At Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services, we believe that the emotional demands placed on our children in the socially challenging and academically competitive school environments can result in behavioral problems and generate obstacles to developing important life skills. We believe that all behavior has a function and that all too often a child's challenging behavior is trivialized by dismissing it as a demonstration of rebellion, attention seeking, or an opposition to authority. These are not explanations for the behaviors but labels that we have come to accept as way of identifying the alleged "cause" of the behavior. Child Counseling and Adolescent Counseling that involves more than the identified child is a must. We have offices in PA and NJ.

School systems move much too quickly to develop behavioral interventions to eliminate the "problem behavior." However, the behavior is more often than not only a symptom of the problem. Child Counseling and Adolescent Counseling must address more than the symptoms.

The behavior appears to be the "problem" because it causes others a problem.

We are committed to understanding the multifaceted function of the behaviors on which we are attempting to intervene. We believe that a child's behavior often serves many functions and the functions are rooted in the child's stressful relationship with peers, siblings, teachers, and parents. Most of us would prefer to identify a simple cause/effect relationship that would explain why our children are struggling academically or socially. When educators look for "simple explanations" many will end up engaging in useless "bashing" in an effort to blame someone for the "problem."

At Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services, our Child Counseling and Adolescent Counseling extends well beyond the scope of those seeking Child and Adolescent Counseling for problems such as ADHD, anxiety, school avoidance and many others to include a full range of services for children suffering from the family effects of addictive disorders. Our services for Child Counseling incorporate the models of Natural & Logical Consequences along with 12 Step program principles wherever appropriate.

We believe that we must all work together to build a plan that fully examines the nature of each of these relationships.

We believe that each participant of the child's life must examine the role they play for we are either a part of the solution or a part of the problem.

We are committed to supporting students, parents, and educators in their efforts to reduce the negative impact of the unavoidable stressors our children face in our schools and communities. Let us know how we can help.

Focal Points

Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services provides private and confidential support to children/adolescents and their families who are struggling with personal, family, and school-based challenges that are threatening the young person's social, emotional, and academic success.

In the 30 years of service to families, we have learned that "blood is thicker than therapy". The skills we bring to the counseling relationship will not be effective with children unless they have the loving support of their families. The parent/child relationship, when available, must be strengthened because it is primary. We do not believe that the child/therapist relationship should be one of complete autonomy and therefore we practice from a systems perspective which aims to eliminate the needs for secrets.

We do not view the child as the problem and do not see him/her as the only client. Our "client" is the family and the school, whenever possible, and not the solitary student. We remain committed to open communication between therapist, child, school, and parents. We avoid becoming trapped in the confidences with children that might diminish their relationship with their parents.

Services are available to help your child with the following challenges:

• School Avoidance
• Separation Anxiety
• Coping With Chronic Illness
• Building Social Competence
• Managing Powerful Peer Personalities
• Overcoming Peer Group Anxiety
• Understanding Parental Alcoholism
• Minimizing Family Conflict
• Working Through Divorce & Separation
• Avoiding Drug & Alcohol Use
• Transitioning - High School to College
• Reducing Misplaced Anger
• Accepting Imperfection
• Building Friendships
• Improving Teacher Relationships