Catharinenstraße 2 · 25335 Elmshorn, Germany

Phone +49 (0) 4121 - 29 15 33

Beratung für Familien und Alleinerziehende

Counselling for parents and single-parents

Family coaching and parental training (IntraActPlus concept)

Although life with children is wonderful, it can also be difficult, frustrating and exhausting.

At times you are at a loss to get on with everyday life with your child? Do homework, meals and everyday routines, e.g. getting dressed, brushing teeth, going to bed or going out, turn into exhausting ordeals ? Do all those tricks you picked up from teachers, friends, neighbours and self-help books fail when you try them with your child? Do things seem to work out everywhere elese, except at your own home?

You know for sure that your child could be different, but things go wrong again and again?

Are your educational objectives and ideals sound, but you can't come up to them? Your educational methods work well with your other kids, but with your 'problem child' things are completely different?

Do the siblings get on like cat and mouse?

And is all you want to have some peace and a harmonious relationship with your child?

Parental training at our centre can bring about decisive changes! Designed for parents and children from birth through to their teenage years, this training brings relief to those who know about the hardships that arise from ADD and ADHD, e.g. resistance, aggression, power struggles, learning difficulties, retreat, or fears.

Finding solutions - identifying skills

You have great influence on your child, even though you may find it hard to believe that any more! In close co-operation with you, we work out a way to more joy with your child and a more harmonious family life. Taking the helicopter view of your special situation, we first assess the situation emphatically and without prejudice. Then we analyse the issues and coach you so that you can create new room for manoeuvre for you and your child.

Among other, we assess the following questions:

Why is your child more difficult than others?

Treats and punishments - how does it work and what are the effects?

How do you find the middle way?

Is there something like stress-free homework and how can it be done?

How can future learning difficulties be avoided?

How does aggression develop and how do you deal with them?

How can you make agreements with your child and introduce family rules that are adhered to?

How do you find a balance between supporting your child and enhancing their self-reliance?

How can you child learn to improve its self-organisation?

How can you structure everyday life in a better way?

How can your child learn to develop empathy and social skills?

What can you do to help your child fall asleep and sleep through the night?

How can you support your child in overcoming fears, such as cynophobia (fear of dogs), scolionophobia (fear of school), and other abnormal fears?

How do children develop certain behavioural patterns?

Approaches derived from behavioural therapy assume that behaviour is largely influenced by relationship signals that are perceived and set unconsciously. As Dr. Fritz Jansen put it: ‘For this reason, the child aligns its behaviour largely to those reactions that parents show in less than one second. However, the parent's reaction to the child's behaviour following that window of time in most cases escapes the attention of the child. Hence, parents frequently fail to understand that despite their best efforts educational objectives are not being implemented by the child.' In many cases, children showing attention deficits, disorders of perception, and other unusual features in their development face difficulties in automating positive behavioural patterns. This is because of impairments affecting their ability to store, cross-link, and retrieve perceptions and information. Negative reactions, such as aggression, defensiveness, and social insecurity, are then likely to become established behavioural patterns. Educating these children is significantly more difficult for those involved.

Video-based behavioural therapy

We work with standard video recordings that are made at our centre. Making a personal video recording is important because every family is special and every child is different. It enables us not only to get to know you and your family better and deal specifically with your issues. It also helps us to identify those behavioural patterns that crept into your family life and became habitual. Based on such an analysis, we work with you to develop strategies that reduce negative behavioural patterns and to establish positive ones. Introducing only a small number of changes frequently results in great improvements, helps to avoid repeated disappointments and power struggles, and leads to a return of peace, harmony and mutual understanding into your family life.

Teenagers and their special circumstances

Teenagers are neither large children nor small adults. They undergo a development that requires a special approach. We take into account their special circumstances and coach parents and teenagers together in order to find a shared way out of communication problems, misunderstandings and blocks.