Birth to Five
As a mental health therapist who works with children 0-5 and their caregivers, I have witnessed the lack of guidance available for caregivers and their young children. This can be devastating at such a crucial developmental period for children. During their early years, children are watching relationships between themselves, caregivers, and the world, creating a blueprint for the rest of their lives. I will help you as a caregiver understand this crucial developmental period, how to foster it, improve bonding and attachment, and much more.
Trauma-Informed
Did you know that the earlier a child experiences trauma, the more it impacts them? Trauma disrupts and disorders a child’s world. It causes them to feel unsafe, affects their ability to regulate emotions, may delay development, and can cause acting out. As a clinician trained and certified in Child Parent Psychotherapy, my knowledge and insight can identify how an underlying trauma may be causing behavioral issues and provide strategies and tools to address relational and emotional needs.
Needs-Based Focus
Having taken classes focused on Brain-Based Neuroscience and its impact on children’s behaviors, I have learned to look beneath the surface to the causes of a child’s behavior. What we see on the outside is not the full picture; behavior is the “tip of the iceberg.” Simply managing behaviors can be ineffective if needs, individual differences, and feelings aren’t adequately addressed. Together we will examine what lies below the surface, relationally and developmentally, so you can best meet your child’s needs.
Fostering Joy
Joy and love are two of the most important needs for human beings. I use joy and play in many of the strategies I teach because research has shown that a child expresses themselves in play, which is also how they learn best. Joy and regulation are key to the learning process; I have found these to be the most effective tools when working with kids.
Normalizing the Parenting Experience
Parenting is challenging. There is no manual or how-to book. We receive conflicting messages daily from social media, friends and family on what works and what doesn’t. I have worked with adults throughout my career, both as parents and singles. These experiences have taught me the importance of listening to them. Adults don’t have it all figured out and that is fine. Human beings are complex! Everyone needs support in one form or the other. Most times we need to look from within when parenting. How do our own personal experiences, childhoods, trauma histories, and current life stressors impact our parenting? What can we do to mitigate their negative effect?
Conscious & Polyvagal Informed Parenting
I use the lens of “conscious parenting.” Conscious parenting is being aware of your triggers as parents and acting from a place of mindfulness instead of unconscious impulse. So much of what we do is unconscious, which can negatively impact our relationships. Being mindful allows us to feel more in control and parent without regrets. Are you willing to look within so that you can parent from a place of joy and love rather than fear and impulse? Additionally, I am a Certified Polyvagal-Informed Practitioner, which informs my work of bringing the unconscious into the conscious and how to use the nervous system to guide more attuned and regulated parent-child interactions.