Details about our therapies

CHILD CENTERED PLAY THERAPY

We offer child centered play therapy for children, ages 2 years old and up who have experienced trauma. In this approach, we meet with the parents in the beginning and then begin to work with the child individually for a number of weeks or months. Every 4-6 weeks we will meet with the parents to give feedback and discuss the child’s needs or progress in therapy. In these meetings, the trained play therapist will discuss the themes in the child’s play as well as offer parents an opportunity to discuss any additional needs or concerns that they have regarding their child. In this approach, the child’s sessions are private and the child develops a relationship with the play therapist directly. 

FILIAL THERAPY

We also offer filial therapy services for parents who want to build a stronger attachment with their children. Filial therapy was a therapeutic approach developed in the 1960’s by Bernard and Louise Guerney. In this approach, the trained therapist will work with parents to learn four specialized play skills and begin to gain some understanding about the themes in their child’s play. Once parents have learned the skills, the child will be asked to join the parents for some child lead play sessions while the therapist continues to supervise these sessions in the office. Once the therapist feels the parent is ready, then the parent will begin to conduct specialized play sessions with their child once a week at home while continuing to have support from the therapist. We use a variety of therapy methods that have been shown to be the most effective with child and adolescents, and family problems. These include play therapy, filial (parent-child) play therapy, parent consultation & training, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and expressive therapies. 

SOMATIC EXPERIENCING

Dr. Peter Levine’s, author of Waking the Tiger: Healing the Trauma, developed an approach called Somatic Experiencing (SE). This is a mind/body approach in which we focus on nervous system regulation which occurs as we work together to discharge the the trauma that got stuck during the original event on a physiological level. We will work very slowly at first and increase the work only as you continue to build tolerance and capacity. In sessions, we’ll rarely work with a storyline. Rather, we will focus on body sensations, emotions, and create opportunities for your nervous system to develop more capacity for life and being more present to your experiences.