Hope for Meaningful Change
Counseling Services, PLLC
Supporting children, adolescents, and adults in VT and NH
*Services provided in person and via Telehealth*
My Approach
My approach is person-centered, compassionate, and empathic while bringing my full authentic self to the work. I am supportive with a sense of unconditional positive regard and belief that people do the best they can while also challenging my clients to stretch themselves and work towards goals that will promote meaningful change in their lives.
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My approach will vary slightly with every single client and that is intentional and based on observation, insight, and experience matched with my client's direct feedback on their background and preferences for their care.
Child Therapy
My approach in working with children balances education, play or high preference therapeutic activities and learning coping strategies and self-regulation. Children often leave appointments having really enjoyed themselves, even after doing really challenging work on difficult topics and working on identified treatment goals.
My approach incorporates helping the child and their caregiver understand what is happening in their brain and body due to things like anxiety, stress, depression or trauma. It's important that people of all ages understand what is happening to them, that it has a name thereby externalizing it and that it is not their fault and they are not inherently bad because they have these challenges.
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Including the caregiver in treatment is very important, and depending on the age of the child they will likely play a primary role in supporting the change process because of being the primary attachment figure. The success of therapy is often dependent on the level of support and buy-in from the caregiver. For Child-Parent Psychotherapy (ages 0-6), the caregiver is part of every session and there typically are no Individual child sessions.
Adolescent Therapy
Adolescents are at a unique stage of life where more than ever they need to feel a sense of connection, belonging, autonomy, trust, and self-determination. I seek to provide a treatment approach where teens feel safe and supported in a non-judgemental space that is permission-based while working on treatment goals that we can identify together. Simply talking through the problem of the week doesn't really meet my client's needs in the long run, so I will seek to challenge them to both set and work toward goals that will promote meaningful change and growth in their lives.
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My approach incorporates psycho-education to help them better understand the impact of their diagnosis and history on their current functioning. We will also work to identify, teach, and practice strategies to use during periods of distress to improve coping and functioning across life domains.
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While sessions are primarily Individual, we will work together to determine how caregiver involvement would be most supportive. It's common to have periodic caregiver-only appointments or family sessions and/or to check in with the caregiver at the start of some sessions, to the client's tolerance and dependent on treatment goals.