Analytic work with children
Kids have rich, full inner lives long before they have words for them. Analytic work with children takes that inner life seriously — and takes the time to understand what's actually going on underneath whatever brought you here.
What this actually is
Play is how children think out loud. A kid who can't yet explain why they're anxious about school, or why they're suddenly waking up at 3 a.m., or why they hit their little brother at the dinner table, can still show you — through what they build, draw, enact, and refuse. The work is paying close attention to what the child is already communicating, staying with it long enough to make sense of it together, and helping whatever got stuck become unstuck.
It's not a ten-session protocol. It's not a behavior chart. It's not a skills worksheet. It's the same orientation I bring to adult work — that symptoms are intelligent solutions to problems the person may not yet have language for — adapted to the fact that children aren't adults yet. They need a different kind of space, a different pace, and a different kind of attention. What they don't need is to be rushed toward looking fine.
Children are full people. They deserve to be understood, not just managed.
Who we see
I work with toddlers, latency-age children (roughly five to eleven), and, when it fits, younger adolescents. Common reasons families come in: anxiety, school refusal, behavioral concerns, learning and developmental complications with an emotional layer underneath, grief, loss, death in the family, and parents navigating separation or divorce — in progress or long past.
Older teens can often find their own way to therapy, and when they can, the Work With Me page is the right place to start. But if you're the parent of a withdrawn fourteen-year-old who isn't going to call anyone themselves — we can talk about that too. Sometimes the first piece of work is figuring out how to get the reluctant one in the room.
As parents, we're trying to tell the difference between a phase and a pattern, often without enough information. That's a hard position to be in.
Parents are part of the work
You are not kept outside of your child's treatment. You are not handed back a small person after each session with a cheerful "they did great today." Analytic work with children is always also work with the family around the child, because the child isn't the only one feeling the thing — and the child isn't the only one with something to understand.
Depending on what the work requires, some sessions are with your child, some are with you, and some are with the whole family in the room together. The balance shifts as we learn more. Parent consultations — sessions with just you, without your child — are a regular, expected part of how this work unfolds, not an add-on.
When useful, I also coordinate with schools, pediatricians, and other providers already involved in your child's life. And I'm experienced working with separated and divorced families — including the specific complications of involving both parents in the work, navigating different households, and holding the child's experience at the center when the adults around them are still sorting things out between themselves.
The practical details
Initial consultations are with you — not your child. We talk about what's going on, what you've already tried, what you're hoping for, and whether this kind of work is the right fit. If it is, we plan the next step together.
In-person sessions in Manhattan and Bergen County, NJ. Telehealth is used selectively with kids, depending on age and what the work requires — we'll figure out what fits.
Child analytic work typically runs once or twice a week, sometimes more. Less often than that and the work doesn't have room to build. We'll decide together what frequency the specific situation calls for.
I provide superbills for insurance reimbursement. Sliding scale is available in limited situations — we can discuss during consultation.
If you're reading this wondering whether something is "bad enough" to bring your child in — that wondering is usually enough.
A first consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. Reach out and we'll figure out together whether this is the right next step for your family.
Request a consultation →Your interior life matters. Your feelings are information.
Growth is grief with somewhere to go.