Therapy for Kids' Behavioral Issues

Meltdowns, defiance, aggression & the parents holding it together — Milwaukee, Whitefish Bay & online across Wisconsin

The daycare keeps "wanting to chat at pickup." The school emails have a tone now. At home it's meltdowns over the wrong-color cup, doors slammed hard enough to rattle the frame, a kid who hits, or one who simply will. not. do. anything you ask.

And underneath the exhaustion is the question you'd never say at the playground: is this normal, or is something wrong — and is it my fault?

Here's the frame that changes everything: behavior is communication. Kids act out what they can't yet say — big feelings, unmet needs, skills that haven't developed yet. The goal of therapy isn't to sand your child down into compliance. It's to figure out what the behavior is saying, and give your child (and you) better tools than the meltdown.

What the work looks like

• For little ones (0–6): the work is mostly with you. Parent coaching, attachment, and emotional regulation — small changes in how the hard moments get handled, which is how young children actually change. No, your toddler will not be lying on a couch.
• For school-age kids and teens: your child gets their own therapist and their own tools — regulation skills, play and sand tray for kids who don't talk it out, trauma-informed care when the behavior has roots — while you get a partner in the family-systems work, because behavior never happens in a vacuum.
• For you: a plan you can actually run at 7 a.m. on a school day, and somewhere to put your own frustration and guilt. Both are part of it.

Who you'd work with

Lauri Budzynski, MA, LPC, NCC

Ages 0–6. Infant and early childhood mental health, parent coaching & child behavior, attachment and emotional regulation. If your hardest hours involve a toddler or preschooler, Lauri is the specialist — she works through the parents, where the leverage actually is at this age.

Openings now

Meet Lauri →

Stacey Glasenapp, MS, LPC

School-age & teens. Nearly two decades with kids, teens, and their families — trauma-informed CBT, sand tray therapy, and a family-systems lens that works the whole picture, not just the kid. Clients say her office is where they finally feel comfortable — and where they laugh.

Openings now

Meet Stacey →

Questions parents ask

"Does needing therapy mean I've failed as a parent?"
No — it means the standard-issue tools didn't fit this child, which happens in the best families. As Stacey puts it: the books don't always go with the child you're given.

"Will you just talk to my kid once a week and hope?"
No. Parents are part of the work at every age — the younger the child, the more the work runs through you. You'll always know the plan.

"What if it's something more — ADHD, autism, trauma?"
Then you want a therapist who can recognize it, say it out loud, and adjust the approach — or point you to the right evaluation. That's part of the job.

Related: toddler & early childhood therapy · infant mental health · support for parents of children with special needs