Child and teen therapist in Louisville, KY

Parents often reach out if behavior is a problem at school or if their kid seems to be arguing or acting out more. For teens, sometimes parents are not sure why their well-mannered child suddenly talks back or shuts themselves in their room. Maybe your teen is experimenting with some risky behaviors and you are not sure whether it's normal or whether you should be concerned.

I don't offer in-school support, but I am happy to provide outpatient support before or after school.

For younger kids, sometimes we need to work on emotion identification and regulation. For teens, sometimes they just need a safe space to express their feelings, frustrations and opinions. Some of the teens I see struggle to feel like their voice is heard, or they are struggling with a changing friend group or school, or both!

A session with a kid looks much different than a session with a teen.

If I am working with your child, you can expect a combination of play therapy alongside CBT or DBT to teach them how to articulate and regulate their feelings.

A session with a teen looks a lot more like it does for an adult, and most of our sessions will involve talk therapy. Safety and communication are two pretty involved topics, and I will also target my interventions to fit your teen, as there is no one size fits all for therapy.

Parents are typically more involved for younger kids than for teens, but my door is always open. I welcome email updates, as well as updates at the beginning or end of a session, if there is something you want to make sure I am aware of that is going on outside of therapy.

If there is any sort of safety concern involving your child, I will involve you. Otherwise, you can expect sessions to be private for your child or teen.

For younger kids, I am happy to give a broad overview of the skills we worked on each session so that you can help reinforce them at home!

Chances are I am nervous too! Meeting new people is always a little scary, but I am here to get to know them, and I want them to get to know me too.

I welcome questions in any session. In our first, it will be an open floor for kids to ask me questions and express any hesitations. I will also try to let them know my approach and what they can expect from me.

My office is equipped with plenty of kids' games and toys to help ease them in!