Clients
Working with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families.
Therapeutic Approach
Along with techniques drawn predominately from Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Systemic Family Therapy, recognizing that ‘play is the language of children’ Sara draws on techniques from Play Therapy and Art Therapy. Throughout therapy sessions and in follow up conversations with parents emphasis is placed on understanding the child’s place within their family system.
When working with children with developmental disorders, including those in the Autistic spectrum, Sara utilizes a holistic approach to relational therapy called HART (Holistic Approach to Relational Therapy). HART uses techniques from play therapy, relational therapy, behavioral therapy, and family therapy in order to attend to each of the significant aspects of a young client’s life: social, emotional, physical and educational wellbeing.
Expertise
Sara has many years of experience working with children experiencing:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Divorce or seperation of parents
- Grief
- Behavioural problems
- Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger’s Disorder
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders
- Learning difficulties
- Developmental Delay Disorder
Areas of particular interest and expertise include:
- Trauma
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- The effects of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse or neglect.
Services Available
Individual therapy is available for children between the ages of two years and fourteen years. To complement this process advice, support, and when necessary individual sessions of therapy are available for parents of these young clients.
School Readiness Assessments are available for children who turn five after April the 30th in the year they wish to start school. The process consists of three one hour sessions. The first session consists of an interview conducted with the parents. The following two sessions are conducted with the child and consist of assessments of cognitive, social, and emotional development. These psychological and intellectual assessments are designed to be both comprehensive and fun. At the end of this process, if it is agreed the child would benefit from beginning school before the age of five years, a brief psychological report and letter of recommendation is sent to the school the child is enrolled in.
HART therapy is available for a limited number of children in the Autistic spectrum.
Consultancy, Training and Supervision are available for clinicians, parents, teachers, and care givers interested in using HART with children classified in the Autistic spectrum.