights, and she keeps parents informed so the work carries over into daily life at home.
Rebecca begins with a conversation with you, the parent, to understand what you are seeing at home and what your child has been struggling with. This gives her the context she needs before the first session with your child. For adolescents who prefer more privacy, Rebecca can discuss how much parent involvement makes sense.
Sessions are 50 minutes, held weekly or every other week. Rebecca works directly with your child to build specific skills, process what they are experiencing, and develop a stronger sense of themselves. The approach is active and collaborative, not passive, so children leave each session with something concrete to practice or think about.
Rebecca keeps parents appropriately informed about how counseling is going. She balances the child's need for a safe, private space with parents' reasonable desire to know whether progress is happening. As children meet their goals, Rebecca works with families to plan for a natural and confident close to the counseling relationship.
Rebecca sees children, teens, and young adults through age 22 within specific concern ranges. Counseling is not available for adults over 22 and is not appropriate for acute crisis situations.
Many families who have completed an evaluation with Rebecca, whether for ADHD, a learning disorder, anxiety, or another concern, return to ask about counseling as a follow-up. This is a natural progression. An evaluation answers the question of what is going on. Counseling addresses the question of how to live with it and move forward.
When Rebecca already knows a child's psychological profile, from cognitive strengths and weaknesses to the specific way their anxiety or attention difficulty tends to show up, she can bring that understanding directly into counseling. She does not need to spend sessions building a picture she already has. The work can start from a more informed place.
This is particularly meaningful for children who have struggled with self-confidence. A child who has been told for the first time, through a thoughtful evaluation, that they are smart and capable but process information differently, often arrives at counseling ready to do real work. The diagnosis gave them a frame; counseling helps them build their identity around something more accurate than years of feeling like they were falling behind.
An evaluation is not required before starting counseling, and many counseling clients have never had one. But for families who have done both, the connection between the two can make the counseling more targeted and more effective.
Children diagnosed with ADHD often carry frustration, low confidence, and a complicated relationship with school. Counseling helps them build coping strategies, develop a healthier self-narrative, and practice the kind of emotional regulation that makes managing attention challenges day-to-day more realistic.
A child who has spent years struggling to read or write, and who finally understands why, often needs time and space to process that information emotionally. Counseling helps them grieve the harder years, reframe what those struggles meant, and move forward with a more accurate and generous understanding of their abilities.
Many counseling clients come to Rebecca without a prior evaluation. If your child is struggling with anxiety, social stress, or self-confidence and you want direct support, you do not need a formal evaluation to get started. Rebecca will work with what you know about your child and build from there.
Rebecca provides individual counseling for children, teens, and young adults through age 22 (through college). This generally means elementary-age children through college students. Counseling is not available for adults over 22. If you are unsure whether your child's age is a fit, a quick phone call is the easiest way to find out.
An evaluation is a one-time assessment process that results in a written report with findings and recommendations. It answers the question: what is going on with my child? Counseling is ongoing work in regular sessions. It answers the question: now that we know what is going on, how do we help? The two serve different purposes, and many families benefit from both.
No. An evaluation is not a prerequisite. Many families come to counseling because a child is struggling with anxiety, social situations, or self-confidence, and they want direct support. If an evaluation would add clarity, Rebecca can discuss that with you, but it is not required to begin.
Sessions are typically held weekly or every other week, depending on the child's needs and family schedule. Each session runs 50 minutes. Rebecca works with families to find a rhythm that is realistic to maintain, because consistency matters for progress.
Counseling at Anchor EEC is offered based on schedule availability. Rebecca sees evaluation clients and counseling clients, so openings are not always immediate. The best approach is to call and ask about current availability. If she does not have an opening right now, she can let you know when to expect one.
Rebecca's counseling focuses on anxiety, social stress, self-confidence, and attention-related concerns in children, teens, and young adults through age 22. She does not offer counseling for acute crisis situations or severe psychiatric conditions that require a higher level of care. If your child's needs fall outside this scope, she will help point you toward the right kind of support.
Counseling at Anchor EEC is offered when schedule openings allow. The best first step is a phone call to ask about current availability and talk through whether this is the right fit for your child. Rebecca is happy to answer questions before you commit to anything.