Emotion Regulation Therapy for Children & Teens
Big feelings aren't the problem. Not being able to manage them can be.
Some children feel everything loudly, while others seem completely fine until, suddenly, they are not. When your child rages at small disappointments, panics over plan changes, or shuts down completely, it is natural to try to fix the feeling.
At Koru, we help your child build the growing capacity to recognize what is happening, tolerate the feeling, and choose what to do with it.
How It Works
Pick a Convenient Time
1. Choose Your Slot
Share Your Family's Story
2. Connect with Warmth
Co-Design Your Path Forward
3. Build a Collaborative Plan
We will hand-match your child to the right specialist and secure your spot. You walk away with absolute clarity and an immediate plan of support.
RECOGNIZING THE STRUGGLE
What emotional dysregulation looks like
Regulation shows up in the moment feelings get big — in how fast a child floods, how long they stay there, and whether they can reach any of their coping skills when it counts.
Zero to overwhelmed in seconds
Hard to come back
Staying upset for hours after everyone else has moved on; requiring substantial adult help to return to baseline.
Shutdown & withdrawal
Imploding rather than exploding; going quiet, shutting down, or retreating when stress builds.
Can’t name what’s wrong
Saying, “I don’t know why I’m upset” because feelings are hard to identify.
Small thing, big wave
Experiencing minor social moments, criticism, or disappointment as total crises.
Skills vanish under stress
Knowing exactly what to do when calm but losing complete access to those strategies in the moment.
These are all signs of a nervous system that’s overwhelmed and out of resources — and when a child is flooded, they lose access to the very coping skills they genuinely have.
WHY CALM HAS TO COME FIRST
Regulation is built from the bottom up
Children can’t use a skill they can’t access when they’re activated, so teaching coping strategies is only part of the work. The brain also settles in a particular order — from the bottom up.
First, they need to cope with the body’s alarm. Then emotions can be felt and shared. Only then can the thinking brain — logic, language, problem-solving — come back online.
REGULATION GROWS IN RELATIONSHIP
Co-regulation comes before independent regulation
WHERE WE START
Co-regulation
A calm adult lends their steadiness, and the child regulates alongside them.
AS SKILLS GROW
Supported regulation
The child does more of the work, with prompts and presence nearby.
THE GOAL
Self-regulation
The child increasingly recognizes and manages big feelings on their own.
A child can’t calm a storm they’ve never been taught to navigate — not without a steady co-captain first.
OUR APPROACH
How we build executive capacity and daily routines
Depending on your child, treatment may weave together several of these — never as a script, always matched to what their nervous system actually needs.
Emotional literacy
Naming and telling apart emotions with more precision — because you can’t manage what you can’t yet name.
Body awareness
Noticing the physical “whispers” — the tight chest, hot face, clenched fists — before feelings become a full storm.
Understanding triggers
Spotting patterns, so reactions stop feeling random and start becoming predictable — and preventable.
Distress tolerance
Learning that an uncomfortable feeling can be sat with and ridden out — without an immediate escape or impulsive reaction.
Strategy selection
Matching the tool to the emotion and the moment — not reaching for the same “calm-down” trick for everything.
Cognitive flexibility
Building more flexible interpretations and responses, so a setback has more than one possible ending.
Parent coaching
Helping you support regulation without over-accommodating, escalating, or expecting skills beyond your child’s current capacity.
You and your child doesn’t need to learn twenty-five different coping strategies. You need to learn what’s happening, what the moment needs, and which response is likely to help.
WHAT PROGRESS CAN LOOK LIKE
Small words that replace big storms
“I’m getting overwhelmed.”
…instead of an explosion.
“I need five minutes.”
…instead of a slammed door.
Over time, a young person might…
- Identify feelings earlier, before they peak.
- Tolerate disappointment without falling apart.
- Express anger without aggression.
- Return to a hard situation after regulating.
- Become less frightened of their own strong emotions.
- Recover faster after getting upset.
- Ask for support instead of bottling it up.
- Use a strategy on their own, in the moment.
- Repair a relationship after conflict.
Progress isn’t emotional silence. It’s growing flexibility — and more room to choose.
Meet Our Calgary Child & Teen Specialists
Our team consists of Registered Psychologists who specialize in supporting children and teens through evidence-based, compassionate, and somatic-relational approaches.
Jacqueline Stowkowy
Registered Psychologist
Through her genuine care and compassion for others, Jacqueline fosters a supportive environment that she believes helps her clients to achieve their full potential.
Dave McPherson
Registered Psychologist
Dave collaborates with clients to develop a support plan that suits each one’s unique needs using a strengths-based and positive approach. I
Fiona Steedman
Registered Psychologist
Fiona is passionate about fostering school and home environments that promote positive mental health, skill development, and overall well-being.
Dr. Caroline Buzanko
Registered Psychologist
Dr. Caroline focuses on practical, real-life strategies to build confidence, resilience, and connection. As a mom, she understands how hard it is to “do the right thing,” so she makes sure her advice is realistic and doable.
Nick Yasinchuk
Registered Provisional Psychologist
More info soon!
Kaycie Hartley
Registered Provisional Psychologist
Kaycie is dedicated to supporting children and their families by providing guidance and practical strategies to help build confidence and resiliency together.
Kristina
Registered Psychologist
More Info coming soon
Ready to match your child with one of our specialized clinicians?
Our team consists of Registered Psychologists who specialize in supporting children and teens through evidence-based, compassionate, and somatic-relational approaches.
QUESTIONS PARENTS ASK US
Frequently asked questions
Not always. Some emotions need soothing; others carry useful information. Regulation means responding to the emotion effectively — not automatically making it disappear.
A strategy learned while calm often isn’t yet accessible during high activation. Therapy involves practising recognition and strategy use before your child reaches the point of overwhelm, so the skill is reachable when it’s actually needed.
It can be. ADHD can affect inhibition, attention, frustration tolerance, and the speed of emotional responding for some children, so regulation and ADHD often need to be understood together.
Autistic children may experience regulation differences related to sensory load, communication, predictability, executive functioning, masking, and other demands. Therapy should account for those factors rather than treating dysregulation as simply behavioural.
Yes. Fight, flight, freeze, avoidance, irritability, and shutdown can all show up when a child feels threatened or overwhelmed, so anxiety and dysregulation frequently overlap.
Sometimes space helps; for some children, forced isolation increases distress. The best response depends on the individual child and the function of the behaviour, which is something we work out together.
Usually once enough regulation has returned. Reflection works better after your child can access the thinking skills needed to learn from it, rather than while they’re still activated.
Often significantly, especially with younger children. Regulation develops across relationships and environments, so parent involvement can be an important part of treatment.
Emotion-regulation therapy is broader. It can address anxiety, sadness, rejection, shame, overwhelm, shutdown, and impulsivity — not just anger.
Many extended health plans include psychological services, though coverage and eligible providers vary. It’s best to confirm your individual coverage, and our team can walk you through fees and receipts.
THE HEART OF THE WORK
We’re not teaching your child not to feel. We’re helping them feel deeply — without being ruled by every feeling.
Tell us what big emotions look like in your home, and we’ll help you figure out the next right step for your family.