About Me

My name is Betina. I specialize in Early Childhood Mental Health and absolutely love supporting families with young children (birth-8).

I consider it an honor to have walked with young children and their families through challenging times for over 10 years. I'm deeply interested in hearing your family's unique story and in working collaboratively to find new ways forward.

Approach

Whether I am working with parents or with children, we will PAUSE and we will PLAY! I draw heavily from principles of somatic therapy and nervous system regulation, and building a strong, resilient therapeutic relationship is always at the core. With kids, I bring in child-centered and psychodynamic play therapy, sandtray play therapy, and elements of directive play therapy and mindfulness practice. With parents and in dyadic parent-child work, I lean on attachment theory and Circle of Security® Parenting to explore what is automatic in your parenting and open up new choice. I'm so excited to hear your family's unique story and work collaboratively to find new ways forward.

Prior to joining the practice, I worked for many years at The Lourie Center for Children's Social-Emotional Wellness.

Areas of Expertise

Parenting Challenges, Grief/Loss, Early Childhood, Emotional Self regulation, Complex/Developmental Trauma, Racial trauma, Developmental delays, Family changes, Infant mental health, Family of origin work, Attachment

Training

Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy Certificate, Washington School of Psychiatry

Registered Circle of Security® Parenting (COSP™) Facilitator

Student of Synergetic Play Therapy®, Somatic Experiencing®, and somatic abolitionism/cultural somatics

Life Space Crisis Intervention