Thompson Child Therapy

Thompson Child Therapy Serving Highly Sensitive kids, teens, young adults & families for creative healing We provide mental health therapy to children, teens, and their families.

Megghan Thompson, Owner, is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. We enjoy using creativity and build a warm, non-judgmental, blunt & sarcastic relationship to meet our client’s needs. Children enjoy working with us because we create an accepting environment where feelings are okay, and fun to explore! Teens often say we are helpful to them because we are ‘real’ and don’t sugarcoat our discussions. Parents prefer our work together because we are patient, and we make sure you give yourself a break! We are a team on this rollercoaster of your kid’s emotions, and we will support you mostly with humor and practical tools. We work hard to make feelings talk less awkward for families.

01/27/2025

This business has been closed since 2022. If you want to know what Megghan is up to now, and consider working with her and the team, visit Megghan Thompson Coaching 🥳

This is a phrase we say often at Thompson Child Therapy. Parents come to us for a variety of reasons, but generally, it’...
03/15/2022

This is a phrase we say often at Thompson Child Therapy. Parents come to us for a variety of reasons, but generally, it’s to figure out the reason behind their child’s big emotions.

The thing is, the problem is not the problem. 🤯 To break it down:

The thing your child is upset about is not nearly as important as their feelings being heard. 👏

This may seem obvious, but if your child is having an explosive reaction, your first instinct as a parent is going to be: remove the thing causing the reaction. 💚

But when it comes to general stress, your kid doesn’t need to go into every detail about their current challenge so you can offer suggestions to help.

Most of the time, they aren’t looking for that kind of information from you. And the problem isn’t the thing causing the inappropriate reaction.

Plus, they can think creatively and solve their own problems. 🧠

So, how do you effectively handle this situation?

Read our most recent blog post to find out.

https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/the-problem-is-not-the-problem/

Sometimes being a parent means you’re an easy target for your child/teen when they feel frustrated or lash out in anger....
03/04/2022

Sometimes being a parent means you’re an easy target for your child/teen when they feel frustrated or lash out in anger. It doesn’t even matter what is being said – being criticized, called names, or being told that you’re “not funny,” would start to wear on anyway. It’s even tougher when your kid is using cuss words… because you know that trying to correct them is NOT the way to diffuse that situation. So what can we do when it FEELS like our kids are throwing sticks and stones? Focus on the emotion behind the words. Here’s how to take that approach.
First, check in with yourself.

Are you doing anything to reward yourself for all of the things you’ve been managing…? Because if you are not taking the time to manage your own emotions, it’s almost impossible to try and help someone manage theirs. You need downtime to be able to handle that verbal tomato thrown at your head by your angry kid. And no, going to that workout class that you actually hate does not count. Find a real hobby or self care activity and commit to it weekly or daily. Once a month doesn’t cut it.

You spend your life prioritizing sports practices, scout meetings, sleepovers, playdates, school, and everyone else's interests. You need to commit to time to find your OWN.

Find the time by asking for help. See if there’s a parent who can carpool. Get takeout twice a week. Ask the neighborhood kid to walk the dog.

Your child will benefit from a parent that is more calm, less stressed, and can keep their cool when the lashing out/overwhelm takes hold. You don’t need to show up to ALL the things.You deserve to be able to keep your well-being in check here.

If you are parenting in survival mode, you cannot be the best parent you want to be.

The next thing you can do is realize that you are responsible for your own emotional management, and so is your kid. The difference is they don’t have the skills to effectively manage their big feelings yet. That comes from you, teaching them exactly how to do that.

And how can you teach them? It’s not as easy as “feeling your feelings.” You need to understand what these feelings mean to you, why they come up when certain words are said, and experience them for what they are. When you do this, you can effectively teach your child why words can hurt later on. You need a strategy to know exactly what to say, when to say it, and why that is the best way to handle the situation.

When you treat yourself with compassion regularly, a ripple effect takes place. You are able to let your kid’s hurtful words mean less, and you can stop lecturing, time-outs, writing lines, and other shame-oriented responses. You won’t be parenting out of anger, frustration, or exasperation when our own children aren’t able to manage their emotions.

You deserve to take that break, and it is your responsibility to do so. So take it!

To learn more about how to be the best parents you can be, click the link below to learn more about our Parent Workshops!
https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/parenthscgroup/

The Sensory Processing Sensitivity temperament type (also known as being Highly Sensitive) isn’t just worrying a lot. Th...
01/28/2022

The Sensory Processing Sensitivity temperament type (also known as being Highly Sensitive) isn’t just worrying a lot. There’s more to it.

It’s not just getting their feelings hurt easily, or getting overwhelmed at birthday parties. It’s also not the same as Autism Spectrum Disorder, and not ADHD. It’s a personality trait that is telling of how your child receives and processes information emotionally, mentally, and physically.

#1 Anxiety and Sensory overwhelm are a major part of the trait. Remember when I said that SPS is telling of how your child receives and processes information? Well, this includes ALL stimuli. Emotional, physical, environmental, etc. For example, If you go somewhere and it’s too hot, too loud, too crowded, and their clothes feel too constrictive, itchy, or uncomfortable, and their lunch has too many flavors… you may want to pay attention to how your child is processing stimuli. Do they melt down? Shutdown? Get overwhelmed?

They are also very inquisitive and ask deep and clever questions. Sometimes, it even seems like your kid is ten years older than they actually are. This gets confusing because even if your five year old sounds like a 10 year old, emotionally, they are still five.

#2 Hyper Awareness of the tone of the environment. Highly Sensitive kids take in every detail of the room the moment they walk in. They notice who the loud talker is, the quiet kid sitting in the corner, how sporadic an activity is, and in that time, an emotional response is forming within their bodies. If they attend boy scouts and the troop leader speaks to the troop in a harsh tone, your HSC may struggle or not even be able to push through the activities. In contrast, an anxious child could ignore the grumpy troop leader and pick up on your joy, carrying on with that encouragement and support.

In addition, HSCs notice when others are worried and upset, and they work to decrease the person’s happiness. It’s ingrained in your kid to have a kind and compassionate soul.

#3 Shame plants its roots in your HSC after a meltdown, which can lead to another meltdown. Highly Sensitive children are more prone to shame, and shame is different than regret. Shame says “I hit my brother because I’m a bad kid,” but regret says “I hit my brother and now I’m in trouble,” When HSCs do wrong, they think they are bad people, a bad child, and try to hide these feelings to please adults. You’ll notice the difference when you go over the wrong behavior with your kid, and how this conversation could lead to another meltdown.

The bottom line is, there’s nothing wrong with children with huge worries and sensitivities.

Again, your HSC processes information differently. None of the things mentioned above means that your child is broken.

HSCs and their parents need support to fully understand how to honor their child’s Highly Sensitive trait and navigate the world. If you want to learn more about how to help your child get through their emotional overwhelm and feel confident in sitting through the storm, check out our Parents of Highly Sensitive Children 8-Week Workshop!

https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/parenthscgroup/

Parenting a teen can be SO confusing. One minute you’re having an intelligent conversation with them about school then t...
01/17/2022

Parenting a teen can be SO confusing. One minute you’re having an intelligent conversation with them about school then the next they’re exploding because you didn’t buy the right kind of peanut butter. What gives?

Just because your teen seems like they can talk like an adult, that doesn’t mean they are emotionally mature enough to be one. Your teen is still developing. Stop making assumptions about your teen’s maturity timeline.

Your kid doesn’t need to be independent at 15 like they need to be at 18. Those three years make a huge difference in development, life experience, maturity, and education.

There is nothing wrong with your kid needing more scaffolding than others either, that isn’t a bad thing. Give them what they need. Keep your judgments out of the equation, and praise your child for asking for help.

It’s also okay if you don’t know what they need either. That is the first step in figuring it out. If it brought you here, welcome.

At Thompson Child Therapy, we offer a skills workshop called Parent Your Sensitive Teen. Here’s what you learn:

* Teach your teen to ask for help
* Coach your teen to manage their emotions safely
* Apply health social expectations and balance them with academic and household responsibilities
* Guide your teen to follow limits around safety without exploding or imploding (this requires you to deliver those limits safely without yelling, threatening, begging, or bribing)

Plus, more skills to help set boundaries and expectations.

Meet your teen where they are to help them fill in the skills they are missing.

To learn more, click this link: https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/parent-dbt-skills-group/

12/15/2021

3 Myths About Communicating With Your Teen
https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/teen-skills-group/

When your child grows into a teen, it can feel like you’re suddenly talking to a new person…

Your little bundle of joy may now seem like a ticking time bomb.

And this might’ve started in their pr***en years, and only continued to get more complicated.

These years in parenting are not easy,
and there isn’t much helpful information out there to help you communicate with your teen.

As you know, there is no real step by step guide on parenting…

But you can start with weeding out some of the myths and “quick fixes.”

That is what we’re going to cover today.

We know that your teen needs you, and you want to be there for them.

Tune in to hear me and Autumn bust the 3 common myths about what it really means when your teen is yelling at you.

https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/teen-skills-group/

Your teen needs you to understand that their feelings feel different, and overwhelming.When you use an adult perspective...
11/29/2021

Your teen needs you to understand that their feelings feel different, and overwhelming.

When you use an adult perspective to fit a teen’s experience, you will inevitably feel disconnected to your teen. Plus, your teen won’t learn what you are trying to teach them.

When teens learn alongside other teens how to manage their big emotions, they value the lesson more. They learn to reach their own goals confidently.

Your child needs to intentionally feel their emotions to dissipate them... not distract themselves on social media, hide in their room, or stuff their emotions away.

This requires strategic support.

Click here to learn more about the symptoms of anxiety/depression and to identify the research backed solution to change how your teen relates to stress, and how you relate to your teen.

https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/teen-skills-group/

11/19/2021

Teens need to know parents understand them in order to share with them why they're upset. Watch to learn how to reconnect.

Your teen needs you to understand that their feelings feel different, and overwhelming.

When you use an adult perspective to fit a teen’s experience, you will inevitably feel disconnected to your teen. Plus, your teen won’t learn what you are trying to teach them.

When teens learn alongside other teens how to manage their big emotions, they value the lesson more. They learn to reach their own goals confidently.

Your child needs to intentionally feel their emotions to dissipate them... not distract themselves on social media, hide in their room, or stuff their emotions away.

This requires strategic support.

Click here to learn more about the symptoms of anxiety/depression and to identify the research backed solution to change how your teen relates to stress, and how you relate to your teen.

https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/teen-skills-group/

11/19/2021

Teens need to know parents understand them in order to share with them why they're upset. Watch to learn how to reconnect.

Your teen needs you to understand that their feelings feel different, and overwhelming.

When you use an adult perspective to fit a teen’s experience, you will inevitably feel disconnected to your teen. Plus, your teen won’t learn what you are trying to teach them.

When teens learn alongside other teens how to manage their big emotions, they value the lesson more. They learn to reach their own goals confidently.

Your child needs to intentionally feel their emotions to dissipate them... not distract themselves on social media, hide in their room, or stuff their emotions away.

This requires strategic support.

Click here to learn more about the symptoms of anxiety/depression and to identify the research backed solution to change how your teen relates to stress, and how you relate to your teen.

https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/teen-skills-group/

10/20/2021

PARENTS OF TEENS:

Just because teens can talk like an adult doesn’t mean they can cope like one.

Watch this video to stop making assumptions about your teen’s maturity timeline.

Your kid doesn’t need to be independent at 15 like they need to be at 18.

Your teen might need more scaffolding than another teen, and that's ok.

Give them what they need.

Don’t judge it, and praise them for asking for help.

In our Parent Your Sensitive Teen Skills workshop, parents will learn how to:
* Teach their teen to ask for help
* Coach their teen to manage their emotions safely
* Apply healthy social expectations and balance them with academic and household responsibilities
* Guide their teen to follow limits around safety without exploding or imploding (which requires you to deliver those limits safely without yelling, threatening, begging or bribing...)

Plus, more skills to healthily set boundaries and expectations.

To learn more click this link: https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/parent-dbt-skills-group/

If you haven't heard, the secret to cooperation: empathy.Empathy helps children feel understood, and it is one component...
10/15/2021

If you haven't heard, the secret to cooperation: empathy.

Empathy helps children feel understood, and it is one component of the conversation.

The next piece is validation -- which helps your child recognize their feelings as normal.

There is a difference between empathy and validation, and together, both help build emotionally intelligent children.

Validation is an incredibly helpful tool to use when your child is worried.

Children and teens often hide their worries from their parents, even when their feelings are acknowledged. This is typically because parents try to help their child find solutions to their problems, or tell them not to worry.

This is what we are all built to do -- especially parents!

It’s normal to want the best for your child and want to remove their pain.

When they’re infants, we do everything to help them stop crying, and that doesn’t change as they get older, right?

The thing is, saying not to worry and trying to solve their problems only lasts for a year or two. After that, they start to interpret different messages from you, in your attempt to soothe their fears.

They can start to believe that it’s actually not okay to feel worried or sad, or have other negative feelings. This is because when they present these feelings to you, you attempt to fix them immediately.

While it is in your instinct as a parent to do that, it doesn’t help your child process what they are dealing with.

Early humans needed to make quick decisions for their children in times of uncertainty.

But now, we live in a society where we aren’t being chased by a bear. We can let our children feel things without needing to remove them from the situation immediately.

So in an attempt to avoid those feelings and conversations, your kid will start to mention them to you less. But you will see their behavior change with more whining, complaining, meltdowns, and tantrums, regardless of the age.

Now that you know why validation is important, let’s define it.
Validation is the act of letting your child know their feelings are ok, common, expected, normal… and that’s it.

No solving their problem, trying to make them laugh, forget, or make them happy again.

It’s harder than it sounds. I know it hurts your heart to see your child upset.

But your child will learn to stay resilient through their emotions.

They need the space to have feelings without worrying about whether or not their parents think they should have those emotions.

Or if they’ll get in trouble. Or be dismissed for worrying about a ‘small’ thing.

So how can we validate our children?

We can simply say, “You’re really worried about that.” (Empathy)
Then, “It makes sense that you’re wondering what might happen when…” (Validation)

Or, “It’s hard to feel like you don’t know what is going to happen next.” (Empathy)

Then, “Lots of kids feel worried when they try a new experience.” (Validation)

Pause and let your child talk about their worry, or draw a picture about how big it is.

For teens, pick a song whose lyrics fit what they are feeling.

Keep the focus on them. It will help them feel understood.

Especially teens, who have a tendency to feel misunderstood.

At the end of your conversation, you can offer to help them work through a solution, or ask what they want to do about the situation.

It’s important to note that when we make space for our kids and teens to feel their feelings, and know they are ok to have…

We must also make space for them to find their own solutions to these problems in their OWN time.

With empathy and validation, you’re on your way from turning your worrier into a warrior!

If you want to learn more about supporting your child or teen through their emotions, click the link below to learn more about our parent workshop.

https://thompsonchildtherapy.com/parent-dbt-skills-group/

You’ve most likely heard that children (and teens) learn best through play. If you haven’t heard that before, it’s true....
09/17/2021

You’ve most likely heard that children (and teens) learn best through play. If you haven’t heard that before, it’s true.

Neuroscientists have been researching this topic for over a century. Learning through play has a role in brain development. When learning a new skill, it’s important to trust your instructor. You must feel confident in their abilities to lead.

This is where oxytocin comes in. Play is an “emotionally engaging and creative experience that increases levels of oxytocin” in the brain."

Oxytocin is the hormone that creates feelings of emotional health and connection. This is why therapists and parents must create and support a playful environment. It helps clients feel more relaxed and comfortable to discuss deep topics.

Compared to Talk Therapy, Play Therapy is more developmentally appropriate. Talk therapy works like a lesson learned in school -- you learn a skill and have to apply it later… and we all know how many people actually retain and use trigonometry regularly.

Since children learn best through play, they can generalize new skills in the moment of the play session, which is easily the most effective way to help your child/teen manage their behavior.

In a play therapy session, we can help your child build self-awareness through a process called Reflecting. This is where the therapist verbalizes what we see and hear in a session.

This approach is a mindful way of encouraging the child/teen to pay attention to his/her actions. It helps them see the impact they have on the environment around them.

It sounds simple, but there is a strategic approach to our typical treatment plan.

First, I focus on helping children/teens manage their emotions. I do this by integrating the right and left-brain through playful skills teaching.

The right brain handles emotions, creativity, and expression.

The left brain handles logic, reasoning, and rules.

In working each side of the brain together, it helps the logical part of the brain feel safe, so the right side can express inner emotions. It also helps them feel safe in our relationship.

As a result, clients learn how to solve problems creatively. This helps them later in life to persist through challenges with minimal frustration.

In my approach, I use your child's mirror neurons to help them feel more comfortable in our sessions.

Mirror neurons allow us to process information in our environment and mimic what we see. This allows the child to mimic my calm, patient demeanor. As a result, they feel more patient with themselves and their inner emotions.

We use this as a tool to help them make sense of stressful events and help process reactions. It also works to get through difficult topic discussions through various sessions.

The bottom line is this: all clients MUST feel relaxed to get the most out of sessions. If not relaxed, children and teens will struggle to use their imagination. They need this to consider the possibility of behavior change.

If you’d like to learn more about how Play Therapy works, send us a message on our Contact page!

Reference: Stewart, A., Field, T., & Echterling, L. (2016). Neuroscience and the magic of play therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 25 (1) 4-13.

Address

602 Center Street Suite 209
Mount Airy, MD
21771

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm

Telephone

+13017109532

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Our Story

We provide mental health therapy to sensitive children, teens, and their families. We enjoy using creativity and build a warm, non-judgmental, blunt & sarcastic relationship to meet our client’s needs. Children enjoy working with Megghan because she creates an accepting environment where feelings are okay, and fun to explore! Teens often say we are helpful to them because we are ‘real’ and don’t sugarcoat our discussions. We work best with teens who have big feelings and seem to make things worse by hurting themselves or blowing up when overwhelmed. Teens who struggle with change or who are experiencing a tough transition or trauma are also supported in healing through their pain. Parents prefer our work together because we are patient, and we make sure you give yourself a break! We are a team on this rollercoaster of your kid’s emotions, and we will support you mostly with humor and practical tools. We work hard to make feelings talk less awkward for families and use research-backed approaches to make efficient progress in working with kids and teens who seem to puzzle the world around them by seeming like they are “too much.”