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Frequently Asked Questions
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What makes Thriving Child Center different from other therapy practices?
Thriving Child Center is intentionally structured around experienced clinicians, thoughtful matching, and evidence-based care. All services are provided by highly trained, independently practicing clinicians, and families are matched carefully based on the specific challenges they are facing.
We prioritize clinical judgment, privacy, and individualized treatment rather than high-volume or one-size-fits-all care. This approach allows families to begin therapy with clarity, confidence, and the right level of support from the start.
Thriving Child Center is a child psychology and family mental health practice that provides evidence-based therapy, psychological testing, and specialty services for children, adolescents, adults, and families.
We help families understand emotional, behavioral, developmental, and relational challenges and offer clear, practical treatment plans that support meaningful, lasting change.
What is Thriving Child Center?
Who We Treat
Thriving Child Center works with:
Children and adolescents from early childhood through the teen years
Adults, including parents seeking personal support
Families navigating behavioral challenges, emotional regulation difficulties, or conflict
Services are individualized and tailored to each family’s needs.
Who does Thriving Child Center work with?
Does Thriving Child Center treat adults?
Yes. Thriving Child Center provides therapy and psychological testing for adults.
Many adults we work with are parents who want support with emotional regulation, stress, anxiety, or long-standing personal challenges that affect family life and parenting. Adult services follow the same evidence-based, thoughtful approach used in our child and family work.
Does Thriving Child Center offer therapy specifically for parents?
Yes. Parent therapy is a core part of our work.
We frequently support parents individually to address:
Emotional regulation
Stress and anxiety
Coping skills
Personal growth
Supporting parents often plays a critical role in helping children and families function more calmly and effectively.
Our Approach & Clinicians
Thriving Child Center works with a wide range of emotional, behavioral, developmental, and family concerns, including:
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
ADHD and executive functioning challenges
Autism spectrum disorder
Anxiety and emotional regulation difficulties
Behavioral challenges at home or school
Family conflict and parenting stress
Challenges with teenagers, including mood changes, defiance, or withdrawal
Adjustment to life transitions, stress, or trauma
Care focuses on the full picture of the child or family, not just a diagnosis.
What concerns does Thriving Child Center help with?
What therapy approaches are used at Thriving Child Center?
Thriving Child Center uses evidence-based treatments supported by research and clinical best practices. Approaches are selected based on the child or family’s needs, developmental level, and goals.
Therapy approaches include:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
Parent and family-based interventions for behavior and emotional regulation
Treatment is always individualized rather than one-size-fits-all.
How are treatment approaches chosen?
Treatment approaches are selected based on clinical expertise and the specific concerns being addressed. Because Thriving Child Center is a private-pay practice, clinicians are not restricted by insurance-driven requirements when recommending evidence-based care.
The goal is to use treatments that are most likely to lead to meaningful improvement.
How do I know my therapist at Thriving Child Center is an expert?
At Thriving Child Center, the quality of care begins with who we hire and how we match families with clinicians. All clinicians are experienced, fully licensed professionals, and selecting the right therapist for each family is one of our highest priorities.
Every clinician has been licensed for at least five years
Most clinicians hold doctoral degrees
All clinicians are selected for advanced training and real-world experience in evidence-based treatments that help families
We take a boutique, highly intentional approach to clinician matching. Rather than assigning families based on availability, we focus on pairing you with a therapist whose specific expertise aligns with the challenges you are facing and the outcomes you are seeking.
Thriving Child Center does not use trainees, interns, or graduate students to provide clinical services. Our goal is for families to begin therapy already working with a clinician who has the experience and skill set needed to help them make progress efficiently and effectively.
Does Thriving Child Center use trainees or graduate students?
No. Thriving Child Center does not employ trainees, interns, or graduate students for therapy or psychological testing.
All services are provided by experienced clinicians who practice independently within their areas of expertise.
How does Thriving Child Center match families with the right therapist?
Before services begin, Thriving Child Center completes a personalized matching process.
Our intake specialists take time to understand:
The challenges you, your child, or your family are experiencing
Your goals for treatment
The type of support you are seeking
Families are matched with clinicians based on relevant expertise and experience, not simply availability. This intentional process helps therapy start in the right place and supports more effective progress.
Who handles the matching process?
Matching is handled by skilled intake specialists who understand both clinical needs and clinician specialties. They work closely with clinical leadership to ensure each family is paired with the most appropriate therapist.
This reduces trial-and-error and helps treatment move forward more efficiently.
What happens during a Thriving Child Center matching call?
Before therapy begins, families participate in a matching call with an experienced intake specialist.
During a matching call, intake specialists explore:
Emotional, behavioral, developmental, relational, and parenting concerns
Past experiences with therapy
What the family hopes will be different as a result of treatment
The level and type of clinical expertise most likely to be helpful
The goal of the matching call is not to place families with the next available clinician, but to intentionally match them with a therapist whose training and experience align closely with the needs being presented. This matching process is one of the core ways Thriving Child Center helps therapy work more effectively from the start.
Does Thriving Child Center offer psychological testing or evaluations?
Yes. Thriving Child Center provides comprehensive psychological and educational evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults.
Evaluations may assess:
Attention
Learning
Development
Emotional functioning
Behavioral concerns
Our evaluations are designed to answer real-world questions and provide practical recommendations, not just diagnostic labels.
Forensic Therapy
Forensic therapy refers to therapy provided when there is legal involvement, such as court-involved cases or situations where treatment intersects with the legal system.
Thriving Child Center offers forensic therapy in appropriate cases. This work is provided by clinicians with specific forensic experience and follows clear ethical boundaries, specialized documentation standards, and careful role definition. Not all cases are appropriate, and referrals are evaluated carefully. Forensic and court-involved services are offered selectively and only when they are clinically appropriate and aligned with ethical and professional standards.
What is forensic therapy, and does Thriving Child Center provide it?
Thriving Child Center provides select court-involved and forensic services when clinically appropriate, including:
Reunification therapy
Court-ordered therapy
Custody evaluations
These services are provided by clinicians with specific training and experience in working within legal systems.
What specific forensic and court-involved services does Thriving Child Center provide?
Technology
Thriving Child Center operates as a private-pay practice so clinicians can provide high-quality, individualized care without insurance-driven constraints.
Private pay allows us to:
Match families with the most appropriate clinician based on expertise
Determine treatment length and structure based on clinical need
Avoid assigning diagnoses when they are not clinically appropriate or helpful
Maintain greater confidentiality by not sharing detailed clinical information with insurance companies
Many families choose private pay because it supports privacy, flexibility, and care guided by what truly helps the child or family.This structure also supports greater continuity and depth of care, which many families find especially important when addressing complex or longstanding concerns.
Why does Thriving Child Center use a private-pay model?
Does Thriving Child Center use artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical documentation?
No. Thriving Child Center does not use artificial intelligence tools to generate therapy notes or clinical documentation.
All documentation is completed directly by licensed clinicians to protect client privacy, ensure accuracy, and uphold ethical standards.
Why doesn’t Thriving Child Center use AI for therapy notes?
Clinical records contain highly sensitive personal information. By not using AI-generated documentation, Thriving Child Center maintains tighter control over confidentiality, clinical judgment, and data security.
Documentation reflects the clinician’s professional expertise rather than automated systems.
What PSYPACT states does Thriving Child Center serve via telehealth?
Through PSYPACT participation, Thriving Child Center clinicians may provide telehealth services to clients located in the following states (subject to current PSYPACT participation and licensure rules):
Alabama
Arizona
Colorado
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Telehealth availability is confirmed during the intake and matching process. PSYPACT participation and telehealth eligibility can change over time, and availability is always confirmed during the intake and matching process.
Where is Thriving Child Center located, and do you offer telehealth?
Thriving Child Center offers in-person therapy and evaluations at two clinic locations in the Houston area:
The River Oaks area of Houston
The Woodlands, a northern suburb of Houston
In addition to in-person services, Thriving Child Center provides telehealth services to clients located in PSYPACT-authorized states, when clinically appropriate.
Why does Thriving Child Center offer teletherapy, and who benefits from it?
Thriving Child Center offers teletherapy because it can be highly effective for many children, teenagers, parents, and families when used thoughtfully and appropriately.
For teenagers, teletherapy often increases comfort, engagement, and consistency. Many teens feel more at ease speaking from their own space, which can support openness and participation in treatment. Teletherapy can also reduce scheduling barriers and missed sessions, helping therapy stay on track.
For parents, teletherapy allows for flexible participation and real-time support around parenting challenges, emotional regulation, and family dynamics. Because parent work often focuses on skills, insight, and interaction patterns, teletherapy can be just as effective as in-person sessions.
Clinicians at Thriving Child Center carefully consider whether teletherapy or in-person care is the best fit for each child or family. When clinically appropriate, teletherapy can be a powerful and effective option rather than a second-best alternative.
Fit Analysis
Does Thriving Child Center require a diagnosis for therapy?
No. A diagnosis is not required unless it is clinically appropriate or helpful.
Because we are a private-pay practice, clinicians are not required to assign diagnoses solely for insurance billing purposes. This allows care to focus on needs rather than labels.
How do I know which service or clinician is right for my family?
Our intake team will guide you through the process. By learning about your concerns and goals, we can recommend services and clinicians that best match your needs.
You do not need to have everything figured out before reaching out.
How do I know therapy will work for my child or family?
It is normal to wonder whether therapy will truly help, especially when you are investing time, energy, and resources into the process.
At Thriving Child Center, therapy is most effective when families are thoughtfully matched with experienced clinicians, evidence-based approaches are used, and parents are actively supported as part of the treatment process. While no ethical provider can guarantee outcomes, our model is designed to reduce guesswork and help families move toward meaningful change more efficiently.
Progress is monitored over time, and care is adjusted thoughtfully based on what is working and what a child or family needs next.
What makes therapy effective at Thriving Child Center?
Several factors contribute to effective therapy, and Thriving Child Center is intentionally structured around those factors.
These include careful clinician matching, experienced and highly trained therapists, use of evidence-based treatment approaches, and collaboration with parents and families. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all model, care is tailored to the specific challenges and goals of each family.
By combining clinical expertise with thoughtful planning and ongoing assessment, therapy is more likely to lead to meaningful, lasting improvement.
What if we’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t help?
Many families seek services at Thriving Child Center after previous therapy experiences that were not as helpful as they had hoped.
There are many reasons therapy may not have worked in the past, including mismatched clinician expertise, unclear goals, limited parent involvement, or approaches that did not fit a child’s needs. Our intake and matching process is designed to address these challenges from the start by aligning families with clinicians who have experience working with similar concerns.
Prior therapy experiences are taken seriously and used to inform a more thoughtful plan moving forward.