Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Therapy

Supporting Babies, Toddlers & the Grown-Ups Who Love Them

When your baby cries endlessly and nothing helps...
When your toddler has big meltdowns over tiny things…
When bedtime becomes a battle, feeding feels like a fight, or you’re walking on eggshells to avoid another explosion...

It’s easy to wonder:
"Is something wrong with my child? Or is it me?"

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, confused, or worried about your little one’s emotional world—you are not alone. And you’re not failing.
This is exactly where Infant and Early cChildhood Mental Health Therapy can help.

What Is Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Therapy?

Infant and early childhood mental health therapy is a specialized form of therapy that supports the emotional well-being of babies, toddlers, and young children—from birth through age 5—by strengthening the bond between child and caregiver.

This work isn’t about diagnosing or labeling a child. It’s about noticing early signs of distress, helping your child feel safe and secure, and giving you tools to understand and respond to what’s going on beneath the behavior.

Therapy focuses on the relationship—because a child’s brain and emotional development are deeply shaped by their connection with you.

When we support that relationship, we support the child’s mental health, development, and future resilience.

The First Five Years Shape Everything

So much is happening in the first years of life.

Your child is learning:

  • What to expect from people

  • How to manage feelings

  • How to feel safe in their body and in the world

If a child experiences chronic stress, inconsistent care, or emotional disconnection, it can affect their ability to:

  • Calm down when upset

  • Form secure relationships

  • Trust themselves or others

  • Explore and learn

Early intervention helps prevent bigger struggles later on. The earlier we support emotional health, the better.

“When we nurture a child’s heart in the earliest years, we don’t just change today—we plant the seeds for a lifetime of resilience, connection, and joy.”

Out-of-focus backyard with a wooden playhouse, small red chair, playground slide, potted plants, and a wooden fence, with soap bubbles floating in the air.

Who Can Benefit From Therapy?

You do not need a diagnosis, referral, or "proof something’s wrong" to reach out. If something feels off or too hard, support is available.

Infants and Babies

(0–2 years):

  • Cry inconsolably or seem unusually tense or irritable

  • Struggle to eat, sleep, or be comforted

  • Have experienced a tough start (NICU stay, medical trauma, separation from a parent)

Toddlers & Preschoolers

(2-5 years):

  • Have frequent meltdowns, aggression, or anxiety

  • Struggle with transitions, change, or separation

  • Exhibit behavior that feels confusing, extreme, or out of control

  • Seem withdrawn, shut down, or hard to reach

Parents and Caregivers:

  • Feel overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure how to help

  • Are healing from postpartum depression or trauma

  • Are navigating stressful life events (divorce, loss, relocation)

  • Want to build a stronger bond or repair ruptures in the relationship

What to Expect in Therapy

Therapy is play-based, relationship-focused, and developmentally tailored to your child’s age and needs. It may involve:

  • Young children “talk” through toys, movement, and creative expression. Therapy provides a safe space where they can show us what’s going on inside through play.

  • Rather than working with the child alone, we work together—with you in the room—so we can understand and support your relationship. This might look like you and your child playing together while I guide and reflect alongside you.

  • You’ll receive tools to understand your child’s behaviors through the lens of nervous system regulation, attachment, and early brain development—so you feel more equipped and less reactive in the moment.

  • If your child has experienced stress, loss, or trauma, therapy offers a gentle, non-threatening space to process those experiences—without re-traumatizing. Even pre-verbal children can carry trauma in their bodies and behavior.

Benefits of Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Therapy

This isn’t about becoming a perfect parent. It’s about becoming a connected oneone who sees, soothes, and supports their child with greater clarity and compassion.

Young girl with blonde hair and a colorful floral dress walking with a pacifier in her mouth, a woman with blonde hair and a black outfit in the background outdoors on a sunny day, with trees and grass.

For Your Child:

  • Improved emotional regulation

  • Fewer tantrums, meltdowns, or aggressive behaviors

  • Better sleep, toileting, and eating patterns

  • Increased confidence & security

  • Stronger social skills

  • Stronger parent-child connection

For You:

  • Feel more confident as a parent

  • Greater understanding of your child’s cues and needs

  • Tools to handle tough moments with more calm and connection

  • Less guilt, stress, frustration, and self-doubt

  • A deeper, more joyful relationship with your child

A Safe Place for Both of You

Therapy isn’t just for children. It’s for families.

Maybe you didn’t have this kind of support when you were little.
Maybe you’re trying to parent differently, but your own stress, trauma, or emotional wounds keep getting in the way.

There is room for your story, too.

In sessions, there’s space to explore how your past might be influencing the present—without blame or shame. The more resourced you feel, the more co-regulation and safety you can offer your child.

When a child gets to grow up in a home where feelings are welcome and connection is safe, it changes everything.

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone

Being a parent is hard enough without the pressure to do it all perfectly. If something in your gut says, “We need help,” that’s more than enough reason to reach out.

Early childhood mental health therapy is not about fixing your child—it’s about understanding them, supporting you, and building a relationship that feels safe, connected, and secure for you both.

Help is available.
Healing is possible.
You are not alone.

You don’t have to have all the answers—just the courage to ask the first question.