Child Psychologists and Child Therapists in Temple City, CA.

My practice is specifically focused on children, adolescents, and young adults. Working with younger children requires a playful insight and I frequently employ play therapy and games to challenge anger, anxiety, and frustrations. Further, through play I am able to work with children on managing social situations, dissapointments, and develop problem solving techniques. Following these sessions I work closely with parents to train on these behavioral interventions in order to further reinforce in the home environment. This consistency and collaboration allows us to more effectively shape behaviors and booste self esteem beyond the therapy session.

We offer a range of services for young children including those who are going through their parents divorce to being at risk for developmental delays, children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and individuals with adaptive functioning needs and behavioral challenges. Our approach integrates meeting the child where they are at with a mixture of play therapy and evidence-based practices from the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) depeing on the needs of each client and family.

For about 7 years I only worked with children in my practice. The rest of my practice has been split working with adults and with kids. With kids, its all about their instinct and comfort. If they sense that the therapist isn't comfortable or experienced with kids, they won't engage in the therapy process. I use a variety of techniques working with children, depending on their age. For smaller children, art therapy and play therapy can be very successful for a variety of reasons. The main reason is that it takes the focus off of them and they feel more at ease to talk and be open. For older children who can handle "talk therapy", using simpler language can be effective.

Having worked in the elementary schools as well as raising six young children myself, I have extensive experience in working with this group. I use a family systems approach to therapy and prefer to partner with parents in the treatment of their children. If family therapy is not a possibility, I will see children on their own, also creating a strong collaborative alliance with their parents.

Today it is more complicated than ever to be a teen. With so much going on, it’s common for teens and children feel anxiety, irritability, isolation, low self esteem, and sadness. Teens just need someone to talk to, that isn’t a family member about difficult topics they are experiencing. It’s not that they don’t trust their family, but many times teens need a private, non-judge mental space of their own to gain insight. I have extensive experience working with teens and children, even those resistant to therapy. I specialize with teens managing high academic & athletic achievement. Through therapy teens will learn to manage their emotions, reach goals, and grow into healthy young adults.