Are you tired of your child’s meltdowns, defiance, aggression, difficult routines, or constantly having to repeat yourself?
Other therapies have not worked, at least not for long, and you are tired of searching google, blogs, or social media for strategies that work.
You’re in the right place.
We serve families in Florida and, in September 2024, we can virtually work with parents across 42 states due to changing healthcare laws.
Hi there, I’m Dr. Emily Robertson, PhD, clinical psychologist and founder of the Center for Child Behavior.
Why we are different.
Boutique Private Practice
We are a boutique, locally owned private practice. In addition to weekly sessions, families receive direct access via email and phone to Dr. Emily throughout the week. She only accepts approximately 20 families at a time in order to provide you with an elevated, personalized healthcare experience.
Results focused
Dr. Emily’s kind and caring approach is paired with the occasional but necessary tough love to ensure parents make progress through the coaching program. Home practice assignments are critical to showing progress and she wants you to have results fast!
Research Backed
As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Emily has years of experience as not only a clinician but also a clinical researcher. She has 30+ scientific publications in academic journals on topics such as ADHD, behavior problems, therapies for these concerns like PCIT, neuroscience behind aggression, among others. She loves communicating science to families in an easy to digest way.
We accept Aetna insurance
Common concerns we help families with:
ADHD/ADD
Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD)
Morning or evening routine challenges
School behavioral concerns
Hitting/kicking/aggression
Meltdowns/Tantrums
Helping parent organize their own routines or schedule
Child listening
Couple support for parenting differences between spouses
How to structure homework routine to reduce fighting or refusal
Improving parent-child relationship
**Please note our area of expertise is in the above challenges. We usually do not work with families with children whose primary challenges are significant anxiety, OCD, depression, or self-harm/suicidal thoughts.
If you need support for depression, anxiety, self-harm, or OCD we recommend the following providers in Sarasota, FL:
Dr. Michelle Wilson, PhD www.suncoastpsychology.com
Child and Parent Psychological Services Center www.childtherapysrq.com
If you are needing support in your marriage, I would recommend the following provider:
Denise Schonwald https://deniseschonwald.com (accepts insurance)
We are recruiting 5 families for a 7-week virtual parent group for child ADHD
Our small virtual parent groups go through research-backed strategies for children with ADHD. Parents learn strategies to help their children with homework routines and executive functioning skills (e.g., organizing materials, breaking down big assignments into smaller chunks), school behavior challenges, tantrums, defiance, anger, and difficult home routines (morning or evening).
Held virtually via Zoom Tuesdays from 6-7:30pm starting Tuesday, September 10th, 2024 and goes to October 22nd, 2024.
A 15-minute phone consultation with Dr. Emily is required to enroll to ensure you are a good fit for the group.
$85 per session (1.5 hours each session) for 7 weeks. Equates to $56 per hour therapy.
First four session payments are due at start of group ($340) and the last three payments ($255) are due Oct 1st.
Our Services
For families with children ages 2-12 years of age
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Do you want to talk with Dr. Emily and get her opinion on how to move forward without starting the full programs? Confused as to if your child needs an assessment vs. therapy? Not sure how to prioritize what you need? Booking a consultation will help. She'll be transparent and explain what would help.
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In group parent coaching, parents receive the same research-backed strategies in Behavioral Parent Traiing but in a small group setting (5 families total). This allows caregivers to learn from other families.
Groups are 7 weeks and parents will learn strategies to help kids with ADHD, tantrums, defiance, hitting, anger, homework, difficult routines (morning and evening), & more!
Improvements are noticeable in 1 to 3 weeks!
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During this research-backed therapy, parents learn strategies to improve their child’s behavior, family conflict, routines like morning and homework routines, limit setting, increase positive behavior and listening, reduce arguments, and teaching your child to regulate those big emotions/reduce meltdowns.
Improvements are noticeable in 1 to 3 weeks! Families need on average 11 sessions. Please communicate if you for any reason need to keep the program expedited such as financial reasons. She is happy to work with you and prioritize strategies based on your situation.
Dr. Emily will teach you directly how to respond to your child in ways that will improve emotion regulation and listening. This is the gold standard treatment for child behavior problems. See FAQ page for why we don’t meet directly with the child in most cases.
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PCIT is a research-backed, play therapy for child behavior and emotional problems like tantrums, anger outbursts, defiance, and/or aggression/hitting for children 2 to 7 years old. PCIT is helpful for children with or without a diagnosis of a behavioral disorder. We will work with you either way.
Treatment is typically 12-16 weeks. If you are not able to commit to this length of treatment, Behavioral Parent Training will be a better option (see above tab).
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Dr. Emily loves teaching other healthcare providers about behavioral interventions for child behavioral chalenges. She is in the process of developing an on-demand, digital course. Please contact her via the contact page to request a training tailored to your needs.
She provides trainings for the treatment of child ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, aggression, violence.
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Dr. Emily is passionate about speaking and educating healthcare professionals educators, and lay audiences on child behavioral health challenges. She has provided talks and trainings on child ADHD and inattention, defiance and anger outbursts, aggression and violence, juvenile delinquency all while roping in the neuroscience and clinical interventions related to these challenges.
Meet the Team
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Dr. Emily Robertson, PhD
FOUNDER & CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
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Megan Garcia, M.A.
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
We support parents by showing them how to teach their children to regulate their emotions and big feelings using research supported strategies.
What parents are saying
“Working with Dr. Emily for three months has changed our lives for the better. My four-year-old son had severe behavior issues that we could not mediate with occupational therapy, speech therapy, or on our own.”
- parent of 4-year-old
“We were in a very difficult place when we met Dr. Emily and really were not sure if it was possible for our situation to change much. Wow! She changed our life dramatically. She makes it so simple and user friendly we couldn't believe we were not doing these strategies before.”
- parent of 9 & 7-year-olds
“I saw counselor after counselor and doctor and other doctors. They recommended all sorts of things. No one told me about behavioral treatments or that the parents should be so heavily involved. And, thankfully, it worked.”
- parent of 7-year-old with ADHD
“We are eternally thankful for the tools, guidance, and support that Dr. Emily provided. My son is thriving - this is every parent’s dream. I highly recommend working with Dr. Emily. She will tailor the program to you while providing you tried and true proven strategies.”
- parent of 4-year-old
The search for help ends here.
Contact us using the form below and we will contact you within 24 business hours.
