Helping Your Child with Therapy

Danielle Carron specializes in helping children work through past or present trauma and ongoing stress. She combines her training in psychotherapy, somatic experiencing/trauma resolution, play therapy, attachment work, and holistic nutrition to help children and their families move through challenges and gain greater resiliency for the future.

TRAUMA: Whether it is loss of a loved one, child abuse, a car accident, a fall, or a medical procedure, trauma affects the nervous system. This means that trauma is stored in the body and cannot be resolved by only talking about what happened. For example, the mind may understand that the car accident is over, but the body can continue to re-live the event because it still hasn’t gotten that message. Danielle has taken her three year training in trauma and integrated it with her training in play therapy to successfully help children resolve trauma symptoms by integrating the mind and the body.

ATTACHMENT:  When there are attachment challenges between a child and parent/s then it is often beneficial to work with the parent/s and child together to help restore healthy attachment. Danielle guides children and their parent/s through a variety of activities that are specifically designed to heal attachment wounds.  Relationships are such a big part of our lives, so it is helpful when children are able to work through these challenges earlier rather than later.

PLAY THERAPY: Children often try to resolve their problems through play. Play therapy uses play as a way to communicate with children and assist them in working through life challenges and trauma. Sand trays are also used to help children understand their challenges and find resolutions in a tangible way.

HOLISTIC NUTRITION: Sometimes a child may have disruptive symptoms or behaviors due to a food allergy, toxin, chemical imbalance, or ongoing stress that is depleting essential nutrients. Danielle can help parents assess whether nutrition is playing a role in their child’s symptoms.

TOOLS FOR PARENTS: Danielle also teaches parents simple, practical skills they can use with their kids outside of therapy that can help with communicating, soothing, relaxation techniques, handling anger, coping with stress, decreasing anxiety, giving choices, empowering children, increasing safety ,and preventing future trauma symptoms by understanding what is most helpful when a traumatic situation takes place. Sometimes these skills are best taught with child and parent together and other times with only the parent present.

RESOURCES: For more information on trauma work with kids please read Trauma-Proofing Your Kids: A Parents’ Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience by Peter Levine and Maggie Kline.