"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change." - Carl Rogers
Psychotherapy involves forming a professional relationship with a therapist to help you with personal problems. Rather than give you specific advice, a therapist serves as a skilled listener and observer who helps you to explore feelings and clarify or resolve conflicts and issues. Psychotherapy offers the opportunity to gain insight into yourself and move forward in your life. People have a natural impulse toward health and healing that is strengthened when it is supported and nurtured. Some concerns that therapy may help with include stress, loss, career, relationships and other personal issues, or struggles with anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges.
"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become." - C.G.Jung
Creative Arts Therapy is psychotherapy through the use of dance/movement, art, music, drama, poetry, creative writing and sandplay. It incorporates creative expression into the therapeutic process, which oftentimes helps you clarify issues, discover wishes, and explore feelings more quickly as the right and left sides of the brain are engaged, through both verbal and nonverbal means. Creative arts therapies strive to integrate the social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual aspects of the person.
"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." - Plato
Play therapy is a way of being with a child that honors their unique developmental level and looks for ways of helping in the "language" of the child - play, to help prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development. Play therapy uses a variety of play and creative arts techniques, and may be non-directive (where the child decides what to do in a session, within safe boundaries), directive (where the therapist leads the way) or a mixture of both. Play therapy is particularly effective with children who can't, or don't want to talk about their problems. It is usually used for ages 3 - 12.
Child Life Specialists provide emotional support for children and their families coping with the challenges of illness, disability, and related health care. They provide age appropriate explanations and preparation for medical procedures, develop coping strategies, and engage children in therapeutic play. Research has shown that children who are prepared for medical procedures experience less fear and anxiety, and will have better long term adjustment to medical challenges. Providing support to family members helps, as a parent or caregiver's behavior and anxiety levels are strongly correlated with how a child will respond to hospitalization or chronic illness.