Catch Collaborative Psychotherapy for Children was created to support the healthy development of children who are experiencing mental health and behavioral challenges at school. We believe that schools are the best place to address and treat children with mental health challenges because that’s where children spend the majority of their time – it’s where they learn, socialize, eat, and grow up.

Over the past fifteen years, the concept of ‘mentalization’ has become important in child development and psychotherapy. Mentalization is the ability to understand that people behave in meaningful ways according to their feelings, needs, and perceptions.

Through active, imaginative play children express their thoughts and feelings, adopt different roles and perspectives, and organize the world on their own terms.

Schools are closed, daycare centres are closed, libraries are closed, parks and playgrounds are closed. Parents are forced to be with their children 24/7, work from home, and balance the demands of both work and childcare. For unemployed parents, without income, the anxiety about rent and food is all consuming.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include a range of stressful or traumatic experiences that infants and children may be exposed to during their development. These include physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect, family violence, mental illness, substance abuse, parental separation, and parental incarceration.

Parents and their children are spending a whole lot more time at home than they are used to, and it’s tough. We know parents are missing their jobs, incomes, security, privacy, and space; what are kids missing?

Divorce is very common but it remains a highly stressful and painful life transition for all family members. Given the many decisions to be made, details to be arranged, and feelings to be managed, it is challenging for parents to focus on their children’s needs; nevertheless, they must. Here is a short primer.