You are at you whits end! You no longer recognize your child and they are constantly getting in trouble at school, daycare, or what’s worse- in public! Something happened, something is bothering them, and your child cannot use their words.

Counseling young children requires a great deal of skill and patience. In providing counseling to younger children, I use their natural language of play and selected play materials. Communicating with children in this way allows them to express their emotions, thoughts, and difficulties in a non-threatening and supportive environment. When working with children, I encourage parents to be involved in the process to assist in further supporting optimal growth and development. For more information on play therapy and how it works, please reach out to me.

Your teenager/pre-teen is struggling and trying to find out where they fit in and who they are. Their internal struggle impacts you as their parent, your relationship with them, and their school/social activities. You worry and express concern but they brush it off. They begin to take their anger out on you or themselves and participate in behavior that you do not want to know about, but do. You know something is wrong but they won’t talk to you.

Being a pre-teen/teenager is filled with emotional turmoil and relationship struggles. Every interaction and relationship is BIG, life altering, or embarrassing. Think back to when you were a teen/pre-teen and multiply that by 100. Pre-teens/teenagers face more difficulties today due to technology, social media, and heightened social norms.

In working with your pre-teen/teenager, I will provide them support and utilize creative techniques such as expressive therapies or sandtray therapy to help them discover and cope with the thoughts and emotions behind the behaviors. Additionally, I will support you as the parent and keep you informed during the process.

You wonder where to seek support within your profession. Being a counselor-in-training/counselor is HARD and takes a lot of energy physically and emotionally. You worry seeking counseling for yourself will “look” bad but know it will help.

Counselors (and trainees) aren’t perfect- WE are humans too. As a counselor educator, I have given my fair share of counseling referrals to students and counselors-in-training. When a counselor/counselor-in-training seeks out counseling, this tells me they see the value in their profession and want to help themselves in order to help their clients!

In addition to their personal growth efforts, counselors and future counselors generally seek services related to burnout, vicarious trauma, shared trauma, countertransference, workplace stress, and identify formation.