Child & Teen Therapy
Your child will not get in the car. Or they have stopped sleeping, gone quiet, started clinging to you, or their teacher has noticed something has changed. You may not be certain the accident is the reason, and you may be wondering whether you are overreacting by asking.
You are not overreacting. Children rarely say they are struggling, so it shows up instead as nightmares, stomach aches, trouble at school, or anger that seems to come from nowhere. We are a child counselling practice, and our child therapists work with children from age 4, whether your child was in the vehicle or has been living with the aftermath of a parent’s or sibling’s accident, in our clinics, at home, at school, or online across Ontario. For children as young as 2, play therapy may be an option, so please call us to talk about whether it’s right for your child.
Two Kinds of Children We See
A collision reaches further than the people inside the vehicle, and the second group is the one most often missed.
Children Who Were in the Accident
A child who was in the car carries the event itself: the noise, the fear, sometimes an injury, and often the sight of a parent hurt or frightened.
What follows can look like refusing car seats or the school run, waking in the night, regression in a younger child, new separation anxiety, or physical complaints with no medical cause. Older children may become withdrawn, irritable, or reluctant to talk about it at all.
We treat trauma, anxiety, and the physical symptoms that come with them, using approaches suited to a child’s age rather than a shrunk-down version of adult therapy.
Children Whose Parent or Sibling Was Injured
A child who was nowhere near the collision can still be profoundly affected by it. A parent who is in pain, cannot lift them, is short-tempered from lack of sleep, or is no longer working changes the whole household, and so does an injured brother or sister who suddenly needs most of the family’s attention.
Children often respond by becoming quiet and helpful, or by struggling at school, and neither is usually connected back to the accident by the adults around them.
These children may be entitled to their own funded counselling under the accident benefits claim, even though they were not in the vehicle. We explain who qualifies, open the claim, and complete the paperwork.
Therapy Suited to Your Child’s Age
Nobody is asked to sit and describe a frightening event before they are ready, and for younger children we rarely ask directly at all.
Ages 4 to 7
Play-based therapy. Children of this age process experience through play, drawing, and story rather than conversation, so that is how we work. In some circumstances we can see children as young as two using play therapy.
Parents are involved throughout, and we will show you what helps at home between sessions.
Ages 8 to 12
A mix of talking, activity, and creative work, with practical strategies for worry, sleep, and getting back into a car.
At this age children often worry about an injured parent or sibling, and giving them somewhere to say that matters a great deal.
Teenagers
Talk-based therapy, including CBT and other trauma-focused approaches where appropriate, delivered much as it would be with an adult but at their pace.
Teenagers are often managing school, friendships, driving fear, and a household that has changed, all at once. Sessions are confidential within the usual safety limits, and we explain those clearly at the start.
Signs Your Child May Need Therapy
Children rarely say they are struggling. It comes out in behaviour, sleep and the body instead, and it is easy to mistake for a phase. If several of these have appeared or worsened, it is worth a conversation.
Sleep & Night-Time
Nightmares or night terrors, refusing to sleep alone, needing the light on, waking repeatedly, or bedwetting that had stopped and has started again. Regression like this is common after a frightening event and is not deliberate.
At School
School refusal or school avoidance, tummy aches on school mornings, a drop in grades, trouble concentrating, or a teacher telling you something has changed. Separation anxiety at drop-off often appears again in children who had grown out of it.
Mood & Behaviour
Tantrums or anger outbursts beyond what is usual for their age, clinginess, tearfulness, withdrawal from friends and activities, or a child becoming unusually quiet, watchful and responsible.
In the Body
Headaches, stomach aches, appetite changes, and complaints that have been medically checked and found to have no physical cause. In children, distress very often shows up physically first.
About Cars & Travel
Refusing to get in the car, distress at the sound of braking, needing to sit in a particular seat, watching the road constantly, or panic at intersections. This applies to children who were passengers and to children who were not in the car at all.
When to Come In Sooner
Do not wait if your child is hurting themselves, talking about not wanting to be here, being bullied, or if you are frightened by something they have said. Call us and we will make time.
If your child is in immediate danger, call 9-8-8 or 911, or attend your nearest emergency department.
Therapy That Does Not Rely on Talking
Young children cannot always put feelings into words, and teenagers often will not. Our approaches let a child show us what they cannot say, and none of them require a child to be interviewed about frightening events.
Play Therapy
The main approach for younger children. Play is how children process what has happened to them, and a trained therapist can work through a story acted out with toys as effectively as a conversation.
Art Therapy
Drawing, painting and making, used to externalise feelings that are too big or too vague to name. Particularly useful for children who freeze when asked direct questions.
Sand Tray Therapy
A child builds a scene in a tray of sand using small figures. It gives them control over a world they can arrange and rearrange, which is often exactly what an accident took away.
TF-CBT & CBT
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the leading evidence-based treatment for childhood trauma, with a parent component built into it. Standard CBT is used for anxiety, worry and low mood.
Parent Coaching
Sometimes the most effective sessions are with the parent rather than the child. We work on what to say, what not to say, how to handle bedtime and school mornings, and how to hold a boundary with a child who is struggling.
Family Therapy
When a collision has changed how a whole household functions, we work with the family together, including siblings. Injury affects everyone in the house, not only the person who was hurt.
Paediatric Physiotherapy
For children with physical injury, our physiotherapists treat pain, movement, strength and confidence, working at a child’s pace and making it feel like activity rather than treatment. Available at our Grimsby and St. Catharines clinics and by home visit in the Hamilton and Niagara regions.
Beyond Accident-Related Difficulties
Most of our paediatric work follows a collision, but not all of it. We also see children and teenagers referred for difficulties that have nothing to do with an accident.
What Parents Ask Us
If your question is not here, please call and ask.
Children We See for Other Reasons
Not every child who needs help has been near a car accident, and we see children for a range of difficulties.
Anxiety, Worry & School Refusal
Separation anxiety, panic, perfectionism, and children who cannot face going into school.
Low Mood, Grief & Loss
Depression in children and teenagers, bereavement, and adjusting after a major change at home.
Behaviour, Anger & Regulation
Outbursts, defiance, and difficulty settling, which are very often distress that has nowhere else to go.
Our wellness division, CTT Wellness, also offers paediatric services outside the accident context. If you are not sure which is the right route, call us and we will point you the right way.
Worried About Your Child?
Tell us what you have been noticing. We will explain what would help, whether your child qualifies for funded counselling, and what happens next. There is no cost to that conversation.