Therapy for Children Ages 4 and up
If your child’s big emotions feel overwhelming,
you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Hello! I’m Belinda Lee.
I believe that everyone - including children - have a unique story to tell and that their experiences and emotions matter.
I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT #121127) and a registered play therapist (#T5293) in San Diego, California.
I specialize in working with children and families to address concerns of anxiety, anger, grief and loss, medical trauma and more.
I am passionate about restoring peace in the home again, regulating nervous systems, and helping parents better understand your children’s emotional experiences while simultaneously equipping children to understand and integrate challenging life experiences.
The Work
My primary approach in therapy is to use child-centered play therapy, Gestalt play therapy, and Somatic Experiencing.
Play is empowering for children, as it is their natural language and expression.
Playing for a child is like talk therapy for an adult. Toys are children’s words, as one of the play therapy founders Gary Landreth says. Through play, children naturally process, make sense, and integrate experiences they often cannot put into words.
Somatic Experiencing is about understanding our own nervous systems and instinctual body reactions and learning to regulate our emotional responses that way.
The therapeutic process of play therapy, combined with Somatic Experiencing tools, equips children so they can express themselves in a healthier manner, make more thoughtful, informed choices in their life, and live up to the potential of who they have been created to be.
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“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.”
— Mr. Fred Rogers
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"Play functions as a neural exercise that improves the efficiency of the neural circuit that can instantaneously down regulate fight/flight behaviors."
— Dr. Stephen Porges