When working together with babies, children and families to promote and restore mental health, my approach is:
SHORT-TERM:
I offer brief consultations and work with families for a time-limited “season” because this helps to keep efforts solution-focused and centered on your specific goals.
RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED:
From infancy through adolescence, children develop the core capacities of mental health through their close relationships with parents, family members, and other loved ones. Out of respect for these relationships, I work in partnership with parents and families.
STRENGTHS-BASED:
Taking a strengths-based approach means recognizing that:
- All children have gifts and talents with great potential to shape their own lives and to better our community.
- Children can make the most of their potential when their gifts and talents are nurtured in relationships with families, friends, schools, neighborhoods, and whole communities.
- Sometimes children's talents become hidden when community, school or family circumstances are difficult; but no matter what, their talents are always present.
- Every person has gifts and talents to make their home and community a better place with and for children.
INDIVIDUALIZED:
While evidence-based assessment methods and psychotherapies are often cited as the "gold standard" in mental healthcare, we also know that in order for them to be effective they need to be matched and tailored to the developmental capacities of each child, as well as the values and culture of each family. For these reasons, I take an integrationist approach, combining insights from the most relevant theories and research, evidence-based practice, and direct experience with a diversity of families. Stated another way, I work with families to take a personalized or precision approach to:
- selecting assessments and interventions,
- deciding whether and how to combine them,
- prioritizing goals and focus areas,
- adapting plans along the way, based on the child and family's response.
In these ways, we can best ensure that the time, energy and money that families devote to consultation and psychotherapy are a worthwhile investment.