Frustration is a familiar feeling no matter who you are. No matter what age, gender, nationality, or spirituality you identify with, you know what it means to feel frustrated. It’s also likely that you know that frustration rises inside us when we want a certain outcome from our efforts and, for whatever reason, we do not achieve that outcome.

If you’re a caregiver, you have probably thought about how to support your child’s emotional intelligence. This may look like asking your child to “use their words” to name how they are feeling, or maybe your child has a big meltdown when something they want doesn’t go as planned. Whatever the scenario, equipping children with the tools to understand their emotional world is essential for their well-being and ability to maneuver through life’s ups and downs.

Play therapy can seem like magic at times. Your child comes to our office for 45 minutes once a week to play and after an average of five months, they’ve completed their therapeutic goals! Their emotional regulation has improved, their anxiety has decreased, or maybe their self-esteem is higher.

Typically when someone thinks of therapy, images of a calm and quiet waiting room may appear in their mind. Maybe rain sounds are playing, and the office is filled with mid-century modern furniture and earth tones. As you can imagine, play therapy tends to be a bit different. Especially the sounds!

Friendships.  Acceptance.  Connection.  These are all things we want for our children. As adults, we have felt the joys and tribulations of friendships and want to help children navigate those tricky waters.  It's painful when we see our children excluded from a group or struggle to connect with other children.  It can be extra challenging to unpack exactly why difficulties are happening and how to support our children to have successful social interactions.

Suicide is a topic that is difficult for anyone to talk about. Throw in the mix of talking about suicide with your children and that conversation goes from uncomfortable to sometimes unbearable. It can be frightening to bring up such a heavy topic to our children and can bring up worries that we are “putting ideas in their heads” by doing so.

Divorce and separation is undoubtedly a challenging experience for everyone involved, especially for children. Amid the emotional rollercoaster, finding a way to co-parent effectively can seem like an overwhelming task - especially when we know that a child’s adjustment during this time depends largely on how well caregivers handle this uncomfortable experience. However, with dedication, communication, and a shared commitment to the well-being of your children, successful co-parenting is not only possible but can be incredibly rewarding.

Searching for a therapist and beginning the process of therapy is understandably overwhelming. You’re worried about how your child is doing and in the process of finding a therapist that will be a good fit for them, you might be wondering if you’ve checked all the boxes and asked all the right questions. In this blog, I want to provide some insight into what the first steps of your therapy journey at Ensemble will look like to help relieve any anxiety you’re feeling about the process.

The way self-care is portrayed in the media today is a double-edged sword; I am glad that the idea is widespread, but I’m afraid the way self-care is presented to folks these days is lacking substance. We hear things like “love yourself” but honestly, that’s pretty vague! What does that actually mean, and how do we go about doing that?

All children deserve the right to play. And furthermore, to play in a space that meets their needs and allows them to experience a feeling of safety to express themselves and grow.

A relationship with a therapist is unlike any relationship that you have with anyone else in your life. Therapy is a place in which you, at regular intervals, go to be with an individual sworn to confidentiality in order to examine your struggles, your life, yourself in a way that is productive and actionable. You go to therapy to dig into the deepest, scariest parts of your mind! You confront  trauma, fears, doubts, and thoughts that are holding you back; you dive into them, look around, think about them in a few dimensions, then you decide what you’re going to do about them.

Exercise is good for everyone. In a world racked with uncertainty, this statement holds truer than most. Exercise looks different for everyone; you could be training for a marathon, or training to walk a 5k. You could play a few holes of golf on the weekend, or you could be doing a mile run followed by 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 200 squats, followed by another mile run. But no matter what and how much you are doing, you will very likely benefit from it.

According to the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, “Disordered eating is used to describe a range of irregular eating behaviors that may or may not warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating disorder.” This week is Eating Disorder Awareness Week, so today we’re going to dive into this topic and discuss encouraging a balanced diet and when to be concerned about your child’s eating.

Anxiety disorders are common mental health conditions that often manifest in childhood and adolescence. While it can be alarming to see your child struggle with anxiety, it's important to know that anxiety disorders can be well-managed with the right treatment and allow your child to live a full life. This guide is meant to be informative, answer common questions about anxiety disorders in children and adolescents, and provide resources for parents and families.

Playing with your child provides an opportunity to connect emotionally and co-regulate your nervous systems. However, many adults don’t know how to play. Some of us didn’t learn when we were little because our parents didn’t play with us, or sometimes we grow up and forget what it’s like to be a child. We know how daunting of a task playing with your child can be when you have no experience and no idea where to start, so today we’ll go over some starting points.

We all need connection. In fact, Maslow states that love and belonging is a need that must be met in the hierarchy of needs for an individual to reach self-actualization. Throughout the day we are presented with opportunities to connect with friends and loved ones, but we often miss the signs. 

As a caregiver, you pay close attention to your child’s developmental milestones. You have frequent check-ins with their pediatrician to make sure they’re growing. You get excited when they take their first step. You might be worried if they’re not saying as many words as you think they should be by a certain age. But what about their emotional development milestones?

It’s the morning before school, you're getting ready for work, your first grader is watching a tv show, you’ve told them at least 27 times to put their shoes on, you're ready to walk out the door… and somehow the shoes are still not on. Sound familiar? Situations like these are something that child therapists hear about regularly. We see it happen in our waiting room and in our play rooms. Luckily, some pretty great counselors have developed ways to handle these situations so that everyone involved can feel calmer. It’s called Limit Setting. I’ll walk you through how it works, why it works, and how to use it at home!

“Human beings are not born with self-control. We have to learn what to do with the mad that we feel. Learning to control ourselves is a long, hard process. It happens little by little. In fact, it is something we work on all through our lives.” - Mr Rogers

Children do not enter this world with bad intentions. Children offer us information, and if we’re courageous enough to listen to the information, we can attune to their inner experiences. We can perceive their behavior as communication, not as manipulation. Children, like all human beings, feel more cooperative when they are treated with respect and kindness. As adults, we do not respond well to people who speak to us harshly or treat us with disrespect - but this can sometimes be our default reaction when faced with our children’s big feelings.

August means back-to-school season for many of us! Shopping for school supplies, new clothes, new shoes, and backpacks can all feel very exciting, and this season may also be filled with lots of complicated, challenging emotions. While parents may be excited for a return to more structure, routine, and possibly even the occasional peace and quiet, many kiddos (and maybe parents too) can experience a very different response.