How I help
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT is one of the most effective, research-backed approaches for treating anxiety and OCD in children and teens. It helps young people understand the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and gives them practical tools to break unhelpful cycles of worry or avoidance.
In therapy, we work together to help kids and teens identify anxious or self-critical thoughts, look at them with curiosity instead of fear, and practice healthier ways to respond. The goal isn’t just to “think positive,” but to build flexible, realistic thinking and greater awareness of emotions and actions.
CBT sessions at Peekaboo are collaborative and creative using visuals, metaphors, and age-appropriate exercises that make therapy engaging. Parents are also included in the process so they can reinforce progress at home.
Over time, CBT helps children and teens gain confidence, resilience, and the belief that they can handle challenges not by avoiding them, but by facing them with skill and support.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Kids & Teens
ACT helps children and teens develop a healthier relationship with their thoughts and feelings especially when anxiety, perfectionism, or OCD make them feel “stuck.” Instead of fighting every worry or trying to make uncomfortable thoughts disappear, ACT teaches acceptance, mindfulness, and values-based action so young people can focus on what truly matters to them.
With the help of ACT skills, kids and teens learn to:
- Notice anxious or unhelpful thoughts as they are.
- Make space for uncomfortable emotions rather than avoiding them.
- Choose actions that align with their goals and values even when anxiety shows up.
Through creative exercises, stories, and metaphors, ACT helps children and teens build emotional flexibility and learning that feelings can come and go, and that courage doesn’t mean not feeling scared.
Parents are also involved, learning how to support this new way of responding at home. Together, ACT empowers families to move away from the struggle with anxiety and toward a life that feels authentic, purposeful, and free.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
ERP is the gold-standard treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and one of the most effective approaches for OCD. It helps kids and teens learn that while OCD feels powerful, it doesn’t have to control what they do.
In ERP, we gently and collaboratively face fears instead of avoiding them one small, supported step at a time. Kids and teens practice being around the thoughts, sensations, or situations that trigger anxiety without performing rituals or seeking reassurance. Over time, this teaches the brain that anxiety naturally rises and falls on its own and that courage grows with practice.
At Peekaboo, ERP is designed to feel safe, creative, and empowering.Parents are guided on how to support their child at home learning to reduce accommodations in ways that still feel compassionate.
ERP builds confidence, independence, and trust in one’s ability to handle uncertainty. It’s not just about reducing symptoms, it’s also about helping kids and teens discover that life can be bigger than their fears.
SPACE Treatment for Parents
When a child struggles with anxiety or OCD, it’s natural for parents to step in and help by reassuring or comforting them. But over time, these well-intentioned patterns can unintentionally maintain anxiety.
SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) is a research-based treatment that helps parents learn new ways to support their child’s progress without feeding anxiety or avoidance. Developed at Yale University, SPACE is designed to reduce a child’s anxiety symptoms by changing the parent’s behaviour and not the child’s.
Some of the main concerns treated with SPACE include:
- Separation anxiety
- Social anxiety
- Generalized anxiety
- Fears and phobias
- Panic disorder and Agoraphobia
- Selective mutism
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
This approach is particularly powerful when kids are too young, resistant, or not ready for therapy. This approach is also very helpful when parents want to support the child’s therapy. Parents become the change agents equipped with skills that create lasting shifts in the whole family system.
At Peekaboo, I partner with parents to help them step out of anxiety’s grip and lead with clarity, care, and calm so children can feel safe enough to be brave.
Mindfulness-Based Techniques
When anxiety takes over, the mind often races into what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. Mindfulness helps kids and teens pause, notice, and return to the present moment rather than being swept away by anxious thoughts or sensations.
In therapy, mindfulness isn’t about “clearing your mind”. It’s about building awareness and compassion for what’s happening inside. Through simple, age-appropriate exercises like breathing, grounding, and noticing thoughts without judgment, young people learn that feelings come and go and that they can ride the wave of anxiety without being pulled under.
These practices are woven into evidence-based therapies like CBT and ACT, helping children and teens develop emotional flexibility, body awareness, and calm. For some, mindfulness becomes a lifelong skill, one that makes space for both courage and self-kindness.
At Peekaboo, mindfulness is never about perfection or forced calm, it’s about helping kids and teens reconnect with themselves, one small, steady breath at a time and it is only infused in the care plan based on what the needs of every child are.