"Toys are children's words and play is their language" Garry Landreth

Tired of getting phone calls from school or daycare about your child’s behaviors and moods?

Is your child destructive or have anger outburst?

Feeling overwhelmed by your child’s tantrums?

Embarrassed by your child’s behaviors in public?

Love your child but don’t like your child’s negative moods and behaviors?

PCIT Might Be Right For You!

PCIT is an evidence-based treatment for young children with behavioral problem.

What is Play Therapy?

Play Therapy is based upon the fact that play is the child's natural medium of self expression...It is an opportunity which is given to the child to "play out" his/her feelings and problems just as in certain types of adult therapy an individual "talks out" his/her difficulties.  Virgina Axline

Play Therapy, a modality of child therapy, is a powerful tool for addressing cognitive, behavioral, and emotional challenges.  Licensed professional use play therapeutically to help clients better process their experiences and develop more effective strategies for managing their worlds.  

Does My Child Need Play Therapy?

Deciding whether or not to take your child to a play therapist for child and/or family therapy is a personal choice.  Children are seen in therapy for an array of reasons, such as behavioral issues (caused by bullying, grief and loss, divorce and abandonment, physical and sexual abuse, and crisis and trauma) and mental health disorders (ie: anxiety, depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity or ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, academic and social impairment, physical and learning disabilities, and conduct disorders).  

Research suggests Play Therapy is an effective mental health approach, regardless of age, gender, or the nature of the problem, and works best when a parent, family member ore caretaker is actively involved in the treatment process.

What is Child-Parent Relationship Therapy?

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) is a play-based treatment program for young children presenting with behavioral, emotional, social, and attachment concerns.  

At the heart of CPRT is the premise that a secure parent child relationship is the essential factor for children's well-being.  In a supportive group environment parents learn skills to respond more effectively to their children's emotional and behavioral concerns.  

The goal of CPRT is to strengthen the quality of the parent-child attachment bond as a means of reducing child behavior problems and stress in the parent-child relationship.  Parents are taught specific skills that focus on enhancing a secure attachment with their child and helping parents attune to and respond to their child's underlying needs to address symptoms.  Parents also learn to effectively limit their child's misbehavior.  In CPRT, parents implement the skills in weekly play sessions with their child and receive feedback on their skills from a certified CPRT facilitator such as Erin Wegener here at Hand In Hand Therapy, LLC. 

CPRT is well-researched parenting model with numerous studies investigating its effectiveness.  Overall research indicates that CPRT is effective in reducing children's behavior problems and decreasing parental stress (Bratton et al., 2010).

CPRT can be used toddlers through preadolescents.

Child Parent Psychotherapy 

CPP is an intervention model for children aged 0-5 who have experienced at least one traumatic event and/or are experiencing mental health, attachment, and/or behavioral problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder. The treatment is based in attachment theory but also integrates psychodynamic, developmental, trauma, social learning, and cognitive behavioral theories. Therapeutic sessions include the child and parent or primary caregiver. The primary goal of CPP is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her caregiver as a vehicle for restoring the child's cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning. Treatment also focuses on contextual factors that may affect the caregiver-child relationship.