Play Therapy for Children

Painting, puppet-making, Sandplay…these are some of the offerings in my office in Claremont, California.

I work extensively with “acting-out” children, whom I believe are actually calling-out for guidance. Children have their own kind of logic, where they often feel powerless and choiceless, where they may feel their only option is for out-of-control behaviors. Left untreated, the early years—elementary school through middle school—set the stage for what can become the more serious problems of teenaged years. When we bring our children in for therapy we are investing forward into their healthy futures.

Towards understanding the magical world of the child I have both a Master’s Degree in Education with over a decade of teaching in K—12 public school, and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology, with thousands of hours treating elementary aged children and teens. The beauty of treating children is that they are still impressionable: their brains are in rapid, creative development. In therapy your child can bond with a caring adult who is there only to hear and play-out their story. We work imaginatively, creating a world where your child has influence, where your child is heard, where we play together.

Play is the portal to creativity and success in the adult world. Adults who are able to think creatively are more flexible psychologically, able to see an infinite set of possibilities where another feels trapped. So, in my therapy room I play with your child. Together we build worlds reflecting the problems they are working on, and as we play within those worlds, the solutions metaphorically and therapeutically arrive.

An acting-out child is a discouraged child. Play therapy turns the dis-courage back into its healthy opposite, courage, emboldening your child to take the wheel of their own life to unfold along healthy pathways, becoming the author of their own destiny waiting all along to incarnate into our world.

Come have a conversation to see how your child and I may work together. A free 15-minute phone consultation is all it takes to start the process, leading to your child’s first appointment in my office located in the heart of the Claremont Village. Let’s talk about the possibilities! You can email me at rebecca@reflectionstherapystudio.com or leave a voicemail at (213) 640-6068 to request your free consultation.