Therapists in 95110
Michael J Abrams
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
Verified Verified
San Jose, CA 95110
Working with young children, I use play therapy, sand tray & art therapy.
Saturdays appointments available! I am a Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in working with children, adolescents, and families. In addition, I work with individual adults, couples, and co-parenting. I provide a safe, calm, friendly, empathetic & down to earth environment for my clients. I have extensive experience and specialize in working with young children through adolescents and their families around issues related to social, behavioral, interpersonal and academic concerns. Throughout my career, I have provided supervision to other professionals in all aspects of providing psychotherapy for children and adolescents; from case conceptualization, diagnosis, and treatment.
Working with young children, I use play therapy, sand tray & art therapy.
Saturdays appointments available! I am a Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in working with children, adolescents, and families. In addition, I work with individual adults, couples, and co-parenting. I provide a safe, calm, friendly, empathetic & down to earth environment for my clients. I have extensive experience and specialize in working with young children through adolescents and their families around issues related to social, behavioral, interpersonal and academic concerns. Throughout my career, I have provided supervision to other professionals in all aspects of providing psychotherapy for children and adolescents; from case conceptualization, diagnosis, and treatment.
Ruben Gabriel Colon
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified Verified
San Jose, CA 95110 (Online Only)
Could my therapist skill set be the perfect match for your therapy needs? I have worked as a social worker for the past 23 years and 14 of those years as a therapist. I have served children, youth and adults in various settings such as adoption and foster care; child welfare services; outpatient mental health and services for developmentally disabled individuals. Over the years, I have developed a passion for helping individuals heal from trauma, adjust to major life transitions and foster a healthy sense of identity. I am committed making sure the plan for treatment is centered on the goals and needs that we develop together.
Could my therapist skill set be the perfect match for your therapy needs? I have worked as a social worker for the past 23 years and 14 of those years as a therapist. I have served children, youth and adults in various settings such as adoption and foster care; child welfare services; outpatient mental health and services for developmentally disabled individuals. Over the years, I have developed a passion for helping individuals heal from trauma, adjust to major life transitions and foster a healthy sense of identity. I am committed making sure the plan for treatment is centered on the goals and needs that we develop together.
See more therapy options for 95110
Play Therapy
Who is play therapy for?
Play therapy is generally targeted to children between the ages of 3 and 11 who have social, emotional, or behavioral difficulties. Play therapy has also been found helpful for children who have experienced physical or emotional abuse or witnessed atrocities. Play therapy is also often recommended for children who are undergoing major medical procedures or who are suffering from chronic illness; many children’s hospitals are equipped to offer play therapy on-site. Play therapy is also sometimes used for adults; creative writing, music, and art are expressive forms that can all be adapted for therapeutic purposes.
Why do people need play therapy?
Children often do not have the language skills or words to know or to express what is troubling them. Yet they often spontaneously draw or use playthings to depict scenarios that reflect problems in their everyday life. Play therapy provides children with an array of objects and play situations to act out their feelings or experiences so that therapists can get a clear picture of what children might be struggling with and help them find solutions. In addition, play therapists are skilled at helping children understand their inner experience and find words for them, necessary steps toward helping children learn to control their own behavior and come up with solutions to problems they encounter.
What happens in play therapy?
A child enters a comfortable playroom where they are free to choose the objects they want to play with. The play therapist will typically observe how they play with the toys—whether a sandbox, puppets, dolls and action figures, trucks, costumes, drawing and painting materials, or more—because such play provides clues to a child’s family and social relationships, difficulties they are encountering in the world, and what going on inside themselves. Sometimes the therapist may ask the child to use the play objects to tell a story about their family. Using the same instruments of play, therapists can help children discover more advantageous ways of thinking and behaving.
What kinds of problems do play therapists treat?
Play therapy can help children who display destructive or self-destructive impulses; children who seem angry, sad, or fearful; children who experience frequent social, emotional, family, or school difficulty. Play therapy is often of value to children who have experienced a loss or distressing family experience, who are regularly exposed to family conflict, or who have been physically or emotionally abused. Play therapy can help children who are perpetrators of bullying as well as those who are targets of bullying. It helps children learn to identify their feelings, to express them in constructive ways, and to regulate them so they can get on with the business of development.
How long does play therapy last?
Play therapy sessions may last for 30 to 45 minutes, and they usually occur weekly for about 20 sessions. Each session is tailored to the individual child and the kinds of problems they are struggling with. Play that is highly repetitive often indicates a problem requiring further exploration. Therapists typically measure progress through session-to-session changes in play behavior.