Children’s Professional Services:
- Individual Therapy is available for children, 3 years through adolescents. Play and other therapies will be used. One or both parents or other custodial caretakers are included for part or all of the therapy sessions, as needed.
- Family Therapy: children and adolescents may join with one or more members of their family.
- Group Sessions are scheduled periodically for special topics and age groups.
Therapy with Children:
Expressive and Play Therapy Play is a child’s work! Through their play, children learn about the world and how things work. In the playroom, the child is free to explore many forms of creative self expression, which builds self confidence and increases self esteem. During interactive play, children gain valuable insights into themselves in relation to others, as well as the social skills needed to initiate and enjoy healthy relationships. Appropriate limits are set, so the child learns the importance of rules, choices, and consequences. Thus, Play Therapy has increasingly become the mode of working with children who are experiencing emotional and/or behavioral problems.
Play Therapy utilizes a variety of forms and expressions, such as art, music, toys, games, sandtray, stories, puppets, and role playing. Communication and learning through play and the expressive arts is more natural, engaging, and transforming than simply talking for children. At the Marriage and Family Institute, we are incorporating more and more of these principles and methods in our work with adults: individuals, couples and parents. Much of that which causes us difficulty at any age is from our subconscious. Examples of their powerful but hard to reach influences are: early negative experiences, memories repressed due to trauma, and subtle, irrational beliefs that greatly influence our feelings and actions. Expressive therapies are an excellent way to access these illusive but powerful images and memories, healing them of their negative control while replacing them with positive, success-producing ones! For example, children who have expectations put on them that are not age-appropriate or when they are punished too harshly for little things, may, later or as an adult struggle with uncontrollable anxiety and tension, either generalized or in situations where they feel responsible but “out of control”. Through the expressive and play therapy, these early experiences are brought to greater consciousness, re-evaluated and replaced with more positive images and beliefs.