Every behavior a child shows you is an active communication. Their little bodies can't always have the words. So when they're behaving some way, they're telling you something. Now it's your turn to figure out what that is.

I work with children as young as four, on up through the teenage years, and with the adults trying to hold the household together.

Why very little surprises me

I have been a behavioral interventionist, a case manager for youth with severe emotional disabilities, a child protection social worker, a school counselor, a therapist in a secure residential unit for adolescents, and a foster parent. I have met families at their worst hour and watched them keep going. Very little that a child or teenager brings into the room is new to me, and nothing needs to be performed for me.

What sessions actually look like

With younger children, sessions often look like play, drawing, games or moving around. That is the work, not a warm-up to it. With teenagers it is usually talking, but on their terms and at their speed. Nothing gets pried open on a schedule that isn't theirs.

Children come in around anxiety and school refusal, autism and ADHD, grief, behavior at home or at school that nobody can decode, and the aftermath of abuse or neglect. Nothing happens fast in that last one. A child who has been hurt does not owe anyone their story, and a room that demands one is not a safe room.

You are part of the picture

Parent and caregiver sessions are a normal part of this work, sometimes alongside your child's sessions and sometimes instead of them. Sometimes the most useful hour of the week is the one without your child in the room, spent working out what a behavior is actually asking for.

That includes co-parenting across two households, blended and foster and adoptive families, and parenting a child who is autistic, ADHD or newly diagnosed. You do not have to like your co-parent for this to work. You have to become predictable to your kid.

Where school is part of the problem, I can help you understand what you are seeing and ask for what is reasonable. I also provide consultation and letters at $180 where documentation is needed for education or accommodation.

Teenagers and consent

In Oregon, minors aged 14 and older can consent to their own outpatient mental health treatment under ORS 109.675. A teenager can call, schedule and attend therapy without a parent's permission. That said, I work with teens and parents collaboratively, and I use clinical judgment about when involving a parent makes sense. This is general information rather than legal advice.

Practical details

• Children from age four through 12, teens 13 to 17, and parents on their own
• Play, drawing, movement and talk, chosen for the child rather than the schedule
• In person at 132 E Broadway Suite 303 in Eugene, or telehealth anywhere in Oregon
• Saturday appointments, which usually cost a family less than a missed class
• Individual sessions $180, family sessions $250, limited reduced-fee spots from $130
• Private pay only; superbills provided for out-of-network reimbursement

Start with a free 30-minute call. Bring the situation rather than a diagnosis. Most people describe a situation, not a category, and that is a perfectly good start.