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I have helped children affected by:
I provide child therapy, working directly with your child to explore his or her inner emotional states via play, empathic listening and creative & expressive arts. In the play room, I can support your child to explore and strengthen his or her unfolding sense of self. I also have great compassion for your needs as a parent, and support you with tools to use outside of the sessions together. I "play mindfulness" with children to support their ability to focus, attention on their breath, internal process to gain more time before reacting, understanding of their body sensations and mood, ability to self-regulate their emotions and generate compassion.
Your child's behaviors are trying to say something about what's going on with their inner world and challenges they are having navigating the outer world. With close collaboration with parents, I begin to understand what is creating those challenges and support your child to discover and express what is going on underneath the behavior. Using expressive arts materials such as clay, sand tray, puppets and imaginative exercises, I encourage your child experience, understand, and express appropriately those underlying feelings. This helps your child to learn ways to deal with everyday challenges, feelings, and transitions with greater skill and ease. By using structured approaches as well as child-centered play therapy, I learn more about their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and struggles than by verbal communication alone. I have a collaborative approach in working with you and your family. I am gender-affirming and LGBTQ+ ally. |
Play is the primary way that children:
Play is the natural language of children. In a therapeutic environment, play is a safe way that children externalize their internal struggles. So, it is through the modality of play that we can come to truly understand what is underneath the behavior and are then able to attend to the core issues. |