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A Note to Parents
Our approach to working with children is grounded in the understanding that each
child has
an inner life that reaches out to meet and interact with the world around him. We see personality development as occurring within the context of
close relationships and involving mastery of developmental conflicts,
particularly during the first five years of life. For over 50 years we have
studied the way this occurs, what can cause interferences in development, and
what can be done to help children resume progressive development. When working with children in our school, we help them become more aware of their feelings by helping them to identify and give voice to emotions that underlie their actions and behaviors. Parents are crucial to the success of this process as their observations and intimate knowledge of their child's earlier life and experiences provides an anchoring point for children to turn to. This work takes place over many months or even years. The pace of the work is set by the child and we are respectful of the child’s need to maintain defense mechanisms until they can be surrendered. Where other treatment modalities focus on the alleviation of a single symptom or symptom in a short amount of time, our goal is to help a child to master interferences so that progressive personality development can be restored and endure. Hanna Perkins is unique in its value of continuing professional education. All of our clinicians participate in ongoing training and mentorship in child development and the psychoanalytic process. |
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Send mail to
ddewalt@hannaperkins.org with
questions or comments about this web site.
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