Counseling Approach
Heart to Heart Child and Family Center for Counseling, INC is unlike any other clinic, because we offer a specialty team for clients of all ages. With child clients, we work alongside the parents providing both education and personal support and can also have family and/or sibling sessions if requested. Our passion is to strengthen clients to achieve their highest potential. While working and teaching in the field of child and family psychology for over 30 years, Dr. Kathleen developed the HEARTS® Integrative Model for Therapy model to address the comprehensive needs of children and families during the healing process. The HEARTS® Integrative Model is a culmination of Dr. Kathleen’s successful work bringing healing to children and families. With great professionalism, care, and experience, Dr. Kathleen and her team will work tirelessly for you and your family. As a parent and a professional, Dr. Kathleen brings a heart for the success of every family to her work.
The HEARTS® Integrative Model for children is a developmentally informed, attachment-based framework for counseling children who have experienced trauma, adversity, or disruptions in caregiving relationships. The model integrates principles from interpersonal neurobiology, attachment theory, family systems theory, play therapy, trauma-informed care, and developmental psychology to promote healing through the therapeutic relationship.
HEARTS® emphasizes that children heal most effectively when they experience emotional safety, co-regulation, and developmentally appropriate opportunities to process difficult experiences. Rather than relying on a single theoretical orientation, the model combines directive and non-directive play therapy, expressive interventions, caregiver involvement, and psychoeducation to address the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, relational, and neurobiological effects of trauma.
The six components of the HEARTS® model provide a structured yet flexible framework for treatment:
- H – Hold Safety: Establish physical, emotional, and relational safety while creating a predictable therapeutic environment.
- E – Engage Relationship: Develop a secure therapeutic alliance and strengthen caregiver-child attachment through attuned, responsive interactions.
- A – Attune to Affect: Increase awareness, expression, and understanding of emotions while validating the child's internal experiences.
- R – Regulate Together: Build self-regulation through co-regulation, sensory strategies, mindfulness, and nervous system stabilization.
- T – Teach Through Play: Use play, expressive arts, storytelling, and experiential learning to teach coping skills, problem-solving, and emotional competence.
- S – Support Integration: Help children organize and integrate traumatic experiences into a coherent life narrative while fostering resilience, healthy relationships, and continued developmental growth.
Throughout treatment, clinicians tailor interventions to the child's developmental level, cultural background, family system, and strengths. Caregivers are viewed as essential partners in the healing process and are actively involved in strengthening attachment, reinforcing therapeutic gains, and promoting resilience beyond the therapy session.
The HEARTS® Integrative Model recognizes that stress/trauma affects the whole child—including brain development, emotional regulation, relationships, behavior, and identity. By integrating evidence-based trauma interventions with attachment-focused and play-based approaches, the model seeks to restore safety, build resilience, and support lasting healing for children and their families.
