The CPC provides services to children, adolescents, and families for various concerns. We assess and provide support to children with diverse behavioral, cognitive, and emotional issues across different developmental stages – early childhood through emerging adults. We also use a variety of modalities to help children and families achieve their goals, such as individual therapy, family therapy, and group therapy.

Clinicians at the CPC provide all these services under the supervision of highly trained psychologists, who specialize in child assessment and treatment. The CPC utilizes assessment and intervention strategies that have been rigorously tested and are empirically supported.

Individual Child Therapy

Individual therapy, or what is sometimes called psychotherapy or counseling, is the process of meeting with a therapist to address a child’s problematic behaviors, feelings, or thoughts. After an initial consultation, a clinician will meet with the child or caregiver typically once a week in order to address the client’s specific needs and goals.

Children receive psychotherapy for a variety of issues, including:

• Academic issues/study skills
• ADHD/attention difficulties
• Anxiety
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Behavioral problems (tantrums, sleeping problems, etc.)
• Depression
• Developmental delay
• Eating disorders
• Family changes and difficulties
• Grief/loss counseling
• Learning Disability
• Parenting skills
• Parent/teen communication
• Social problems
• Reactions to trauma

Group Therapy

Some people benefit from group therapy, which is a form of psychotherapy focusing on developing insight and behavior change with peer feedback and support. Five to eight group members meet with one or two group therapists once per week for at least one hour throughout the semester. Group members may be either youth or their parents.

Current groups offered by, or in association with, the CPC include:

Youth Engagement in Intervention (YETI), developed by Anisa Goforth (Department of Psychology) and Jennifer Schoffer Closson (Department of Communicative Sciences). 

Youth Engagement Through Intervention (YETI) is a social skills intervention framework that uses a variety of evidence-based practices and strategies such as video modeling, social narratives, differential reinforcement, role-plays, and visual schedules.

During YETI, children learn social and communication skills such as joining peer groups, maintaining conversation, and coping with frustrations. Children in the group are provided opportunities to learn a new skill, practice the skill in a safe environment, as well as try out the skill outside of the group (e.g., at home or school). 

The intervention is implemented as an 8-week (1.5 hours per week) intervention or as an intensive weeklong summer program (6 hours a day) for children ages 6 to 13 years old diagnosed with autism or related disorders. Please call the DeWitt Rite Care Clinic to sign up (406-243-2405).

Psychological Assessments for Children

Children and adolescents experience several challenges as they develop and may have symptoms that warrant an assessment.

Psychological evaluations for diagnostic purposes help to determine appropriate courses of treatment. Clinicians use state-of-the-art assessment tools to conduct comprehensive psychological evaluations for various issues, including ADHD, conduct issues, autism, reactions to trauma, and behavior problems.

Psycho-educational assessments evaluate children referred for a learning disability or attention issues (e.g., ADHD). These assessments include empirically-supported cognitive testing (i.e., measuring the child’s intelligence) and academic achievement tests.

Other assessments may include Academically Gifted Evaluations (IQ testing) and Early Kindergarten Entry testing.

Family and Caregiver Therapy

The CPC offers supportive services to family members and caregivers as an important part of successful therapeutic intervention for youth. These services include helping parents learn skills to effectively manage behavior and developmental concerns. We also offer therapy for families who have experienced a difficult event associated with grief and loss, including situations such as divorce or separation.

CPC Services at Local Schools

Accessing mental health services and assessments can be a challenge for many children and their parents. We provide some CPC services at local schools in Missoula and the surrounding area.

Clinicians can meet with children and adolescents at their school to conduct psychological evaluations and/or therapy. This enables services to be incorporated into the child’s school day and allows for greater collaboration between schools and clinicians for the child’s success.