Archive | Play Therapy

Vanessa Mortillo, MA, LPC

By lvenart on November 4, 2021 in Counseling, family therapy, Groups, Play Therapy, Self Care Program

Vanessa Mortillo, LPC

Vanessa Mortillo is Licensed Professional Counselor that provides individual counseling and group therapy to youth and young adults.

Vanessa believes that therapy should be as fun, collaborative, and easily accessible as possible. Utilizing mindfulness, talk therapy, expressive arts, and play therapy modalities, she harnesses creativity and imagination in the service of growth and healing. She has worked with families and individuals from a variety of backgrounds and is committed to advancing equity and social justice in the therapeutic relationship and beyond. Vanessa has a Master’s Degree in Contemplative Psychotherapy from Naropa University.

Specialties

Play Therapy and Expressive Arts

Vanessa will meet with your child, on their level, by utilizing their natural language: play. Through play-based and art-based interventions, she supports children working with anxiety/depression, divorce/separation issues, trauma, and a range of issues, to process, heal, and gain new skills.

Learn more about creative and integrative therapies.

Autism

Vanessa is experienced in supporting individuals on the Autism Spectrum at all ages including preschool-aged youth to help them build skills necessary for thriving. For youth, she utilizes a Floortime-influenced play-based approach using your child’s natural interests to build connections, gain social skills, and reach developmental milestones.

Mindfulness Psychotherapy and Teen Mindfulness Groups

With extensive training in mindfulness-based contemplative psychotherapy through Naropa University, Vanessa utilizes mindfulness with adults and adolescents to help them become aware of the present moment, including their feelings, thoughts, and reactions. Mindfulness has been shown to promote feelings of calm and well-being as well as greater connection and insight into oneself. Vanessa facilitates Teen Mindfulness Groups to help build coping skills.

Elizabeth Campbell, MS, LPC

By lvenart on November 3, 2015 in ADHD, Counseling, Play Therapy, Self Care Program

Elizabeth Campbell is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, and is certified in EMDR. She provides Integrated play therapy, EMDR therapy, and supervision. She specializes in support for Highly Sensitive people, help for helpers, and EMDR therapy for a variety of needs.

I began my work in the counseling field in community mental health in a program that served children at risk for out of home treatment. This gave me experience in crisis interventions, working with a variety of concerns in children and adults, and in family therapy. My work continued in victim services, where my knowledge of support for individuals that have experienced trauma expanded and my training in mindfulness as a tool for healing began. In the years that I have worked in private practice, my work with children, families, and individuals that have endured trauma has continued. I also specialize in working with Highly Sensitive People and children to support them in managing their unique strengths and challenges. I welcome child, adolescent, and adult clients experiencing depression, anxiety, PTSD, mood disorders, and issues surrounding grief and loss, transitions, abuse, and trauma.

In addition, as a Licensed Professional Counselor, RPT-S, and EMDR Consultant-in-Training, I am open to supporting counselors in expanding their professional knowledge and experience while they work towards licensure or certification. My areas of expertise are child and family therapy, play therapy, parenting, trauma treatment, mindfulness, and a variety of treatment modalities grounded in humanistic counseling. I also specialize in blending IFS and EMDR as well as EMDR and play therapy. I am passionate about supporting helpers in building their awareness and prevention of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue.

Play Therapy

The ability to express oneself is directly correlated with one’s developmental level. Therefore, children express themselves in much different ways than adults and require different therapeutic interventions than traditional talk therapy. Elizabeth provides a variety of mediums for children to express themselves through their language: play. She is trained in Child-Centered Play Therapy and in Eliana Gil’s Integrative Model of Play Therapy for children that experienced trauma. She also partners with parents in Filial Therapy, which builds strong relationships with children and supports parents in creating consistent structure at home.

Elizabeth Campbell’s office

Creative Counseling for Adolescents

The developmental task of adolescents is to create a sense of identity. Elizabeth’s humanistic, client-centered, empowerment approach, founded in the individual’s strengths supports teenage clients in doing just this. Elizabeth also utilizes creative, mindful, and expressive strategies to engage teens and promote change inside and outside of sessions.

Trauma-Informed Care

In this approach to treatment, the clinician asks “what happened to you” rather than “what’s wrong with you.” Trauma impacts the whole individual. Elizabeth’s holistic, humanistic approach addresses the whole person and provides support in moving forward with one’s life.

Elizabeth is a certified sexual assault counselor and is trained in a variety of trauma-specific treatment modalities including EMDR Therapy, the Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Trauma Art Narrative Therapy, and Eliana Gil’s Integrative Model of Play Therapy.

Elizabeth Campbell’s office

Workshops and Mind-Body Treatment

Elizabeth has had the joy of combining a personal passion, yoga, with her professional path through workshops and groups to bring yogic principles into treatment and subsequently, into one’s life. Elizabeth runs ongoing groups and workshops that address emotional healing through a combination of yoga and therapy as well as bringing these and mindfulness principles into individual sessions.

Kathleen Krol, MSS, LCSW, RPT-S

By lvenart on November 3, 2015 in ADHD, Clinical Supervision, Counseling, EMDR, Play Therapy

Kathleen Krol, MSS, LCSW, RPT-S provides individual counseling and child and adolescent family therapy.

She uses Play Therapy and Sand Tray Therapy, two established modalities that are recognized for their effectiveness with children and adolescents.

She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over ten years post graduate training in Mindfulness-Based Play-Family Therapy, Contextual Family Therapy, Trauma Focused Therapy and Sand Tray Therapy. She is credentialed as a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor and Certified Play-Family Therapist. She has completed the EMDR Basic Training, EMDR Training with Children and Adolescents and Trauma Art Narrative Therapy training.

Family and Child Centered Therapy

Typical therapy sessions begin with a comprehensive developmental and life history to identify and resolve “root” causes of problems to promote long-term healing. Treatment includes family therapy with the parent and child together, individual play therapy or sand tray therapy with the child, and parent coaching and feedback sessions.

Family Therapy

My work is with the family as well as with the child or adolescent. My family focused approach to treatment looks at both the immediate problem and the underlying causes. Through training and experience, I understand how unless the ‘root’ cause of the problem is addressed, symptoms will cease only temporarily, manifest in different behaviors later or develop in another family member. I recognize that problems or behaviors exhibited by one child often impact other members of the family and when family dynamics may play a role in their continuation.

Play Therapy and Sand Tray Therapy

As a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, Kathleen facilitates healing through play therapy and sand tray, the child’s tools for communication and self-expression.

I enjoy using play and sand in my work with children and find myself blessed to observe the healing process as it unfolds. I strive to be open to the unique characteristics and resources of each family with whom I work.

Adult, Children and Teen Therapy Specializations

Kathleen brings with her a range of experiences over the course of the past ten plus years including work with children, adolescents, and families at an outpatient mental health clinic, home settings, schools, acute and chronic inpatient hospital units, and employee assistance programs.

I provide a safe and supportive environment for children, adolescents and adults experiencing trauma, grief and loss, sexual abuse, anxiety, depression, behavior issues, and ADHD. The treatment approach I use to best fit your individual or family needs may incorporate Sand Tray, Mindfulness-Based Play-Family Therapy, cognitive behavior techniques, stress management and relaxation techniques,EMDR, Trauma Art Narrative Therapy and Filial Family Therapy.

Kathleen Krol’s Sand Tray Office

Sand Tray Therapy with Adults and Teens

Kathleen provides Sand Tray Therapy, in addition to counseling, as an approach to working with adults and teens. Sand Tray therapy offers another modality for reluctant teens to express themselves. Both adolescents and adults may experience emotional release through use of symbolism and projection of feelings unto the sand tray miniatures. Individualized Sand Tray sessions offering self-awareness, clarity and self-growth can be scheduled for one or more sessions.

Focusing Sand Tray Therapy

This is a specialized means of using sand tray therapy that allows one to focus specifically on a problem, issue or fear. It might be a problem or place where one feels continuously stuck. This sand tray approach uses mindfulness meditation techniques combined with guided exploration or dialogue leading to deeper insight into the problem, issue or fear. It involves tuning into one’s somatic (body) experience and feeling affect awareness. The experience of Focusing Sand Tray can be profoundly meaningful. Individualized Sand Tray sessions offering self-awareness, clarity and self-growth can be scheduled for one or more sessions.

Supervision for Play Therapists and Social Workers

Kathleen Krol, LCSW, RPT-S, provides clinical supervision for social workers and for play therapists earning hours towards their Registered Play Therapist credential. Kathleen has over eleven years experience in diverse client settings including inpatient and outpatient mental health, home and school-based settings. Her strong background in Contextual Family Therapy and trauma enriches the case conceptualization process.

In supervising Social Workers and Play Therapists, she practices from a child centered play therapy approach combined with knowledge of developmental stages and their connection to subsequent trauma and attachment issues. Supervisees will have the opportunity to enhance their clinical skills using Sand Tray Therapy and learning concrete strategies when coaching and providing feedback to parents.

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