Parent-Child interaction therapy (PCIT) in Blacksburg, VA

Raising a child can be difficult! Caring for a child takes up a significant amount of time, and it can be challenging to maintain strong relationships with a spouse, partner, or with friends. Parenting is also often physically demanding. Those with young children spend a significant part of their day cleaning, doing laundry, and other household tasks. Most experience insufficient amounts of sleep.

But parenting may be even more difficult when a child exhibits signs of a behavioral challenge, physical or intellectual disability, or mental or physical illness. It can be especially difficult when a child who requires extra care is not the only child in the home. Parents may find it difficult to give all children equal amounts of attention. This often causes such parents to experience guilt and stress.

Certainly in every home, some degree of stress or conflict is normal and to be expected. But when it affects the parent-child relationship, or is impacting the entire family’s functioning, therapy can help and may even prevent further damage to the relationships. At Thriveworks Blacksburg, our caring, highly skilled therapists are experts in many types, methods, and approaches, including PCIT.

PCIT is a family-oriented therapy that can enhance the parent-child relationship through improved interaction. It can help the parent learn techniques and bring about reductions in the child’s behavior issues. As a result, this therapy often leads to a stronger familial relationship.

This approach is often effective for children who have conduct issues or other behavioral concerns. It can also be help with children who have experienced abuse. If you’re looking for therapy to address concerns about your child or simply want to to improve interactions with your child(ren) this may be a beneficial approach for you.

How Does PCIT Work?

In PCIT, you as the parent will have the opportunity to learn new skills that can help you become better able to provide a caring, nurturing, and beneficial environment for your child. An ultimate goal of this approach is to help negative behaviors evolve into more positive behavior patterns.

PCIT seeks to minimize any negative characteristics within the relationship, and teaches you, the parent, techniques for to use towards that goal. You’ll also be guided in developing new behaviors and communication skills to provide support and encouragement. Your therapist will introduce you to effective and safe disciplinary techniques that can then be used to help your child improve behavior by addressing and managing symptoms and issues that lead to the negative behavior. You’ll be encouraged to practice these techniques until you’re comfortable using them. Children who participate in PCIT can often learn how to adapt their own behavior, and many families experience vast improvement in child behavior and the parent-child relationship.

PCIT may be especially helpful for:

• Building positive parent-child interactions,
• Developing positive child-rearing strategies
• Reducing the likelihood of child physical and verbal abuse
• Reducing child behavior issues (anger, aggression, defiance, etc.)
• Increasing communication and interaction skills within the family

Children who participate in PCIT often develop greater self-esteem, experience less anger and frustration. Often their social, organizational and relationship skills are improved. Most feel safer and calmer, and communicate more effectively. As the parent, you typically can learn many consistent, reliable techniques for parenting. You may even experience greater confidence when dealing with behavioral concerns, whether publicly or in the home.

Call Thriveworks Blacksburg at 540-376-3348 to schedule an appointment with our PCIT expert therapist. You may even get an appointment as soon as tomorrow! We’re here to help, and we want you, your child, and your family to thrive!