Start Child & Family Therapy

Parents often arrive here after spending weeks, months, or even years trying to understand what their child’s behavior is communicating. You may be seeing anxiety, aggression, withdrawal, shutdown, changes in sleep or toileting, difficulty at school, increased sensitivity, or a child whose behavior seems to change depending on the caregiver, relationship, or environment. You may know that something is happening while still feeling unsure about what your child needs or where to begin.

Children often communicate through behavior before they have the words, developmental capacity, or sense of safety to explain what is happening inside them. Their behavior may reflect stress, trauma, attachment disruptions, developmental needs, changes within the family, or a nervous system that has learned to remain prepared for experiences that once felt overwhelming. This page outlines how to begin, what the initial parent session includes, and how we determine whether child therapy with me is the right fit for your child and family.

If you choose to schedule, your first appointment is a full 50-minute parent intake session. We use that time to understand what you have been noticing, gather important developmental and relational history, and begin identifying what may be contributing to your child’s current struggles. This first meeting is held with parents or legal guardians, giving us room to speak openly before your child enters the therapy process.

What the Initial Parent Session Is Like

In the first meeting, we begin with what you already know about your child. We talk about the concerns bringing you in, when you first noticed them, where they tend to appear, what seems to intensify or ease them, and how your child functions across relationships, home, school, and other environments. We also begin gathering information about your child’s development, family relationships, strengths, previous experiences, and the ways their nervous system responds when they feel overwhelmed, frightened, disconnected, or unsure.

You can come with what you have observed and what feels most important right now. There is room to gather the fuller history over time. Part of this process is helping you make sense of patterns that may have felt confusing, especially when a child responds differently across caregivers or environments.

We will also discuss how online child therapy works, how parents participate, and whether telehealth is developmentally and clinically appropriate for your child. At the end of the session, we will decide whether working together feels like the right fit and discuss the next step, which may include scheduling your child’s first session, gathering additional information, or connecting you with another service that better matches your child’s needs.

Support Built Around the Whole Child

My work with children is developmental, relational, and nervous-system informed. I look at the child within the context of their relationships, environment, developmental history, strengths, stress-response patterns, and the experiences their system has had to manage. This helps us understand the need being communicated through a behavior and build support around what the child is developmentally ready to receive.

Depending on your child’s age and needs, therapy may include conversation, play, movement, art, body awareness, caregiver-child interaction, and developmentally appropriate trauma work. The process is shaped around how your child communicates and connects, with attention to creating enough safety for their experiences to emerge gradually.

Who I Work With

I provide online therapy for children through age 14 who are navigating concerns related to:

• Attachment and relationship difficulties
• Childhood sexual abuse
• Trauma or experiences of being left unprotected
• Anxiety, fear, or hypervigilance
• Emotional or behavioral dysregulation
• Aggression, impulsivity, or sudden behavioral changes
• Withdrawal, shutdown, freeze, or dissociation
• Grief, separation, divorce, or family transitions
• School or social difficulties
• Changes in sleep, toileting, play, or communication
• Difficulty trusting caregivers or feeling safe within relationships
• Stress responses that appear differently across homes, caregivers, or environments

Child therapy is available when your child will be physically located in California or Florida during sessions. Therapy is provided through secure telehealth.

How Parents Are Included

Children develop, regulate, and heal within relationships, which makes parent involvement an important part of the therapy process. Your participation may include periodic parent sessions, brief check-ins, family sessions, caregiver-child work, or recommendations that help you respond to your child’s needs at home.

The amount and type of parent involvement will depend on your child’s age, developmental needs, history, current concerns, and treatment goals. We will establish that structure together so that you understand how you will be included while your child also has a reliable therapeutic space of their own.

Session Details

• Initial parent intake: 50 minutes
• Ongoing child therapy sessions: 50 minutes
• Format: Online through Zoom
• Fee: $255 USD per session
• Payment: Private pay
• Locations: California and Florida

Where must my child be located during therapy?

California or Florida

Online child and family therapy
$255 USD per 50-minute session

Schedule Your Initial Parent Intake

The initial parent intake is held with parents or legal guardians. Your child’s first appointment will be scheduled after the parent intake and fit assessment.

If You Are Looking for a Consultation

Some families are looking for a focused understanding of their child’s development, behavior, attachment relationships, or nervous-system functioning rather than ongoing child therapy.

For children from birth through age five, you can learn more about the Early Childhood Developmental & Attachment Consultation(opens in new tab).

Families and professionals seeking a structured understanding of a child’s developmental history, relational health, stress-response patterns, strengths, and current needs can also learn more about the NMT Assessment(opens in new tab).

If You Are Still Deciding

It is okay to take time when choosing support for your child. Parents are often making this decision while carrying worry, conflicting recommendations, and the pressure to find the right help quickly.

If you are still deciding, you can:

• Review the FAQ page(opens in new tab) for more information about how I work
• Read the Centering Healing blog(opens in new tab) for information about trauma, attachment, development, and nervous-system responses
• Watch my YouTube content(opens in new tab) to become more familiar with my approach
• Review the Early Childhood Developmental & Attachment Consultation(opens in new tab) if your child is five or younger
• Explore the NMT Assessment(opens in new tab) if you are looking for a structured assessment and individualized recommendations

Next Step

If you are ready to begin, schedule an initial parent intake. We will use that session to understand what you are noticing, consider what your child may be communicating through their behavior and nervous-system responses, and determine the most appropriate next step for your child and family.

Schedule Your Initial Parent Intake(opens in new tab)