Strive to Thrive: It all starts with the relationship you have with yourself!
Kids
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Why Play Therapy For Children?
The therapeutic approaches used for adults are not appropriate for children. Children are unable to understand and talk about their feelings and internal processes as adults are able to do. Play therapy is a process focusing on the use of play for emotional resolutions. A child can give expression to the experiences and emotions they are currently having difficulty with through therapeutic play. A variety of methods may be employed when working with a child. Games, stories, puppets, art and crafts, music, sand tray are some examples. Play therapy may be either directive or non-directive.
How will I be involved as a parent?
Parental involvement in a child’s therapy is important. Parents will be asked to meet with the therapist at times throughout their child’s therapy. Parents may be asked to join sessions and/or given recommendations to follow at home that support the therapeutic process.
How Does Play Therapy Work?
Play to children is a natural way to rehearse for life’s interactions. Play has three basic functions: cognitive and motor development and emotional resolutions. Through the play therapy process the children create play that resembles emotional experiences they are struggling with internally. These are usually experiences they are unable to express verbally. They recreate those internal conflicts through representations in the therapeutic play process. Beginning with these representations, the play evolves until the child gains a sense of understanding and resolution of the conflicts presented.
At times from the outside play therapy may look like it’s just about playing and having fun. However, empirically-based research shows play therapy is effective in treating a range of behavioral, emotional, and mental health problems.
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Positive change starts With A Solid Foundation!
As a parent, you want your child to become the leader of their own life, by understanding their true value and worth. Guided by the play based coaching program, developed by Kids Life Studio, your child will work towards achieving their full potential and understand their unique place in the world.
It doesn’t matter how committed we are to offering the best in parental support to our children, we may not always get it right. Understanding that we don’t need to figure it all out by ourselves will provide support to both you and your child.
Navigating our fast paced modern world and the challenges we face, requires tools and strategies for healthy social, emotional, and mental development.
The best gift you can give your child is the ability to navigate the ups and downs of life with confidence. Learning requires stumbling, correcting, and growing. So whatever your child may be facing right now, how you help them deal with it will determine the impact it has on their future. This all starts with creating a foundation of positive beliefs for your child so that they believe in themselves.
Trained and Certified, Kids Life Coach Check Out:
https://kidslifestudio.com/.
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Filial play therapy an educational family intervention, in which parents learn how to hold special, child-centered, play sessions with their own children.
This approach will help you to develop your parent-child relationship through play!
Filial play therapy creates a safe atmosphere where children can express themselves, try new things, learn about social rules and restrictions, develop family attachments, and develop effective social skills and bonds.
Parents engage as partners in this therapeutic process, empowered to be the primary change agents for their own children.
Filial play therapy is a relatively short-term child and family intervention, with long-term results.
Research has shown that play therapy is more effective when parents are involved!
This approach involves training parents how to effectively play with their children.
*Check out my “Filial Play Therapy Program ”under the “Adults” section.
Adolescents
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Being an adolescent means embarking on a spiritual journey of self-discovery.
During this phase of human development, adolescents seek to understand how they fit and want to fit in this world.
Past experiences and teachings, will be doubted, tested, reformatted, discarded, and reestablished. It is an exciting time, yet laden with challenges and confusion- not only for the adolescent, but for their family and the community members who support them.
Pulling from a vast toolbox of modalities, I take an adaptive approach to best support your child’s specific needs and goals.
Sessions will be enjoyable and supportive, allowing your child more opportunities to expand into independence, resiliency, and confidence.
Through life coaching, you are providing your child the equipment necessary to traverse this journey.
I look forward to hearing more about your adolescent and exploring ways in which I can best support your family.
Adults
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You are unique and deserve an approach specifically tailored to your personal needs and goals.
Check out the modalities page , particularly Organic Intelligence (my foundational modality for coaching adults), to explore how my trainings can support you.
We will work together from a Trauma Informed Approach (understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of trauma in a way that promotes healing and prevents re-traumatizing), our sessions will be enjoyable, and supportive, allowing you to expand and heal in a positive environment, free from judgement and pressure.
I invite you to be bold in your pursuit of healing and growth, building your resiliency to THRIVE!
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Parenting is hard! Let’s say that again:
“Parenting is HARD!!!”
External stressors, poor modeling (from our own upbringing) and minimal family and/or community support, creates us working overtime (to even feel like we’re keeping our heads above water)
Welcome! I am here to support you in taking what might currently feel:
FRUSTRATING, OVERWHELMING, SHAMING, BURDENED & ALONE
and transform that into feeling:
IN-CONTROL, POWERFUL, KNOWLEDGEABLE, FUN & SUPPORTED
Together, we will identify the daily struggles your family faces, and what is going right! I will educate you on your child’s current developmental stage, and how best to support them.
Through education, and the use of strategies and tools to foster healthy communication and coping skills, your efforts will ensure a feeling of trust and belonging in your home.
Parent coaching can benefit any parent, step-parent, or caregiver who is seeking support on how best to navigate meeting their child’s needs. Parent coaching can occur in person, or online, including one or both parents (separately or together).
In general, this form of coaching carries an implicit larger goal of re-establishing positive family relationships. This is achieved through smaller goals, such as:
improving communication
providing education
expanding parenting strategies
fostering confidence and self-efficacy
developing solution-focused thinking
improving metacognitive skills
I look forward to supporting you and your family as you grow TOGETHER!!
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12-week Program Foundations:
I. Parent Preparation and Education: Play Therapy & Human Development.
II. Mock Play Sessions/Rehearsals: Parent practices the four play session skills (structuring, empathic listening, child-centered imaginary play, and limit-setting).
III. Demonstrations/Modeling: Parent observes, Coach facilitates play therapy sessions.
IV. Parent facilitated sessions with Support: Each play session is followed by a debriefing, in which the parents and coach discuss skill development, as well as play themes and other dynamic issues that arise.
When the parents are competent and confident in conducting play sessions independently, they continue weekly play sessions at home with each child.
*Many families choose to continue holding the play sessions long after the coaching program ends because of their power to enhance family relationships and prevent future problems.
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Who This Program is For:
This program is for parents and other caregivers, of children who have experienced the death of a parent for any cause. It is most helpful for those seeking to rebuild their family going forward and to take good care of themselves while grieving.
*Eligible starting from 6 months post loss
How the Program Works:
This program consists of 10 units, teaching accessible and practical tools. Each unit takes about 30 minutes to complete. After each unit, you practice the tools at home.
We will meet weekly, and support each other, as you learn how to make the tools work well in your family.
What is Resilient Parenting?
“Resilient Parenting” refers to the many things that parents and caregivers do to help bereaved children process their grief and thrive.
Research finds that parenting has powerful effects on strengthening resilience in bereaved children.
This program utilizes five key building blocks that parents and caregivers can use to promote resilience of their bereaved children.
RESEARCH BASED:
The program is based on research from Arizona State University REACH Institute, which has repeatedly found that high quality parenting is one of the strongest factors associated with better adjustment of bereaved children.
The Family Bereavement Program, has proved to be successful in promoting effective parenting by bereaved parents and caregivers up to six years following the program.
The research also found that the program had significant benefits in terms of less distressing long-term grief and lower mental health problems for bereaved parents/caregivers and their children.
ASU REACH Institute has a mission to disseminate the most current information and practical tools to promote healthy adaptation of bereaved children and their parents and caregivers. The online platform is supported by a partnership with the NewYork Life Foundation, providing information and practical tools both to the professional community that provides services to bereaved families and to parents and caregivers.
Emily C. -TX
“Ayla was an amazing life coach for my tween! Transitioning from Elementary School to Middle School comes with lots of big changes and big feelings. Ayla was a safe space for my daughter to talk out her feelings and better understand what was causing them. She helped her enter Middle School with a confidence that has served her well. My daughter had an amazing first year of Middle School, and I know a huge part was Ayla!”