Child Therapy

I have worked with at risk children and families since 1996, much of that time has been spent helping abused and neglected children deal with their trauma and attachment issues. Most of these children needed help learning to trust, follow rules, and deal with emotions in a healthy way. But more than that, they needed to re-establish a healthy bond with their caregivers.

Through the use of Internal Family Systems, EMDR, CRM, I have successfully helped many children and their caregivers heal from trauma memories and increase healthy attachment and boding. I also use more traditional therapeutic techniques such as art, sandtray, games, and play therapy to help children deal with trauma, adoption, or struggles with attachment and bonding.

Trauma

Once a traumatic experience has occurred (this could be a single incident trauma like a car accident or a pattern of trauma like neglect or abuse) it has a lasting, damaging affect on the limbic system. The limbic system is the part of the brain that controls memories, emotions, and survival instincts such as fight, flight, or freeze. After trauma the limbic system is now activated most of the time, if not all of the time for some children.

I use IFS to teach kids about their protector parts and that these parts are trying to protect them from harm at all times. Our protectors cannot tell the difference between the past and the preset so they often misperceive every day situations as life threatening based on the past traumatic experience. So even if the child is now in a safe environment, he or she will continue to live in fight, flight, or freeze mode most of the time. As part of my trauma recovery treatment plan I will teach you and your child about how the brain responds to trauma and how best to heal the trauma so that your child's protector parts no longer need to be on guard all the time. EMDR, CRM, and IFS are the preferred treatment modalities for children struggling with the effects of trauma. I also offer play therapy, sandtray therapy, art therapy, and talk therapy. Each session is specifically tailored to your child's needs.