Mina Kirkova, MA, MSW, LCSW-C
Counseling and Therapy for Children, Adolescents, & Adults
in Phoenix/Jacksonville, Maryland
ADD/ADHD, Anxiety, Stress, Mindfulness, Meditation, School Underachievement, Organizational Skills, Time Mngt., Phobias, Grief, Loss, Depression, Emotional Dysregulation, Self-Confidence, Bullying, Social Skills, Assertiveness, Sibling Rivalry, Disciplining Issues, Anger, Arguing, Rebelliousness, Lying
MY SPECIALTIES
MY APPROACH TO CHILD THERAPY
I specialize in working with children of all ages, from toddlers to young adults and their families. In my work with toddlers and young children, I offer support to parents by teaching them how to deal with challenging early childhood problematic behaviors and issues such as:
- Prolonged temper tantrums, whining and pouting, time outs
- Bedtime waking, daytime naps, daily routines
- Mealtimes, toilet training and accidents, positive motivation
- Sibling rivalry, rigid thinking, social skills development
- Regressive behaviors, listening and following directions
- Daycare and Kindergarten drop offs and readiness
Most importantly, I help new parents install positive self-esteem and confidence in their young children, create deep connections by playing and communicating on their child's developmental level, and establish consistent daily routines. Parent coaching and skill-building are integral parts of my approach to child and family therapy.
The success of my therapeutic approach is based on a combination of individual child therapy and family therapy. In order to achieve lasting changes in any child’s behavior, I encourage active parental involvement in our therapy sessions. As a child therapist, I meet regularly with parents to share my clinical observations, learn more about the child’s life at home and in school, and offer suggestions for how parents can support their child’s progress in therapy.
MY APPROACH TO FAMILY THERAPY
Family therapy is an essential part of my work with children and their families. I like to meet regularly with parents in order to share my clinical observations, learn more about their child's life, interests, hobbies, school life, and friends. During family therapy sessions, we discuss difficulties parents may have at home with their children, usually related to: daily chores, overuse of electronic devices/video games, unhealthy eating or sleeping patterns, exercise, homework, friends, grades, etc.
In addition, I often see parents in individual or family therapy sessions without their children being present in order to discuss difficulties and stressors the parents might have in their own relationship which could be also affecting their children in a negative way. Such issues may include: communication problems, financial issues, mismatched expectations, inability to compromise, religious differences, dealing with in-laws, and differences in values and beliefs. Moreover, I often help spouses master their interpersonal and communication skills and cultivate mutually acceptable problem-solving strategies. I reinforce constructive aspects of the relationship while allowing destructive elements and counter-productive interaction styles to be identified, acknowledged, and transformed. My family therapy sessions also help spouses discuss differences in their parenting styles, which often stem from the way their own parents raised them. Discussing parenting style differences helps to clarify and solidify the couple’s current parental approach in order to provide their child/adolescent with a positive and consistent home structure.
Below, I have outlined some of the main therapeutic approaches and modalities I use in my therapy sessions with children and their parents.
PLAY THERAPY
Children coming to therapy are frequently unable to verbally articulate their feelings and share them with the child therapist. Therapeutic play allows kids to express themselves, externalize negative feelings, and role-play traumatizing events. Through play therapy children can create a world they can master, practice social skills, overcome frightening feelings, traumatic experiences, and symbolically triumph over upsets that have threatened their well-being. Play therapy sessions take place in a room that is specially equipped with a doll house, sand tray, puppets, games, and other props a child can use for the scenes she/he directs.
In my experience as a child therapist, play therapy techniques have been particularly applicable in the treatment of children experiencing difficulties with school transitions or underachievement, socialization, ADD/ADHD, sibling rivalry, low self-esteem, grief and loss, bullying, assertiveness, etc. Play therapy techniques have proven successful also in the treatment of anxiety, phobias, emotional dysregulation, oppositional defiance and disciplining problems, etc.
ART THERAPY
In art therapy, children use clay, paint, and other art mediums to create images that symbolically explore their feelings, dreams, fears, fantasies, memories, ideas, and subconscious defenses. As a child therapist, I use art therapy techniques to assist children increase their insight and judgment, cope with stress, work through difficult experiences, and strengthen relationships with family and friends. In my child therapy practice, art therapy techniques have proven particularly useful in the treatment of anger and anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, etc.
NARRATIVE THERAPY
As a child therapist, I employ narrative therapy techniques to help children externalize problems rather than focus on problems as being part of themselves. This process of “externalization” allows children to consider new relationships with problems based on the motto “The person is not the problem, the problem is the problem.” Through the use of narrative therapy techniques, I help children in therapy create changes by discovering different, more productive, realistic, and satisfying stories about their lives.
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOR THERAPY (CBT)
Cognitive-behavior therapy relies largely on verbal learning principles—namely, those that involve cognition (perception, thinking, reasoning, attention, and judgment). The basic cognitive-behavior strategy is to change the thoughts, beliefs, assumptions, and attitudes that are contributing to the child’s emotional or behavioral problems. In other words, when working from a cognitive-behavior viewpoint in child therapy, I aim toward changing distorted thinking patterns in order to change the way a child feels and behaves. Cognitive-behavior techniques are powerful tools in the hands of a skilled child therapist. I have found them particularly helpful in the treatment of phobias, panic attacks, anxiety issues, depression, low self-esteem, etc.
SOLUTION-FOCUSED THERAPY
Solution-focused therapy emphasizes the construction of solutions to problems, rather than an examination of their causes or how they are maintained. This approach rests on the belief that children can solve their problems by doing more of what has been successful for them in the past. When using solution-focused techniques in child therapy, I help children notice when their troubling symptoms decrease and use this as a basis for recovery. In my experience as a child therapist, solution-focused techniques have proven helpful in the treatment of peer problems, bullying, stress management, anxiety, etc.
MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION, AND RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
Mindfulness, Meditation, and Relaxation Techniques help kids to:
- Become ore aware of their body, thoughts, and surrounding environment
- Get in touch with their inner core and strengthen it
- Improve their self esteem and confidence
- Slow down and think before speaking or acting
- Stay grounded in reality, eliminate “catastrophic/worst case scenario thinking”
GUIDED WELLNESS IMAGERY AND VISUALIZATIONS
Guided wellness imagery and visualizations entails a variety of relaxation techniques in child therapy aiming toward tension release and attainment of a peaceful, balanced, and focused state. As a child therapist, I help children achieve such states by visualizing relaxing images and situations, such as a beautiful beach, a green meadow, or a sparkling waterfall. Such relaxed states may decrease stress, promote physical, emotional, and spiritual healing, as well as improve performance and release creativity blocks.
YOGA, MOVEMENT, AND BREATHING PRACTICES
Yoga, movement, and breathing practices help kids to:
- Get in touch with their inner core and strengthen it
- Deal with difficult feelings by expressing them through movement or letting go of them through their breath
- Learn and practice breathing techniques to calm and center their body and mind
