CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Attention: from 2024 it is no longer possible to register children or adolescents living in Amsterdam. For more information, please click here
Welcome to the webpage of Adagio for children and adolescents up to 18 years old. Here you’ll find information about how to register your child for help, or how to register as an adolescent. We’ll also explain which type of care we offer, and which rules we apply for taking care properly.
Infancy is a period in which much takes place. Children have to learn and develop a lot. These developments don’t happen without a fight. Bumps are part of them. And besides the fun of learning all these new things, emotions like sadness, fear and insecurity come with it. Usually, children find it difficult to express themselves by talking, they express themselves through their behavior. Children who suddenly have trouble sleeping, eating or listening to you are signaling that they experience problems. Therefore, it is good to watch your child closely and listen well to find out which complicated feelings are hidden behind your child’s behaviour.
Hurdles your child can encounter
Children can encounter difficult situations. Think of divorce, blended families, loved ones dying, traumatic experiences. But also, positive events can have a great impact, such as moving house, the birth of a sibling, transferring to another school. All these events are demanding and require extra energy for the child to adapt and work through them.
How does your child tell you it is struggling?
- A sudden change in behaviour
- Physical complaints that are not medically clarified (headaches, stomach pains, tiredness)
- Easily bored, not playing much, crying over everything
- Problems at school, problems learning or connecting to other children, being bullied
- Problems eating or sleeping
- Challenging behaviour, not listening to you.
If you’re worried, or have a hunch something is not well, you can ask a professional to observe your child together with you. An outsider can take a fresh approach. Sometimes even just one session can change the view on a situation, and give you enough handles to manage it on your own. Sometimes a longer trajectory is necessary. This depends on the type and severity of the problem. And on the parents’ wishes.
Our children’s and adolescent’s therapists make up a diverse team and offer treatment in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and English.
In most cases you are registered by your parents, your GP, or someone from the OKT (Parents and Child Team). If you’re 16 years or older you can also choose to register yourself.
When in doubt, or if you have any questions, you can always contact us.
Click here for our Folder on Children and Adolescents.
PROBLEMS
We offer treatment to children and adolescents in various age groups.
Babies and toddlers
For example, anxiety, parent-child difficulties, stimulus sensitivity or concerns about the child’s development.
Children
Think of sadness/feeling down, anxiety, problems with self-esteem, self-image or loneliness, stimulus sensitivity, problems in dealing with other children, problems with paying attention and concentration, problems sleeping, developing problems after a traumatic experience,
concerns about the child’s development or family problems.
Adolescents
Adolescents can also come to us with a variety of problems, such as depression, excessive worrying, problems with self-esteem and self-image, problems with social interactions or at school, anxiety, difficulties concentrating and paying attention, unresolved traumatic experiences or grief, problems with eating or family problems.
Families
We have a lot of experience in working with families and our approach is mostly systemic. Are their problems among the family members? Or if it is a case of forced treatment (OTS) by Bureau Jeugdzorg, we gladly help you to consider possibilities.
Are you wondering what Adagio can do for you? Just click here for your application or contact us by email: aanmeldingenjeugd@adagioamsterdam.nl In this email write down your name, role (child, parent, referring party), telephone number and an indication of the reason for your consultation. Our application team will then contact you to plan a consult by telephone.
DIAGNOSTICS
Sometimes we need to perform a psychological assessment to get a better understanding of what’s going on. That’s what we call ‘diagnostics’. For children this may involve:
- Neuropsychological assessment
- Intelligence assessment
- Developmental Assessment
- AD(H)D or ASS Assessment.
Therapies we offer
We offer both short-term and long-term treatment. For us, it is standard practice, when treating children or adolescents, to directly or indirectly involve the parents or significant others in the treatment. For children aged 16 or older this only happens if they consent to it.
What can Adagio do?
During the intake we assess the problems and explore which treatment(s) would be best suited. The chosen treatment is being assessed during the treatment phase and can be adapted to the child’s or parents’ needs.
Here below you’ll find a number of therapeutic techniques and other forms of treatment we work with. After selecting a certain therapy, you will be given all the necessary information as to what this treatment involves.
Therapies we offer
Talking Therapy (CBT)
Talking Therapy means the therapist will engage in talking with the child or adolescent about their feelings or thoughts in order to guide them. One method for doing so is called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). With this therapy the child learns how thoughts can influence behaviour and then learns how to change this influence. Through CBT the child learns to interpret situations differently and accordingly change their behaviour.
Play Therapy
Play Therapy is a type of therapy where the child and the therapist play together in a playroom. The playroom is equipped with all kinds of toys and the child is free to choose what they want to play with. During the playing the therapist finds out what the child feels and what they are thinking about. That way the therapist can offer guidance.
Cogmed Training for problems with paying attention
Cogmed is a training that aids concentration, attention and memory. It is for children who find it difficult to concentrate because their working memory is impaired. In this training the child practices their working memory, learns how to work in a structured way and keep track of things when something is being asked of them. This training is often used for children with ADD or ADHD.
Parental Guidance
If your child is behaving in a way you as a parent find it hard to cope with, we also offer parental guidance. During a guidance session the therapists together with the parent(s) can look at which parenting techniques help your child’s behavioural problems.
Family Therapy
Family Therapy is a type of therapy that involves the whole family. It focuses on the relations between family members and looks at how to use existing strengths in order to ease tensions and problems.
Trauma Therapy (amongst others, EMDR)
When a child experiences something very serious such as abuse or the death of a family member, this can cause psychological problems like nightmares and reliving the experience. Trauma therapy such as EMDR can ease these problems.
Systemic therapy
With this form of therapy, the child’s environment is actively involved in the treatment. The environment always influences a child. Together with the therapist you can work out how to accentuate a positive environmental influence.
GROUP THERAPIES
We offer various group therapies for children. EMOYO is an emotion regulation therapy for primary school children between 8 – 12 years old and with a migration background. We also offer mindfulness training for children according to the Eline Snel method. This method teaches children to push a so called ‘stop button’ when they feel overwhelmed and to learn to live more in the ‘here and now’. This will make them feel more relaxed, more at ease.
Prior to the intake the parents and, depending on the age, the child too will be sent questionnaires. During the intake we will together assess the problems. It’s important to fully understand the problems, but it is no longer obligatory to get a DSM-5 diagnosis for a child or adolescent to have the treatment covered by the insurance. We will decide on the most suitable treatment and get started. After the intake process, we will inform the council that we have your child in care for treatment. This is done via an electronic patient filing system that communicates with the council in a controlled, safe way. Your GP will also be informed. Shortly before ending treatment, we will also send you questionnaires.
COSTS AND REIMBURSEMENTS
Since January 1st, 2015 psychological care for children (0-18 years old) is financed by the councils, based on contractual agreements. Unfortunately, Adagio no longer has a contract with the Amsterdam Council, since 2024. Therefore, treatment for children and adolescents can’t be financed directly anymore.
Indirectly, however, financing is still possible. That is, Adagio can function as subcontracter for another care organisation for children and adolescents, that does still have a contract with the Amsterdam Council. And in some cases treatment can be financed by means of PGB (Persoonsgebonden budget).
For more information send an email to: aanmeldingenjeugd@adagioamsterdam.nl or contact the AMW (Algemeen Maatschappelijk Werk) in your neigbourhood.
Would you like to pay for the treatment of your child yourself? For more information click: zelf betalen or send an email to: aanmeldingenjeugd@adagioamsterdam.nl
Adagio does still have contracts with the following councils: Amstelveen-Aalsmeer, Diemen, DuoPlus, Landsmeer, Zaanstad, Purmerend, Edam-Volendam, Waterland.
For families living in these municipalities, here you will find the page with an explanation of how you can register your child.
Private payment
Adagio employs practitioners who have both broad and specialist training in working with children, young people and families. We offer various forms of treatment: individually with a child or young person, guidance for parents, therapy with several family members together and group therapy. We always work as a team, which means that cases are discussed anonymously with the team so that we can always provide the most appropriate help. Interventions include cognitive behavioral therapy, play therapy, attachment-promoting therapy, EMDR, body-oriented therapy and psychotherapy. Adagio also continuously offers group treatments for children and adolescents.
It is also possible to pay for the treatment of your child yourself. This is how it works:
After your registration we call you for a first ‘screening’. It’s a first introduction by telephone during which we ask you a number of questions. We do this to find your child a therapist that most fits your situation, taking into account expertise and language.
This is followed by an elaborate intake procedure, consisting of one consult with you as parents and one with your child. On the basis of these consults we make an estimate of the most suitable treatment for your child and we draw up a treatment plan. We then discuss this plan with you in an advisory consult. The costs of this registration process, consisting of the screening, intake procedure and advisory consult are € 400,–.
During the advisory consult we also discuss with you the costs for the treatment suggested.
For more information you can send an email to: aanmeldingenjeugd@adagioamsterdam.nl