Kelsey Johnson – Child and Adolescent Therapist

Kelsey Johnson is a Licensed Social Worker that works with children, adolescents, and families experiencing emotional, behavioral, developmental, and school-related challenges. She provides a supportive and welcoming environment where young people can feel comfortable expressing themselves, building new skills, and working through difficult experiences.

Finding the right therapist for your child or teenager can feel overwhelming. In particular, children may struggle to explain what they are feeling or why they are having difficulty at home or school. Therefore, Kelsey focuses first on building trust and helping each client feel heard, understood, and accepted.

Supporting Children and Adolescents

Kelsey works with children and adolescents experiencing a variety of concerns. Her areas of focus include:

• Anxiety and excessive worry
• Depression and mood concerns
• ADHD and executive functioning challenges
• Emotional regulation
• Perfectionism
• Low self-esteem and confidence
• Behavioral concerns
• School-related stress
• Peer and relationship difficulties
• Family concerns and life transitions

Because every child is different, Kelsey takes time to understand each client’s strengths, personality, challenges, and individual needs. She also considers the child’s age and developmental level when developing treatment goals.

As a result, therapy is individualized rather than based on a single approach.

An Individualized Approach to Therapy

Kelsey uses several therapeutic approaches to make sessions both engaging and practical. Depending on the needs of the child or adolescent, she may incorporate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness, motivational interviewing, play-based activities, emotional regulation strategies, and practical coping skills.

For younger children, therapy may include play and developmentally appropriate activities. These activities can help children communicate feelings that may be difficult to put into words. In addition, play provides opportunities to practice problem-solving, emotional regulation, communication, and coping skills.

With adolescents, therapy may focus more directly on identifying thoughts and emotions, managing stress, strengthening communication, and developing healthier coping strategies.

Most importantly, Kelsey adjusts her therapeutic approach as the client’s needs and goals change.

Experience in a Therapeutic School Setting

In addition to her private practice work, Kelsey works in a therapeutic school setting with children and young adults ages 3–21. She supports students with a wide range of emotional, behavioral, developmental, social, and academic needs.

This experience gives Kelsey valuable insight into how emotional and behavioral challenges can affect a child’s daily functioning. For example, difficulties with anxiety, ADHD, emotional regulation, or social skills may affect classroom performance, relationships, behavior, and academic progress.

Additionally, working in a school environment allows Kelsey to understand how a child’s needs may look different across settings. A child who manages well at home may struggle at school, while another child may experience the opposite.

Therefore, Kelsey considers the whole child when developing strategies for treatment.

Connecting Therapy, Home, and School

School is a significant part of a child’s everyday life. Academic expectations, classroom demands, executive functioning, peer relationships, and emotional regulation can all influence a student’s well-being.

Because of her school-based experience, Kelsey can help families better understand how emotional and behavioral concerns may affect learning and school functioning. She can also help parents identify practical strategies to support their child across different environments.

Whenever appropriate, Kelsey encourages consistency between the skills children learn in therapy and the strategies they use at home and school.

Partnering With Parents and Caregivers

Kelsey believes parents and caregivers are an important part of a child’s support system. For that reason, she values family involvement throughout the therapeutic process.

When appropriate, Kelsey works with parents to help them better understand their child’s emotional and behavioral needs. She can also provide strategies for reinforcing coping skills, communication, emotional regulation, and positive behaviors outside of therapy.

This collaborative approach helps families create greater consistency while giving children more opportunities to practice their developing skills.

Building Confidence and Coping Skills

Ultimately, Kelsey’s goal is to help children and adolescents better understand themselves while developing skills they can use in everyday life.

Through therapy, she helps young people learn to identify emotions, communicate their needs, recognize their strengths, build confidence, solve problems, and develop healthy coping skills.

At the same time, Kelsey wants parents and caregivers to feel supported, informed, and included. By working together, families can help children develop skills that support meaningful and lasting progress at home, at school, and in their relationships.