Specializing in Therapy for Adults, Children, Adolescents and Families
Expressive Therapies
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“Often it is necessary to clarify a vague content by giving it visible form…Often the hands know how to solve a riddle with which intellect has wrestled in.” ~Carl Jung
Play Therapy
“Play seems to be one of the most advanced methods nature has invented to allow a complex brain to create itself.”
~ Dr. Stuart Brown
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“Play Therapy is a medium for expressing feelings, exploring relationships and self-fulfillment.”
~Garry Landreth, Ed.D, LPC, RPT-S
“By acting out through play a frightening or traumatic experience or situation symbolically, and perhaps changing or reversing the outcome in the play activity, children move toward an inner resolution, and then they are better able to cope with or adjust to problems.” (Landreth & Bratton, 2001)
Play Therapy is a powerful tool for addressing cognitive, behavioral and emotional challenges. Licensed professionals therapeutically use play to help individual’s process their experiences and develop more effective strategies for managing their worlds. Play therapy is a way of being with the child that honors their unique developmental level and looks for ways of helping in the “language” of the child. For more information on play therapy including research citations please visit www.a4pt.org
Sandtray Therapy
“Expresses the inexpressible”
The therapeutic use of a collection of miniatures in a sandtray. It is a non-verbal expressive and projective mode of psychotherapy where the sandtray and the miniatures are the medium of communication. It is client led and the therapist is only the facilitator. The process seeks to promote safety and control for the client so that emotionally charged issues can be addressed utilizing the sandtray. (Homeyer & Sweeny, 2011)
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Art Therapy
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Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy that uses the creative process of making art to improve a person’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The creative process involved in expressing one’s self artistically can help people to resolve issues as well as develop and manage their behaviors and feelings, reduce stress, and improve self-esteem and awareness.
Art therapy is the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience illness, trauma or challenges in living, and by people who seek personal development. Through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes, people can increase awareness of self and others, cope with symptoms, stress and traumatic experiences; enhance cognitive abilities; and enjoy the life-affirming pleasures of making art. (American Art Therapy Association) For more information on art therapy including research citations please visit www.arttherapy.org
Attachment and Family Strengthening Therapies
Theraplay ® techniques
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“Theraplay® is uniquely suited to provide substantive help in the treatment of complex trauma. The National Center for Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has identified several domains to target for therapeutic intervention, among them attachment, self-image, regulation and biology. These target areas are relevant and necessary components of trauma treatment.” ~ Eliana Gil
Theraplay® is a child and family therapy for building and enhancing attachment, self-esteem, trust in others, and joyful engagement. It is based on the natural patterns of playful, healthy interaction between parent and child and is personal, physical, and fun. Theraplay® interactions focus on four essential qualities found in parent-child relationships: Structure, Engagement, Nurture, and Challenge. Theraplay® sessions create an active, emotional connection between the child and parent or caregiver, resulting in a changed view of the self as worthy and lovable and of relationships as positive and rewarding. We call this “building relationships from the inside out.” For more information on Theraplay® including research citations please visit www.theraplay.org
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Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)
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DDP is based on and brings together attachment theory, what we understand about developmental trauma, the neurobiology of trauma, attachment and caregiving, intersubjectivity theory and child development. This approach (typically paired with Theraplay® activites ) aids children in learning to trust. It is family-based and involves the child with their caregivers.
Traditional Trauma Therapies
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
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After EMDR, “the troubling memories can be more comfortably recalled as “just something that happened” and for the individual to easily believe “It’s over.” ~ EMDRIA
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy is a psychotherapy treatment that is effective for resolving emotional difficulties caused by disturbing, difficult, or frightening life experiences. When children are traumatized, have upsetting experiences or repeated failures, they lose a sense of control over their lives. This can result in symptoms of anxiety, depression, irritability, anger, guilt, and/or behavioral problems.
EMDR therapy helps resolve the troubling thoughts and feelings related to the distressing memories so that children can return to their normal developmental tasks and prior levels of coping. In addition, EMDR therapy can help to strengthen feelings of confidence, calmness and mastery. For more information on EMDR including research citations please visit www.emdria.org/
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Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT)
TF-CBT is a conjoint child and parent psychotherapy approach for children and adolescents who are experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties related to traumatic life events. Children and parents learn new skills to help process thoughts and feelings related to traumatic life events; manage and resolve distressing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related traumatic life events; and enhance safety, growth, parenting skills, and family communication. For more information on TFCBT including research citations please visit www.tfcbt.org
Parenting Consultations
As parents, we all desire to develop secure relationships with our children, developing a sturdy foundation for them to explore and grow in the world. Yet sometimes we find ourselves wondering; Am I getting through to my child? Am I being too rigid? Too lenient? Will this challenging behavior ever get better or will I always sound like a broken record?
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At Balancing Nurture, we recognize what a true gift and challenge parenting can be. Research shows that "good enough" parenting occurs when parents are attuned to their child's needs 30%; it is the repair after "relationship rupture" that develops secure attachment (Circle of Security®).
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At Balancing Nurture, our practitioners know there is no such thing as a "perfect parent". We actively listen to parenting stresses and concerns without judgement working to create a space to allow a parent to feel safe, seen, soothed and secure (Dan Siegel). Balancing Nurture provides parenting consultations to aid parents in reflecting on their own internal experience during challenging parenting moments.
Circle of Security Parenting Groups
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At times all parents feel lost or without a clue about what our child might need from us. Imagine what it might feel like if you were able to make sense of what your child was really asking from you. The Circle of Security Parenting™ program is based on decades of research about how secure parent-child relationships can be supported and strengthened.
Learning Objectives of the Training:
Understand your child’s emotional world by learning to read the emotional needs
Support your child’s ability to successfully manage emotions
Enhance the development of your child's self esteem
Honor your innate wisdom and desire for your child to be secure
Group Counseling
Therapeutic Frameworks
Interpersonal Neurobiology (Dan Siegel)
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At Balancing Nurture, the scientific lens we view the world and subsequently therapy is Interpersonal Neurobiology (INPB). INPB is a term coined by Dr. Dan Siegel, whose work influences how we see the world, families, and relationships. Interpersonal Neurobiology studies the relationships between how an individual’s brain, mind and relationships interrelate to shape how we see and interact with the world.
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Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency Therapy (ARC)
ARC is a framework for intervention with youth and families who have experienced multiple and/or prolonged traumatic stress. ARC identifies three core domains that are frequently impacted among traumatized youth, and which are relevant to future resiliency. Designed to be applied flexibly across child- and family-serving systems, ARC provides a theoretical framework, core principles of intervention, and a guiding structure for providers. ARC is designed for youth from early childhood to adolescence and their caregivers or caregiving systems.
A growing research base suggests that ARC leads to reduction in child posttraumatic stress symptoms and general mental health symptoms, as well as increased adaptive and social skills. Caregivers report reduced distress and view their children’s behaviors as less dysfunctional. For more information on ARC including research citations please visit www.traumacenter.org/research/ascot.php
Good Faith Estimate
Under Section 2799B-6 of the Public Health Service Act, health care providers and health care facilities are required to inform individuals who are not enrolled in a medical plan or have coverage or eligible for a Federal health care program, or not seeking to file a claim with their plan or coverage both orally and in writing of their ability, upon request or at the time of scheduling health care items and services, to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” of expected charges.
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost
Under the law, health care providers need to give clients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
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You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.
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Make sure your health care provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service or item. You can also ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
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If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
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Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate. For questions or more information about your rights to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises