Early Childhood Therapy
While early childhood can be a time of wonder and growth, many young children and their families also experience significant challenges during this period of development. In fact, children often experience mental and behavioral health concerns that have an impact on the whole family.
“Finding the right words” to express our feelings and experiences can be a challenge, so children most often express their inner worlds through play rather than verbal communication. Play therapy gives children a safe space to explore and express their feelings and experiences. In order to ensure parents feel supported as they navigate the wonders and challenges of parenting, the therapy process also includes frequent parenting support and developmental guidance. Our goal is to create a partnership with children and families in order to strengthen the parent-child relationship, increase connection, and support the child and family’s overall wellbeing.
“It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.”
- Donald Winnicott
Through a partnership with the child and parent/caregiver, therapy can address:
Attachment and Relational Concerns, including increasing feelings of connectedness and decreasing conflict
Childhood anxiety or depression, including separation anxiety and temperament/regulation challenges
Adjustment difficulties, including helping children manage a parental separation/divorce or introduction of a new baby
Parental mental health concerns, including helping children understand, and cope with, a parent/caregiver’s mental health challenges (e.g. depression, anxiety, postpartum depression/anxiety)
Grief and Loss
Trauma, including experience in foster care and adoption trauma