Let’s play!
Play and art in therapy along with guidance lessons can help children build resilience, social skills and coping skills for emotional regulation.
Play improves the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and young people.
I understand your child has individual needs with behavior, learning, and showing emotions in their own way so their therapy needs to meet them where they are. I use therapeutic games, activities, movement and art to gain insight into a child’s behavior to help them develop essential coping skills.
Together we can help your child improve the following skills your child needs for success at home, in school and with cultivating solid relationships:
Encouraging creativity helps kids explore who they are and to feel good about what they accomplish. Art also supplies an outlet for negative emotions, especially for kids who don’t know how to express themselves verbally. Using art, kids can explore their imagination without fear or worry. Not only does it open the door to communicating, but the act of creating art is soothing and self-expressive.
What’s Next? Let’s talk about how my therapy approach can help your pre-teen. Complete the submission form HERE.
Art can help young people process, understand, and communicate complicated thoughts and emotions.
First, you’ll talk with me on a free 15-minute consult call. We’ll make sure I am a good fit for what you need. Therapy is a personal relationship and should be an enjoyable, fun, refreshing relationship. We’ll also talk about costs.
Then, we’ll schedule your first appointment and I will send you access to the balance portal where you’ll find all the legal authorization forms, practice policy and billing info.
Your first session is one hour long. We’ll talk about your past and what life looks like currently. You can expect that what you discuss in session will not be shared with anyone. I’ll create a treatment plan and goals that we’ll work on together in ongoing weekly sessions.
Although the goals of counseling with all age ranges are similar the strategies will be different.
The adolescent brain is different from an adult brain, so processing emotions and problems will look different. Children and teens may need more active engagement like the use of games, books, worksheets, art and play while many adults need active engagement through talk therapy.
I use active therapy for both but many days I will be on the floor making glitter bottles or worry monsters with kids and with adults I may be pulling out yoga mats for stretching/meditation or just having engaging conversations with the use of some therapy worksheets.
You will be invited to be a part of the initial intake session (the 1st appointment), to provide insight and help me build comfort with your child in the therapeutic relationship. I like to keep my parents involved in the counseling process and want to hear when anything new comes up or if there are any changes.
We (your child and I) may invite you into a session to discuss different concerns or talk about progress. If I see there is something you can help with at home like a behavior plan or assisting with your child’s homework I will let you know. The therapeutic relationship is very important to my role in helping, so I will ask that besides safety concerns we keep most things confidential within the counseling environment, but I don’t mind sharing what we are working on or I may ask for input on what you would like us to focus on. You are a very important part of the counseling process.
