Practice Description
Bobbi specializes in working with couples and families on issues related, but not limited to effective parenting, communication, and negotiating expected and unforeseen life and family transitions. Bobbi has extensive experience working with foster and adoptive families, infertility, multi-racial and multi-ethnic families, couples experiencing high conflict and infidelity, premarital couples, and children experiencing multiple transitions and behavioral concerns.
Bobbi has more than 10 years of clinical experience working with individuals, couples, and families within a variety of settings. These include: mental health agencies, an Employee Assistance Program, the Criminal Justice Department, private practice and an out of home care setting for adolescent girls. In each of these settings she has focused on using systemic principles in order to help strengthen family relationships.
As a Filial Therapist, Bobbi believes in the importance of primary caregivers in the lives of children as well as the power of play in the lives of children and adults. In many traditional models of play therapy, the therapist works with the children individually and then may work with the parents on related concerns. Filial Therapy is a type of play therapy that brings parents into the core of the work. Parents are trained to conduct special play sessions with their children and are invited into their child's world through play. They are taught straightforward and effective skills for disciplining and developing a satisfying relationship with their children. Filial therapy has been around since the 1960s and has been the subject of many research studies examining its effectiveness with different populations. Filial Therapy has been shown to:
• reduce behavioral and emotional concerns for children
• improve children's self-image and confidence
• improve parent-child relationships
• improve family communication
• increase family intimacy
• improve parent confidence and effectiveness
Filial Therapy is an effective tool for families facing chronic and severe concerns, as well as those who simply want to strengthen family relationships. The inclusion of parents in the therapy makes this a more efficient approach to working with children and arms caregivers with tools to deal with future, as well as current concerns.