Child Therapy in Bellingham, WA
Help Your Kids Feel Better
Specialized, trauma-informed care for children ages 5–12.
Child psychologists now accepting new clients.
Therapy for Kids
When Your Child isn't "O.K." nothing is "O.K."
You can feel it even when you can’t quite explain it. Sometimes it shows up as big emotions, meltdowns, or behavior that seems out of nowhere. Other times it’s more subtle. Maybe it’s something in their mood, their play, or the way they’re relating that just doesn’t feel right.
Underneath, many children are carrying things they don’t yet have words for:
“I’m not good enough.”
“No one understands me.”
“It’s my fault.”
As a parent, that’s incredibly hard to watch. And it’s easy to feel like you’ve tried everything.
If this feels familiar, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to keep carrying it by yourself.
We Help Children with:
- Anxiety/Social Anxiety
- ADHD
- Depression
- Trauma/PTSD
- Communication
- Parental Separation/Conflict
- Autism Spectrum
- School Difficulty
- Identity (Gender, Sexual, and more)
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Pediatric Bipolar
- Connection
- Emotional Regulation
- Difficult Behaviors
- Adjusting to Divorce
- Life Transitions
Our Approach
How Child Therapy Works at
Inside Passage Counseling
At Inside Passage Counseling, we approach child counseling as a true partnership with you and with your child.
You know your child. We bring specialized training in evidence-based therapy including Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT), attachment-based therapy, play therapy, and the Incredible Years Parenting Program, all of which are grounded in child development and the science of healthy attachment.
Together, we figure out what’s actually going on beneath the behaviors and what will help your child — and your whole family — find lasting ease and connection.
Depending on your child’s age, needs, and temperament, child therapy at Inside Passage may include:
- Play-based work to help younger children express what they can't yet say in words
- Structured, skill-based support for emotional regulation and behavior
- Trauma-focused approaches to help children process difficult experiences safely
- Parent coaching so the changes happening in session also happen at home
A Note to Parents
You're Part of
This Too
Most parents and caregivers who come to us aren’t lacking effort or love.
They’re exhausted.
They’ve tried everything they know how to try. They’re second-guessing themselves and reacting in ways they wish they wouldn’t.
Part of child therapy at Inside Passage is supporting you too.
We help parents:
- Make sense of their child’s behavior
- Learn how to respond in the moment
- Build simple daily rhythms and grounding practices at home
- Feel more confident and less reactive in their role
- Reconnect with their child even when things feel hard
Meet Your Child Therapists
- All Posts
- Child Therapy
Autism Spectrum, Neurodivergence, Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Pediatric Bipolar Disorder, Trauma, Adjusting to Divorce, Behavioral Problems, Parenting Support
ADHD, Trauma and PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, Disruptive Behavior Problems, Adoption, Blended Families, Parenting and Parent Management Training (PMT)
The length of therapy varies depending on each child or family’s needs and the complexity of what they’re experiencing. For most children therapy often lasts around 6–9 months, with progress and positive changes developing during that time. We reassess regularly and always work toward your child’s specific goals.
For individual therapy: Some of our providers are in-network with Premera and those providers bill Premera directly for individual counseling services. We are out of network with all other insurances. This means that payment is due at the time of service. We can provide superbills for you to submit to your insurance for possible reimbursement for any out-of-network mental health benefits you may have via your plan.
For couples and family therapy: This is a private pay service only. In couples and family counseling, we identify all members of the relationship jointly as our client. We do not identify an individual client with a mental health disorder diagnosis. This means that our couples and family counseling services are not considered to be “Medically Necessary” by insurance companies and are not covered by insurance.
For therapy intensives: IFS individual therapy intensives and EFT couples therapy intensives are private pay only and are not covered by insurance.
Our rates for 50-minute individual and couple’s therapy sessions range from $160-$215, depending on the provider. 80-minute sessions are available upon request and cost 1.5 times the 50-minute amount. Please inquire about rates for individual and couple’s therapy intensives.
Yes— all our therapists have extensive experience in both clinical practice and counseling helping them to understand both the emotional and developmental needs of children.
Drawing from evidence-based approaches such as CBT, TF-CBT, attachment-based therapy, EFFT, structural family therapy, Mindfulness, PCIT, the Incredible Years Parenting Program, STAIR Narrative Therapy, and child-led and filial play therapy, we tailor treatment to fit your child and family’s specific needs rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
Our work is relational and collaborative, focused on understanding what’s underlying the concern, building connection, and supporting both the child and parents with practical tools and strategies.
- With younger children, we use age appropriate play-based therapy to help them express and work through challenges in a way that feels natural and safe, while also supporting parents in strengthening connection and responding effectively at home
Yes—parent involvement and communication are an important part of the process.
- For younger children, parents are regularly involved in sessions, and we check in frequently about progress, concerns, and ways to support your child at home.
It helps to describe it as a safe place where they can talk, play, and share what’s been hard. We suggest not calling it a doctor’s appointment. You might say they’re meeting someone whose job is to help kids with big feelings and figure out what’s going on. Keep it simple, warm, and low-pressure.
Our child therapists draw from CBT, Trauma-Focused CBT, attachment-based therapy, play therapy, EFFT, Mindfulness, PCIT, and the Incredible Years Parenting Program — always tailored to what fits your child best.
Yes. Our therapists have experience supporting neurodivergent children including those on the autism spectrum, with approaches adapted to each child’s communication style, sensory needs, and developmental stage.
