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THERAPY WITH CHILDREN

One of our great modern child psychologists Jean Piaget said “Play is the work of childhood.” It’s through play that children explore and understand themselves and their world. In our work together, your child will have the opportunity to explore and work through their challenges in the context of play therapy and a relationship with a caring therapist. An equally important part of working with your child will be meeting with you to provide support and guidance on parenting.

Some of the more common issues I work with are:  

  • Oppositional behavior 

  • Divorce & blended families

  • Sibling conflict

  • Trauma

  • Anxiety (see SPACE below)

  • Depression

  • Anger

  • Gender and sexuality 

SPACE 
(Supporting Parents for Anxious Childhood Emotions)

SPACE Therapy is an evidence-based treatment developed by Yale Child Study Center for helping children and adolescents with anxiety disorders.  If you are a parent with an anxious child or teen, you have likely experienced how your child’s anxiety can impact the whole family.  Children and teens often elicit support from parents to help them cope with anxious feelings. As parents, you naturally want to alleviate your child’s distress and make them feel better.  The behaviors parents engage in to make kids feel better are called parental accommodations.  For example, parents may change schedules or avoid specific activities to help reduce a child’s anxiety. While accommodations may alleviate children’s anxiety in the short-term, children don’t learn how to tolerate anxiety on their own.  In SPACE,  I coach parents on how to respond supportively to their child’s anxiety while taking gradual steps towards reducing accommodations. 

Some of the main anxiety problems treated with SPACE include:

  • Separation Anxiety

  • Social Anxiety

  • Generalized Anxiety

  • Fears & Phobias

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

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