Children’s Therapy

My therapeutic approach when working with children, young adolescents, and their families is the use of child-centered play therapy. In child-centered play therapy, a child’s experience within the counseling relationship is the factor that is most healing and meaningful in creating lasting, positive change. The style of play therapy that I practice most often and one that I’m deeply passionate about is a child-centered, nondirective approach, a method that unlocks a child’s fears, motivations, desires, and strengths. While creating a safe and accepting atmosphere for parent and child, I assist and encourage caregivers to create space for, witness, and support the child’s reflections and explorations.

My ultimate goal is to create powerful interpersonal and emotional connections and discoveries from the playroom honored and replicated at home and within the family system, in the space children crave and need it the most. The key principle of non-directive play therapy is to trust that the child is the most capable person to find their own answers and healing abilities through the medium of play, their first and most familiar language. The fundamental idea is that children will gracefully move through their challenges if given a warm, safe, and accepting environment to explore all facets within themselves. Because of this child-centered approach, I am able to witness the healing that occurs when children are given unconditional acceptance and trust to identify and move through confusing, painful, or scary feelings towards confidence and acceptance of themselves and others. It’s a beautiful moment to witness a child discover for themselves that they truly are their own expert.