Child therapists in Buellton, California CA
Child or Adolescent Issues
Sam Naimi
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, Psychoanalyst
Creating a safe and engaging space for children is my passion! I specialize in working with kids of all ages, using a combination of play therapy and psychoanalytic techniques tailored to their unique needs.
Play therapy allows children to express themselves freely through toys, games, and creative activities. This playful approach helps us uncover and address underlying emotional concerns in a way that feels comfortable and natural for them.
My training in psychoanalytic work with children allows me to gently explore the unconscious world that shapes their behaviors and emotions. Together, we can create a space where they feel heard and understood, fostering healthy development and emotional well-being.
6 Years Experience
Child or Adolescent Issues
Dr. Linda Haack, Ph.D.
Psychologist
Dr. Linda Haack, Ph.D has worked with children, youth and families both in psychiatric facilities (inpatient and outpatient) and in her own private practice setting. She has supervised pre-doc and post-doc interns in a variety of family clinics for many years. She helped develop the child/family wrap around services program in both the Chula Vista and Sweetwater School district, Sand Diego County.
She has extensive training and experience working with children and adolescents going through transitional periods-- such as the transition from high school to college.
33 Years Experience
Child or Adolescent Issues
Jonathan Kruger Therapy
Marriage and Family Therapist, LMFT
Your child is the most precious vessel in your life, and finding a trusted therapist to address your child’s emotional challenges is one of the toughest decisions a parent can face. Engaging with children in a safe, supportive way has been a lifelong passion of mine. I was blessed to be raised in a household that was joyous, accepting, filled with music, and also filled with children. My mother was a music therapist for children with special needs and disabilities, and observing her connect through music to deeply impaired youth had a profound impact on my life. Her example taught me to understand and engage children at their level, and I have taken those lessons into my therapeutic process, whether it be working closely with troubled children and teens throughout the Los Angeles County Unified Schools district, or engaging with children in my private practice.
My approach to child therapy is two-pronged. First, I seek to engage the child as an active participant in the therapeutic process. Deploying imagination, play, art, music, breathing, dancing, and energy work, the purpose is to build deep trust and communication at a level the child can embrace and that feels authentic to the child’s experience. Since children clearly do not have the communication skills of adults, building this connectivity, sense of safety, and environment of trust is vital. This is often accomplished through transitional objects, such as toys, dolls, and musical instruments. This signals to the child that our communication will take place at a level which is understandable to them, as well as comfortable and trusting. Once this attachment has taken place, it then becomes possible to infuse and suggest different thought and behavior patterns that address the child’s underlying issues.
Building this foundation of trust with the child is vital, but it is often just the first step. The second element of my child therapy practice is to fully enlist the family in understanding, supporting, and resolving the child’s emotional challenges. Clearly, the family and parenting dynamic is critical to the child’s behavior. Yet truly understanding that family dynamic is a sensitive process, especially given the enormous pressure parents are under in today’s world to be, simply put, perfect. My approach with parents is to, first, actively defuse this “perfection pressure.” No parent is perfect, and a key step is to uncover and explore the internal parenting dynamic absent the external pressures parents face today. Another key step is active “re-parenting” where I work closely with parents to identify different parenting techniques that will help support the child’s therapeutic process.
A holistic approach to child and family therapy is critical to long term healing and opening new, positive behaviors. Crafting a trusting, safe, and child-centric environment is a lifelong passion and a key part of my overall practice.
11 Years Experience
Child or Adolescent Issues
Barry Ross
Psychologist, Ph.D.
I am a psychologist, marriage family therapist, bioenergetic analyst, and psychoanalyst with more than 30 years of clinical experience in treating adolescents, adults, and marital couples. I am skilled in helping a person to feel understood and related to in a new and helpful way.
40 Years Experience
Child or Adolescent Issues
COPE Psychological Center
Psychologist, PhD
Adolescence is a major life transition we go through and sets us up for the formative 20s. Our goal is to help make this transition into young adulthood intentional and purposeful so that you can move your life in the direction you want to go in.
12 Years Experience