About Joy Center
Helping Famlies for over 30 years
Joy Center is a an American-owned company based in Chicago, IL. In 2009, Joy Center (JC) moved to Europe and began to support families living overseas. We support children and parents when challenges arise in the child’s unfolding development. We also support parents and families when struggles occur from living overseas and not having support in the way that it is needed. Military families and children face unique stressors and sometimes complexities that emerge that need immediate, intensive, and/or consistent interventions.
Our History
Chicago
Dr. Amy Zier opened her first clinic, Amy Zier & Associates (AZ+A,) in Chicago in 1997. The clinic and its team of forward-thinking clinicians became known for specialization in the treatment of Autism and related disorders, as well as support for children with extreme behavioral challenges. After establishing a thriving clinic in the USA, she set her sights on providing therapeutic services to American military families serving abroad with their families.
Europe
In 2009, Dr. Amy Zier moved to Europe and started a pediatric practice, providing care for American Military families and children stationed overseas. In 2017, AZ+A clinic changed its name but not its approach to Joy Center, adding speech and language services as well as psychology. With clinic locations in Europe, we are now the one of the top therapy providers for U.S. American Military, and Civilian families living overseas.
Why Joy Center?
American-Based Innovative Treatments
Family Systems Therapy
Innovative Spaces
Continuity of Care
Licensed Professionals, Trained in American Evidence-Based Approaches
Our Philosophy
Professional Staff
Trained in American-based therapies, we are staffed with highly qualified professionals. Our team of occupational therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists includes therapists who have undergone extensive and specialized training in providing these services. Together, these specialists work collaboratively to ensure that all of our patients receive the highest level of care possible.
Relationship & Family
The Relationship and Family DIR Model is a powerful theoretical foundation for the therapies we use in our practice. This model defines core relationship and family processes that are essential for healthy functioning, as well as a holistic approach to understanding the development of children, adolescents, and adults. It emphasizes the importance of relationships in the development of social-emotional capacities, and recognizes that individuals exist within relational systems.
This model integrates theories of development, attachment, social emotional learning, neuroscience, clinical experience and more to create an evidence-based approach to treating children with socialization difficulties and helps families work together in relationship. It brings together the best of various therapeutic approaches into one comprehensive framework.
