Child Psychologists and Child Therapists in Atherton, CA.

After 11 years of working with children, I find it more effective to work with you, the parent. This is not because you are responsible for the way your child is behaving or what your child is going through, but because you have the most positive power and influence in your child's life. If I can use what I know through education and experience to empower you the parent to connect to your child, it will be more impactful and long lasting than if I spend therapy sessions with them. Your child will also find healing through their relationship with you, increasing trust, and strengthening your relationship for the present and future. You will have your Parenting Power back, stronger than ever!

I provide counseling to young children by helping families! Regardless of the problems you are painfully dealing with, Emotionally Focused Family Therapy offers astounding success rates in numerous countries and cultures and with all types of families today. You owe it to yourself to learn more about how you, your family, and your child can feel stabilized, connected, and valued - because you are all worth it. As an Emotionally Focused Family Therapist I will provide the tools to drop below the symptoms of the child and move into a deeper connection with each other, no matter what your child is struggling with. Want to learn more? Please call me at 925-520-5263 to learn more.

Many times, child therapists overdo the family system in their quest to seek effective solutions for emotional, learning or behavioral concerns with young children. And many times doctors overpathologize issues that shouldn’t be medicated necessarily. This leaves parents wondering what is the best route for their child? Introducing brainwave optimization technology. A fast, effective, natural, and less expensive way to allow your child's brain to make the optimizing changes it desires to make---on its own! Without any external force, opinion, medication, diagnostic, etc. Contact kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

I find that counseling with children is most effective with the cooperation and collaboration of the child's parents or primary caregivers. Together with you, the child's parent/guardian, I will develop a treatment plan for how we can best meet your child's needs. Issues in younger children can sometimes be symptoms of issues in the family system, so family involvement is an essential component in supporting your child.

Child and adolescent counseling can play a very important role in the life of a child who is dealing with one or more of the wide area of childhood challenges and traumas. Children can become the unintended victims of parents who had little training to become parents, had little time to be parents or experienced separation, abandonment, divorce , a change in parenting, step-parenting, foster parenting as well were challenged by dysfunctional homes with addictions, emotional disturbances and instabilities, extreme fighting, arguing, violence and abuse, frequent moving, and being passed from one divorced parent to another or from family member to family memeber. All these and many additional growing up challenges and traumas can be potent and disturbing...(view profile to read more)

I work with young children by providing play therapy in a safe and calming environment. Children are not yet developmentally skilled at communicating their feelings and thoughts through words. I use my expertise in understanding each child through what they communicate through play. I implement well researched and effective treatment interventions, and involve parents throughout the treatment process.

I love working with children. In my practice I see pre-school, elementary, middle, and high-school age students with issues ranging from difficulties with peers, anxiety, trauma-related disturbances, ADHD, divorce related difficulties and many other concerns. In my work with children, I use techniques including play therapy, family systems and cognitive behavioral. In addition, I have extensive experience in art, dance, and drama therapy and individualize treatment so each child has fun while working through issues. In addition to my deep experience counseling children I am a former school teacher and a wife and mother.

You are your child's most important connection in life. Parent-child relationships form the basis of how we see ourselves in the world. However, kids don't come with an owner's manual! Often how we were treated as children serves as our only unconscious - or conscious - guide for what to do. Learning from how we would have liked to have been treated can help parents feel more confident and secure in helping their children survive and thrive in the world. I help parents develop the kind of secure attachment that their children need in order for children to feel confident and safe in exploring the world.

Parenting can be a wonderful experience and at the same time a difficult and even a daunting one. If you are overwhelmed at times, suffer from pangs of anxiety or guilt around being a good enough parent or need someone to just talk to about the daily/ weekly ups and downs of being a parent then counseling with Dr. Ellie can be of great support. Aside from being a counselor, I am also a mother of two and have personal experience with being a parent. I know how difficult it can be, but I also know what a difference it can make when you have the right kind of support.

In my practice I work with young children with a variety of difficulties from controlling their anxiety, anger and tantrums, to getting along better with friends and siblings and parents. I also help them with school difficulties that include failing grades, and behavior issues. I work with the child, parent and often the teacher to remember what Erikkson taught that "behind each behavior is a feeling". My goal is to help the child access their feelings, and in a safe place, explore their feelings and behavior while learning tools to help contol them so they can live happy and fulfilled lives.

Therapy with children must include verbal and nonverbal modes of therapy. We include modeling and teaching positive behaviors and self-talk, identifying core beliefs, play therapy, and sandplay. Sandtray therapy, more commonly called Sandplay therapy, is a form of therapy that provides a way to help children express the "inexpressible" Other ways for children to express include drawing a picture, using a crafts technique, or doing a collage. Art and play therapy techniques are used to supplement the therapy as talk therapy can be limiting for many children. We may also employ Somatic Experiencing methods to resolve trauma. Also, we often include the parents or caretakers in the therapy.

There is nothing more important than we do in life than parent children. Raising healthy children is an important part of your legacy. Watching your children struggle with sadness, fear, or anger can feel very upsetting. Children can benefit greatly from play therapy, because children naturally work though their psychological issues with play. I started working with children from 3 to 12 in 1996 at Almaden Valley Youth Counseling Services. Success with children involves parents and teachers. If a child's parent are willing to participate in the counseling process, then much can be accomplished. A secure bond between the child and parents is critical.

Children have not yet learned how to shield themselves from conflict, negativity, etc. Therefore, they are akin to "sponges," soaking up whatever they are exposed to. I provide children with a healthy, authentic space in which they can connect with their feelings through play and discussion. I also work with parents on styles of communication (those they might use with their children as well as their spouse/coparent) that may be inadvertently affecting children.