Childhood Mental Health

I work with children and teens of all ages struggling with a variety of issues, though specialize in treating infant and early childhood trauma. 

Issues I most often help children and their parents with include:

Emotional Regulation

Trauma

Grief and Loss

Parent Coaching

Adoption and/or Foster Care

Discipline

Autism Spectrum Disorder

ADHD

Aggression

Tantrums

Caregiving Stress

Birth through age five is a particularly sensitive and critical developmental period. During this time, the brain is building the groundwork for all future development. Infants and young children are sponges and trauma and unmet needs during these early years can negatively impact development and mental health later in life. Luckily, research shows that early treatment can strongly mitigate the adverse effects of trauma and restore typical and healthy development. Most learning during early childhood occurs within the context of the caregiving relationship. For this reason, reducing caregiver stress is critical to improving a child's social and emotional development, and caregiver participation in therapy is necessary.

I use a variety of evidence based treatment interventions, often pulling from multiple modalities in order to best meet the needs of each unique family. These treatments include but are not limited to the following models:

• Child-Parent Psychotherapy 
• Promoting First Relationships
• Play Therapy
• RUBI Autism Network Parent Training for Disruptive Behaviors 
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

My ultimate goal is to help families resolve any issues they may be facing and guide them toward a place where they are confident that therapy is no longer needed. Sometimes, families come to me for shorter-term support, advice, and coaching on specific concerns. I usually recommend planning for as few as four sessions in those cases. 

However, if more complex dynamics are at play or a child has experienced significant trauma, it will likely take longer to dig deeper, further explore, and process everything properly. Whatever the situation, I'm here to help and support you and your child's long-term relationship. I will help you gain the confidence and skills to respond to your child's needs and support their social and emotional development so you can continue to thrive long after our work is done.