Therapy for children

A child comes into the world without the capacity to regulate herself; she relies upon caring adults to care for her and help her brain learn to soothe herself and avoid trouble.  Despite the best efforts of competent parents, children often benefit from working with someone outside the family to help them learn new skills and work through troubling situations.  Psychologists and Marriage and Family Therapists are trained to help children as well as teens and adults learn more effective coping skills and process difficult parts of life. 

While adults can use their brains to talk through their thoughts and feelings, children often need to process their experiences in  a different way -- through play.  Child therapists utilize the metaphors of play to help a young person express their anger, sadness, jealousy and fears one step removed from reality.  Being able to explain how the solider must be brave in the face of uncertainty is much safer than asking a child to describe their own experience.  Our therapists are trained to operate in this realm to help children progress through difficult situations.

Parents are essential in this process.  As children often can't or don't understand or express the full truth, our child therapists work closely with parents to help appreciate the circumstances in which the child is operating.  Additionally, the parent is a crucial ally in helping the therapist coach the child to see from a different perspective.  Parents are instrumental in carrying out those lessons in daily life.  As such, we meet with parents every few weeks to collaborate.

Boys often have a particular need to see themselves reflected back through a male therapist.  How does a boy express his sensitivity, vulnerability alongside his need to be strong and active?  A male therapist often works wonders to help a boy learn to work through his developmental obstacles.  We have two men on staff who work with children to assist in this process.

There are a limited number of spaces available after school for children to see our play therapists.  On your voice or email message, please indicate that you are interested in play therapy for your son or daughter.  We hope to be able to assist you.