child CENTRED family therapy
"YOU CAnnot REASON YOUR WAY TO LOVE BUT YOU CAN LOVE YOUR WAY TO REASON" (ANONYMOUS)
I work with the whole family not just the "IDENTIFIED patient"
At crossing the divides i offer Play/drama based therapies guided by the polyvagal theory & Neuroscience. I work with you and your child or children inside the parent/child Relational psychotherapy Framework, dyadic developmental psychotherapy which works to create a safe, securely functioning child/family unit using P.A.C.E
Playfulness, ACCEPTANCE, curiosity, Empathy.
Together we work toward TRANSFORMATION.
trauma and your child's developing brain
We hear so much about genetics these days and how our genetics underpin everything that we are capable of being. This is true. It is also true that the human brain mediates our movements, our senses, our thinking, feeling and behaving and that the amazing, complex neural systems in our brain, driven by our early experiences determine who we become (Perry, 2005). The brain's potential is developed through safety, love, co-regulation, correcting faulty neuroception (sense of of whether people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening) and interoception (the sense of the internal state of the body) and the establishment of safety by the parent with the child (Porges, 2014). This early nurture determines how our genetic potential is expressed and whether it reaches its potential. It is how we nurture our children's nature, that unlocks that potential.
Dyadic psychotherapy, play, somatic EXPERIENCING & practice unlock this potential and offer us the chance to borrow resilience from others, the means to heal ourselves, our families and our relationships with our children.
dyadic developmental Psychotherapy(DDP) is a four step process:
1. therapist working with the parent or foster parent on their own trauma experiences which may be impacting their relationship with their child.
2. therapist PREPARING THE PARENT TO WORK WITH THE CHILD. (1&2, min 5 sessions).
3. Therapist WORKING ALONE WITH THE CHILD. (THIS MAY BE CONCURRENT WITH 1& 2).
4. therapist working with the parent(s) and child together.
(All levels are subject to looping back and INTER-LOOPING according to the needs of the family group).
