Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based, highly effective treatment for children ages 2-7 years old. PCIT consists of 2 phases of treatment. The first phase, known as Child-Directed (CDI), parents learn specialized play therapy skills to practice with their child. These skills are shown to strengthen your relationship with your child, improve behavior, social skills and help your child feel calm. 

The second phase, known as Parent-Directed Interaction (PDI), helps parents work on limit setting. This phase will help equip parents to manage their child’s behavior when it is most difficult, reinforce “good listening” behaviors, use a safe and research based time-out consequence when they refuse to listen, create consistent “house rules” and demonstrate appropriate problem behaviors in public. 

With PCIT, we coach you while you interact with your child so that you can use the skills more effectively. We’re there with you to see behaviors and help address them. PCIT typically takes 12-16 sessions to complete.