We prioritize building a safe and trusting relationship with each child and their family. Our team draws on over 10 years of experience working with children and teens to create the best treatment plan to reach therapy goals and nurture you child’s developing mind and nervous system.

We know how difficult it can be to take steps towards seeking counseling support for your child. Parenting comes with so many gifts, but also brings many challenges as we navigate our own emotions, needs, and hopes with those of our children. We have so much compassion for parents navigating how to best support their child, and aim to make this a positive experience for all families we work with. At Mindful Connections Counseling, we provide quality play therapy services for children 12 years old and younger. As children grow into their teenage years, we acknowledge that play therapy may look different based on each child’s developmental level and preferences. Thus, we find it important to collaborate with children on their goals and bring in directive and expressive art activities. Our goal in working with any child is to provide deep understanding and connection, and regularly communicate with parents to help the family system as a whole. In our practice, including parents in regular consultations to ensure your child is receiving well rounded, informed, and competent care is a key factor in our treatment plan. We also frequently collaborate with other professionals such as your child’s school counselor, school psychologist, teachers, and other mental health professionals to best understand and support your child. 

Confidentiality is a core component of therapy, and thus, together with your child, we’ll discuss what confidentiality means and the limits of confidentiality.

Approaches to Working With Children

There are various evidence and researched based approaches to play therapy that our team utilizes. We believe in the importance of discussing our approach with caregivers during the initial consultations to help parent’s feel confident in the play therapy services their child is receiving. Our training includes the following approaches:

  • Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)
  • Child Centered Play Therapy
  • Synergetic Play Therapy
  • Adlerian Play Therapy
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Expressive Arts in Play Therapy

Incorporating expressive arts in our work with children and teens is a safe way to help older children express and resolve their conflicts and struggles. Expressive arts in therapy can include:

  • The use of drawing tools such as markers, gel pens, paints, and online drawing apps
  • The use of sandtray- an approach in which children can express their world through miniature figures in a tray of sand. Similar to drawing a picture or acting out a scene with puppets, this approach allows children to nonverbally express a scene and process their world through a projective lens.
  • The use of modeling clay and play-doh
  • Painting tools such as water colors, chalk, acrylic paint
  • Music and movement
  • The use of poetry and writing

Parents Role in Therapy

When your child is in therapy, collaboration among the therapist and important stakeholders is important. Throughout the therapeutic process, we will discuss the frequency of parent consultations, as well as your therapist collaborating with individuals in your child’s life such as teachers, school counselors, and psychiatrists. Additionally, at Mindful Connections Counseling, parenting sessions are also offered. Please take a look at our parent support page here.