The holiday season is upon us and with it brings excitement as well as many schedule changes and opportunities for meltdowns. One great (and free) way to support your child during this hectic time of year is to support their nonverbal working memory. This is the part of the executive functioning (or EF) system that helps us visualize or imagine ourselves in the future as well as think about the past. 

Imagine this: instead of sitting in an office across from your therapist, you’re strolling together through a peaceful setting, with sunlight filtering through the trees and the soft rustle of leaves underfoot. You might find yourself walking along a winding path, pausing to sit on a park bench, or laughing at a pair of squirrels chasing each other around a tree.

In today's world, where fast food chains dominate the landscape and processed snacks fill the aisles of supermarkets, instilling healthy eating habits in children is more crucial (and difficult!) than ever. However, teaching children to have a positive relationship with food goes beyond just making sure that they eat their fruits and vegetables. It's about fostering a mindset that can appreciate and understand the nourishing aspects of food while simultaneously enjoying the pleasures of eating.

A few years ago, Lynn Louise Wonders, MA, LPC, CPCS, RPT-S shared an open letter to parents going through a divorce. In this letter, she shares things that help make the divorce process go smoothly for every member of the family. One of her points is to gather your adult-helpers and know what purpose each person’s job serves. Today, I want to dive a little deeper into helping you understand each of these roles.

"Are you breaking up with us?" This sentiment is one I've encountered numerous times as I broach the topic of termination with caregivers. While the remark may appear lighthearted, it undoubtedly speaks to the depth and significance of the therapeutic relationships we, as therapists, form not only with our clients but often with the entire family system.

With summer break around the corner, I know that many caregivers become worried about their child using screens even more often. Children are no longer at school for a good portion of the day and it can sometimes be just too hot in Austin to stay outside for too long. However, I think the transition into summer makes a great time to implement a new media plan if you’re concerned about your child’s screen time since children understand this to be a time of new routines anyway.

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.

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.