Child/Adolescent Therapy
ML Counseling provides therapy for children as young as 2 years old and up. Children’s therapy looks a lot different than what would occur in a typical therapeutic session. Play is how children communicate with the world. I know and believe that every person can heal and thrive with the right tools. The best approach to do that with children is to use the language they are most comfortable with and that is PLAY!! Through play children can explore things in a way they feel safe with and that can lead to healing. Which is why despite language not being completely developed there are ways to still help your child process their experiences it just looks different for them.
ML Counseling offers treatment models such as Sensory Motor Regulation Arousal Regulation Treatment(SMART). SMART is a body centered approach that utilizes unresolved trauma. As a result of that unresolved trauma you may notice your child begins to exhibit difficulty regulating their emotions, behaviors and maintaining positive interpersonal relationships as a result of this. That’s where SMART comes in. We utilize things such as weight blankets, balance beams, fitness balls, trampolines to assist the child in finding natural ways to assist and regulate their bodie
Parent Child Interactions Therapy(PCIT) is an evidenced based treatment model with parent/caregiver designed to help improve the parent-child relationship through interaction. Guess what interactions I am referring to….the most important one for kids at this age, you guessed it PLAY. The best part of this model is I am there with you the entire way supporting you through this process. During the sessions the parent/caregiver is coached how to utilize the skills while playing with your child. I don’t just talk to you about the skills but I coach you on how to effectively implement them during our weekly sessions with your child. We as human beings are naturally more receptive to redirection and consequences with someone who you have a strong relationship with. PCIT assists on rebuilding the relationships and then we switch to address some of the behaviors that initially brought you in. What you will find is before you get to implementing consequences the relationship has improved so much that the identified behaviors have already decreased significantly.
I also use several other popular play therapy techniques to assist your child in their healing. Sand tray therapy, play genogram, puppets, dollhouse, drawings and other toys for the purpose of pretend play.