Madison Besser M.A, LMFT
Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist
Marriage & Family Psychotherapist
My Services
Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy
I specialize in child and adolescent psychotherapy. I facilitate clients’ expressions and acceptance of themselves, while encouraging them to embrace the differences of others. I engage my clients through social emotional learning and wellness practices. I am passionate about helping them to organize their lives. Communicating effectively and developing a powerful narrative can help children move through the world with a greater sense of ease.
Parenting Skills
My professional training took place in a middle school and free children’s clinic where I worked with students, parents, and extended families and kinship. I saw the intricate dynamics of families, which include parent/child relationships, couples interactions, and relationships with extended family members, and was able to focus on each of these groupings to help families better understand themselves and each other.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.
Play & Art Therapy Techniques
I use play therapy to aid in parent/child attunment/to strengthen the parent/child relationship, as well as to provide insight into the coping strategies children use to deal with grief and loss, divorce and abandonment, and/or crisis and trauma. It can also help in treating behavioral disorders, such as anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), anger management, and OCD. If a client feels less inclined to engage in talk therapy, I employ art therapy techniques such as collage, painting, drawing, and building in order to make therapy more experiential without forcing talk.
Autism Specialization
An Individualized Mental Health Intervention for Children with ASD (AIM HI) is a package of evidence-based intervention strategies designed to reduce challenging behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder ages 5 to 13.
Mindfulness Practices
Guided meditations can help reduce stress, anxiety, or other feelings that can arise in the therapy room. Even short, three minute mindfulness exercises can help a client to focus and be present and receptive in the therapy space. I have found that progressive muscle relaxation techniques can be immensely helpful for clients dealing with trauma or anxiety.