Ages 2 – 7
How Do I Help My Child?
When you’re exhausted from tantrum after tantrum, it might feel like you don’t have any time or energy for therapy.
With just 5 minutes of daily therapeutic play, you can help your child start learning how to be calmer, more regulated, and kinder with you.
My Approach
To help your child, you will learn the right skills and gain understanding of what’s happening for you and your child. I provide parent-child therapy for your skill development and parenting therapy for deeper processing. We will do both types of therapy for best results.
Parent-child therapy: sessions with you and your child where you practice your skills and I kindly guide you side-by-side.
Parenting therapy: sessions for you without your child.
Parents See Better Results When They
Attend sessions consistently (weekly parent–child therapy and weekly parenting therapy)
Practice 5-minute daily therapeutic play with their child.
What to Expect
Reach out
Complete paperwork before the intake
Intake:
Parent(s) only
50-60 minute session to learn about you and your child
Therapy: 50-minute sessions
Weekly parent–child therapy
Weekly parenting therapy
3-phase treatment
Graduate and celebrate!
3-Phase Treatment
Phase 1: Reduce Explosions
Our first goal is to reduce emotional and behavioral blowups by building calm and connection. I teach you therapeutic ways of playing and coach you using Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and skills to support your child’s emotional development.
You’ll start with 5 minutes of therapeutic play every day. Children with big emotions need therapy daily. Over time, you’ll naturally use these skills outside of play, too.
Your child will feel like you are playing. You will start noticing real changes as your skills grow.
Phase 2: Learning to Listen
This phase focuses on helping your child listen and follow directions. We’ll assess whether phase 2 of PCIT is the best fit or if other play-based interventions are more appropriate.
Phase 3: Finishing Strong
We focus on any remaining goals. When you and your child meet your therapy goals, you graduate! We will have a celebration session together to highlight all the progress and show your child how proud you are of them.
Some children may need longer-term support due to what they have been through, their neurodivergence, and/or other high needs. We can either continue therapy if needed or I can refer you to excellent play therapists in town.
Fee
$185 per 50-minute session
Meetings and coordination with schools or other professionals are billed at my regular rate.
Insurance
I do not accept insurance.
If you need to use your insurance, I’m happy to share information about other therapists in town.
Benefits of Self-Pay for Young Children
I know choosing therapy is a meaningful investment, and many families wonder about insurance. I want to share some of the reasons why I offer self-pay services.
Insurance often limits access to therapy for very young children (birth to 7). It requires a clinical diagnosis right from the first visit.
Many early childhood challenges are very stressful and need professional support, but may still fall within what’s typical. This means there may be a real need for therapy without a diagnosis.
Much of what I do is preventative: supporting children and parents early, before concerns grow into diagnosable conditions.
When there is a potential for a diagnosis, it should be made thoughtfully over time, with careful observation and understanding of your child.
For example, I worked with a 4-year-old child diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), showing aggression and defiance at home and at school. Within a year of our work, the ODD symptoms resolved, and the family described the child as typical. While I marked the diagnosis as “resolved,” this child will always have a history of ODD in their medical record.
Self-pay services allow your child and family to receive best-practice care, along with careful monitoring of progress and symptoms. When parents are able to implement therapeutic play at home consistently, they often begin to see results within weeks.
My specialty is parent-child therapy combined with parent support. I focus on helping you build the skills and confidence to understand and respond to your child in a way that creates lasting positive change. This is where my work often stands out and has the greatest impact.
If helpful, you may choose to work with me for these foundational phases, where I teach and guide you in how to help your child with big (or severe) emotions and behaviors. Then, you can choose to transition to another provider for ongoing play therapy. I’m always happy to provide trusted referrals.
If you’re wondering whether this is the right fit, feel free to reach out. It’s important to me to help families find professionals who truly fit their needs. Finding a therapist can be so hard on top of the daily struggles you and your child face.