What is anxiety?

When worry takes up too much space in your child’s life, it can affect sleep, school, and friendships. When it comes to helping them, you may not know where to start — but by being here, you’re already on the right path.

Understanding your child’s worries is the first step to helping them build bravery, know themselves, and feel stronger. Our compassionate care combines with exposure and growth to help your child or teen understand what might be contributing to the cycle and how to find more balance.

We offer treatment for separation, social, and general anxiety, specific phobias, panic disorder, and selective mutism.

What does anxiety look like in kids and teens?

Anxiety can show up emotionally, through behaviors, and in physical symptoms. You might see your child avoiding things they used to enjoy, hear them complain about a recurring upset stomach, or encounter more irritation and anger from them than before.

If you’re seeing some patterns of physical or emotional symptoms that are getting in the way of daily life for your child, it could be time to address them.

How do you care for kids with anxiety?

Care starts with a thoughtful, three-part evaluation that builds trust and the foundation for care, one personalized step at a time. These first appointments at Brightline help us evaluate what your child is experiencing, your concerns, and what treatment path is going to help your whole family feel some relief.

The first one is for parents. It’s your chance to share your unique and intimate view of your child’s changes and challenges, along with their full medical, psychological, and family history — all factors that we weave into their full clinical picture.
The second one is for your child (with your presence as needed). Their perspective on what they go through on a daily basis teaches us about potential barriers and motivations, and helps your child begin to find their voice with us. If your child is younger, we might spend this time focusing more on observing how your child interacts with you and the world around them, rather than asking them lots of detailed questions.
The third one in the series is where we build a plan — together. This is a highly interactive and collaborative opportunity to share our impressions and discuss treatment options.

When is the Anxiety Program right?

If you’re seeing some of these anxious behaviors (or others) at home, we can help you understand why and address them.

Worries and fears that make it difficult to concentrate
Physical symptoms like racing heart, sweating, breathing issues, and tense muscles
Feeling nervous, edgy, or afraid
Avoidance of things they need or want to do

The elements of care for anxiety

Evaluation

Care begins with a diagnostic evaluation, which at Brightline is a series of three appointments. These appointments are vital to helping us get to know you and your child. They give you clarity and build the foundation for care — we will deeply understand your concerns, explore any related needs, and create a care plan that is evidence-based, individualized, and geared towards progress.

Our goal is to schedule these sessions as close together as possible for continuity, engagement, and convenience.

The first two of the three sessions involve you and your child in largely separate conversations — one with you only, and one with a focus on your child (you’re involved as needed, depending on your child’s age, stage of development, and ability to engage).

The third session is the evaluation follow up. This is a highly interactive and collaborative opportunity to share our impressions, discuss what we know about concerns, and arrive at a research-based treatment plan.

Therapy

The core component of therapy focuses on helping kids and teens face their fears both in and between sessions. Sessions primarily involve the child with frequent involvement from the parent(s) — it’s vital for you to know the goals of care and what you should do to support them. However, depending on your child’s age and developmental stage, care may be more focused on supporting the parent.

We primarily utilize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with a significant focus on exposure and response prevention (ERP).

Psychiatry

Medication consultation and management through our psychiatric clinicians is an optional layer that can be added to your child’s care plan, depending on need and clinical indication. Our psychiatry services don’t operate in isolation — they work collaboratively with therapy and involve parents. Your child can receive medication management whether they’re in therapy with Brightline or in therapy elsewhere.

Treatment decisions are evidence-based and follow professional guidelines. At Brightline, medication is viewed as a tool to be used when needed (not necessarily as a lifelong solution). The decision to start, stop, or change a medication is made in collaboration with you and your child. Some medications require an in-person appointment; otherwise, these appointments can be either in person or online.

Evaluation

Care begins with a diagnostic evaluation, which at Brightline is a series of three appointments. These appointments are vital to helping us get to know you and your child. They give you clarity and build the foundation for care — we will deeply understand your concerns, explore any related needs, and create a care plan that is evidence-based, individualized, and geared towards progress.

Our goal is to schedule these sessions as close together as possible for continuity, engagement, and convenience.

The first two of the three sessions involve you and your child in largely separate conversations — one with you only, and one with a focus on your child (you’re involved as needed, depending on your child’s age, stage of development, and ability to engage).

The third session is the evaluation follow up. This is a highly interactive and collaborative opportunity to share our impressions, discuss what we know about concerns, and arrive at a research-based treatment plan.

Therapy

The core component of therapy focuses on helping kids and teens face their fears both in and between sessions. Sessions primarily involve the child with frequent involvement from the parent(s) — it’s vital for you to know the goals of care and what you should do to support them. However, depending on your child’s age and developmental stage, care may be more focused on supporting the parent.

We primarily utilize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with a significant focus on exposure and response prevention (ERP).

Psychiatry

Medication consultation and management through our psychiatric clinicians is an optional layer that can be added to your child’s care plan, depending on need and clinical indication. Our psychiatry services don’t operate in isolation — they work collaboratively with therapy and involve parents. Your child can receive medication management whether they’re in therapy with Brightline or in therapy elsewhere.

Treatment decisions are evidence-based and follow professional guidelines. At Brightline, medication is viewed as a tool to be used when needed (not necessarily as a lifelong solution). The decision to start, stop, or change a medication is made in collaboration with you and your child. Some medications require an in-person appointment; otherwise, these appointments can be either in person or online.

What are other parents asking about anxiety?

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health concerns in kids, teens, and adults. We hear a lot of questions about how to know when worry is actually anxiety, how it’s treated, and what anxiety can look like behaviorally. We’ve got your answers.