‘Enter into children’s play, and you will find the place where their hearts, minds, and souls meet’ – Virginia Axline
At North Star Families, located in the Los Angeles area, we believe in nurturing the emotional well-being of children through compassionate, developmentally appropriate therapy. Childhood is full of changes and challenges whether your child is facing anxiety, behavioral difficulties, family transitions, or social struggles, our child therapy specialists provide thoughtful, personalized support to help your child thrive.
We create a safe and engaging environment where children can explore their feelings, build coping skills, and strengthen self-esteem. Our approach is warm, collaborative, and guided by your child’s unique needs.
Therapy can provide children with a supportive space to express themselves and build resilience. We work closely with both children and their caregivers to address concerns and support healthy emotional development.
Child therapy can support children with:
We begin with a parent consultation to understand your child’s experiences and your goals for therapy. Your child’s therapist will then develop a customized treatment plan that aligns with your family’s needs and values.
Sessions often include developmentally appropriate techniques such as play therapy, art-based interventions, and cognitive-behavioral tools. We also provide guidance and collaboration for caregivers to support your child’s growth outside of the therapy room.
We have locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, West LA, Silverlake and Studio City for you to visit with our therapists.
North Star Families has a team of therapists located in Southern California who specialize in working with children and families. Our child therapy specialists are trained in trauma-informed, reflective approaches that honor each child’s unique emotional world. We prioritize the therapist-child match to ensure a trusting and effective therapeutic relationship.
Our North Star is the guiding force in every action and decision we make and we articulate these principles in our core values. What sets our group practice apart are our values, along with our expertise.
For us, our relationship with parents is primary. One of the most important pieces of information to come from developmental research over the last forty years is that a major protective factor of childhood mental health, even for those impacted by loss or trauma, is parents willingness to reflect on their own feelings, and their child’s feelings, particularly feelings of distress. This is because feelings of distress – anger, shame, guilt- are more likely to make a child and a parent reactive. If we can slow down our reactions to our child’s distress, it is more likely to create a stronger bond over the life span.
Our goal is to help parents, no matter what age their child is, make sense of their child’s feelings and behavior from a developmentally informed, reflective lens. We know that if children feel like their parents are trying to understand their experience it makes a positive impact on the relationship.
Also, no parent is perfect and no relationship is without misunderstandings and conflict. In fact, repairing ruptures creates incredible connection because true repair involves understanding and reflecting the other person’s experience.
We also believe in the power of parent community, and offer parent groups, seminars on important topics by experts within and outside of our community, and also parent and baby/toddler groups to offer connection to the youngest of our community. Located in the Los Angeles area, we have many locations for you to choose from.
