To make an appointment with us, please see our Making an Appointment section. You can also meet our therapists here!
What exactly are ‘Child Services’?
The Expat Kids Club is an English-speaking child and adolescent psychology practice providing individualized support to expatriate children.
Our multidisciplinary team provides access to comprehensive services and incorporates the latest evidence-based interventions to promote health and create custom made treatment programs for each individual child, depending on their unique needs.
Coming soon we will be offering educational assessments. For more information in the meantime, contact us at support@expatkidsclub.com
Some of the methods we use include,
but not limited to:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Anxiety and depression can be rooted in our wish to avoid negative feelings. This avoidance however actually feeds into anxiety and depression. ACT focuses on accepting emotions – regardless of whether they are “good” or “bad” – and committing to our intentions.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Exposure Therapy): CBT is based on the principles of examining how our thoughts connect to our behaviors and evaluating this relationship. Exposure Therapy involves explicitly confronting what makes us afraid or uncomfortable in order to overcome this discomfort. Learn about our phobia and fear services here.
- Play Therapy: This therapy is very dynamic and takes many forms, but relies on connecting with children via play to make progress with mental health needs.
- Attachment Therapy: Appropriate for children who, for example, are anxious being away from parents or who seem to have trouble connecting to caregivers.
- Mindfulness: Based on the ideas of bringing awareness to our bodies and minds, mindfulness-based interventions teach the importance of breathing, finding stillness, and acknowledging details we may have previously overlooked within ourselves and our environments.
Where are you located? Where can my child receive services?
Our office is located at Lindenlaan 75, 1185 LC Amstelveen. In person/face-to-face sessions are possible at our office. However, we serve expat kids worldwide using video chat. So no matter where you are located (or where your family relocates!) we are able to keep making sure to help your child reach their therapy goals.
What sort of challenges do you usually help kids with?
Typical challenges that are addressed at The Expat Kids Club include:
• adjustment to new circumstances
• recognizing and learning to express unresolved grief that is a result of relocation
• dealing with intercultural obstacles
• overcoming social anxiety and insecurities relating to identity
• social skills and making new friends
• “fitting in” in a new environment and finding a “sense-of-self”
• dealing with school anxiety/refusal
• addressing communication blockages within the family
• aiding in developmental-milestone delays (i.e., toilet-training, sleeping problems, etc.)
How do Individual Child Sessions work?
Kids have many pieces of their personality. In order to help kids understand and connect all these pieces, we believe it is vital that parents are involved. Therefore, the first few sessions are held only with parents as an opportunity to discuss the child’s developmental history, what the current issues/concerns are, and expectations while working with us. During these first sessions, we encourage parents to also ask us any questions they have about us or about our practices.
From there, we have the first session with your child, which happens at our office, where we introduce them to us (and sometimes Cherry our beloved office dog!), as well as our working style. We also discuss with you and your child about our confidentiality policy.* Then, the work really begins, with more sessions focusing on whatever your child needs help with.
To give parents an idea of what may happen in the first few sessions with your child, we can tell you that we almost always spend time in the first sessions talking about lifestyle aspects of being an expat – for kids, this usually means explaining the idea of being a “Third Culture Kid.” Goals during therapy are generally made concrete during the second or third session. Throughout the process, parents are kept in the loop through debriefing and in-person or video-chat meetings when necessary, including discussing next steps to continue making progress. When relevant, contact with schools and other medical professionals, such as psychiatrists and/or general practitioners, are made and maintained.
*Confidentiality is paramount to the therapeutic process. All parents are required to sign
The Expat Kids Club’s Terms & Conditions agreement with details our strict confidentiality policy.