Blog

Easing the Challenges of Growing Up

BY Sharon Holbrook
Winter 2026

Much has changed in the 75 years since Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development was founded, but this remains the same: Hanna Perkins is laser-focused on understanding the inner life and development of young children, in partnership with their parents.

The center, which is tucked in a quiet residential neighborhood on Malvern Road, looks very much like its former elementary school self. (The building housed Malvern Elementary School until 1987.) Outside, a community garden and playground are open for neighbors to enjoy in good weather. Inside, Hanna Perkins is home to bright classrooms, cozy gathering places, therapy and administrative offices, and even a research library.

The center is nationally known for its expertise in a unique, psychoanalytic approach. Based on the work of experts like Anna Freud, Hanna Perkins focuses first on the inner life of the child – their feelings, pleasant or unpleasant, and their experience of the world around them. Instead of simply trying to control a child’s behavior, the psychoanalytic approach works with both parent and child to understand the child as a starting point.

Using this approach, Hanna Perkins has long focused on three core service areas: its school for young children; therapeutic services for parents and kids; and continuing education and consultation to train and advise other professionals.

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