The therapeutic relationship is unique in that it is a highly personal and at the same time, a contractual agreement. Given this, it is important for us to reach a clear understanding about how our relationship will work, and what each of us can expect.
For psychotherapy, I generally see clients for 45-50-minute weekly sessions, though fewer or more frequent sessions may be possible. I offer virtual, in-person, and hybrid sessions for all ages.
I hold a regular day and time for ongoing client appointments. If that type of scheduling arrangement is not an option for you, please know that variations in the appointment time must be confirmed in advance and cannot be guaranteed beyond a week to week basis.
About Quinn's Approach to Therapy
It is my intention to establish a therapeutic relationship for all ages that is steeped in my own congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard for all clients. I strive to be warm, compassionate, supportive, but firm, and nonjudgmental. I only accept clients whom I believe I can help using my professional knowledge and training.
Please take a look below for more information on my four main focus areas.
I believe that all humans have the capacity for expressing and understanding emotions and will do so when they feel safe and secure in their environment. I also believe that social and family environments as well as early experiences are very important in the development of a young person’s personality and lens through which they view the world. When I work with any individual, regardless of age, background, or circumstance, it is my goal to understand their story in the context of their life through whatever medium they choose to express themselves. This may mean we use talk therapy, sand therapy, expressive arts therapy, or a combination of all of these. Most of all, you should feel heard, safe and respected to establish a healing relationship in therapy. Therapy isn’t and shouldn’t be easy. It is sometimes intensely painful work that might feel very unpleasant at times. It is counterintuitive, but that is actually a good sign. Movement of any type is usually a good thing in therapy.
Children often show you rather than tell you how they feel. This is because of children’s cognitive and language development. If you think back to your own childhood, you likely have a memory of playing things that were happening in your environment (i.e. playing house, dress-up, mimicking movies or sporting events). In the playroom, toys allow children to say what they cannot say with words. Just as adults communicate through speaking in talk therapy, children communicate through playing in play therapy. Play therapy allows a child to release feelings and concerns while the play therapist reflects these to the child so that they feel heard and understood. As a trained and registered play therapist, I can help translate what your child is feeling and experiencing in order to give you tools to more effectively act as the secure base in your child’s life at home. Play therapy, like talk therapy, is confidential and I will not give you a play-by-play of what your child did in therapy. Instead, I will give you overarching themes of what I am seeing in your child’s play so that you can better understand or respond to their inner-world. At the onset of therapy, you and I will set goals for your child and we will periodically assess your child’s progress. We will meet to discuss your child’s progress once a month.
While individual therapy for your child is highly beneficial, it is my experience that greater change comes when I can teach parents and caregivers how to be the therapeutic agent in their child’s life. Ultimately, I may see you child for one hour of their lives per week, while you are with them for the other 167 hours in a week. In parent/caregiver and child therapy, I gain a better snapshot of the dynamics between you and your child in order to create a more functional and thereby, healing relationship. The children and parents I work with may play, use games, write, talk, paint, use sand tray, art, and other means to allow for creative expression of experiences, feelings, and needs. Through this work, I then guide parents to learn (or re-learn) how to facilitate an environment in which their child or teenager can feel heard, safe, respected, valued and cherished.
Oftentimes, when a child or parent or sibling is struggling, it is a symptom of a struggle in the entire family system. I see family systems work as some of the most powerful to facilitate healing with children and teens. Family therapy can help you and your family (family of choice or family by blood) understand one another better and learn how to better communicate. In family therapy work, I use expressive and play therapy techniques to tailor the approach to the youngest member of the family system.