Child Psychologist: All About this Career Path

What is a child psychologist? 

Child psychologists have many roles including: 

• Diagnosis and treatment planning for long-term treatment goals 
• Behavior management and behavior modification techniques
• Research and scientific studies involving children and child development
• Administering psychological testing on children (especially true in schools)

Treatments used by child psychologists: 

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a therapeutic focus on thoughts and feelings. The premise is that thoughts lead to how a child feels and what they feel and how they process that feeling can be the cause of negative reactions or behaviors. In this type of therapy, the goal is to change those thoughts to have a different meaning, in turn, modify the feeling that follows, thus eliminating the negative behavior from occurring. 
• Family Therapy is more focused on the family unit as a whole. Working as a team like a machine, the therapist is the oil greasing the gears to help everything run more smoothly and more efficiently. The therapist would help the family to explore their current communication patterns and offer helpful resources and replacements to aid the family in better interactions and overall communication. Family therapy is used in various settings, but in relation to kids, this therapy can include siblings, parent, step-parents or grandparents depending on the goals for therapy. 
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is typically used to treat older adolescents with a very difficult time managing emotions. This type of treatment is commonly used for suicidal tendencies, substance abuse, self-harm, anxiety and depression. Where CBT focuses on changing thinking to change behaviors, DBT uses a focus on thinking to change feelings. There is a mindfulness piece to this that meant to highlight the patient's emotions without judgment and teach them the skills to manage such. 
• Group Therapy is run as one therapeutic session with multiple patients and only one or two mediating therapists. The purpose is to focus on the group dynamic and allow the group to help each other (with the aid of the therapist) throughout their processes. Each group focuses on a similar subject (depression, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, etc) and all patients are usually of a similar age and developmental stage. Group therapy can be used for many age ranges in children but is commonly used when treating pre-adolescents or adolescents. This type of therapy centers on forming relationships, holding each other accountable, improving self-esteem and social skills, developing and honing coping skills and general sharing with the group. 
• Play Therapy When children are younger, expressing complex feelings and emotions is not something they are developmentally mature enough to share. In that case, play therapy can be extremely useful when working with young children. Therapists do this by using toys, coloring, blocks, games, drawings, dolls and puppets as a way to assess how the child is feeling or thinking through the words or drawings they produce in play. Over time, the use of play therapy helps the therapist identify patterns and problems and while playing the child is more comfortable opening up to discuss what they are experiencing. 
• Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) is a brief therapy focused mainly on depression, but has been known to be effective in other forms of treatment as well. It's short term so the focus is direct, concise and is laser-focused on treating the immediate issue at hand. A life-changing event like a divorce would be a good example of how and when IPT might be used with a child. 
• Psychodynamic Therapy is a far less commonly used form of treatment in modern therapeutic settings. It is known as "global therapy" which has a holistic approach to treatment where there are more interpretations of client's mental process rather than a focus on behavior. Psychodynamic therapy is past-present-future focused and wants to dive deep into a person's psyche to get to the root of their unhealthy thinking. In children, this is even less commonly used than in adults but is still important to understand since it is still used in some circumstances. 

How to find a child psychologist

• Make sure there is a potential for your child and their therapist to"click" and build a relationship because 85 percent of change will hinge on that. 
• Find a therapist that highlights your child's strengths and puts your child first over any potential diagnosis. 
• A child psychologist working towards an overall healthy child will use the parents as a resource and consider them allies and partners. They may not give you specific details of your child's sessions (and this is normal because you want your child to trust and open up to them and if your child believes they are going to "tattle" to you, that won't happen), but the should have an understanding that if this change is going to continue at home and once therapy is over, it's necessary to have the parents on board and included. 
• Your child's psychologist should be culturally sensitive to them. They don't necessarily have to be raised in the same type of home or have the same ethnic background, but they should have an empathetic understanding of your child's and be able to show that through their communications during sessions and outside in conversation. 

Educational requirements of a child psychologist 

Degree requirements and majors

Certification requirements

Career Potential 

Salary

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