Ladydenise Coleman, MA, LPC

I am an experienced Licensed Professional Therapist who focuses on the whole child and adolescent through directive play therapy and cognitive behavior therapy.

We are living in a “digital” world, where children have easy access to information with a click of a button. Long gone are the days when children picked up an encyclopedia to find answers to their many questions about life.

Technology is exciting to children but has the potential to remove them from opportunities for in person socialization. As an educator for nearly twenty years, I witnessed children struggle with depression, stress, anxiety, and difficulty navigating through a school system that did not value Social Emotional Learning. Students longed to understand and seek solutions to problems they were facing. The concern for student’s emotional health motivated me to begin my journey to become a Licensed School Counselor. I also earned a Master of Art degree in Professional Counseling from Amberton University. As a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), I learned additional insight to mental health disorders.

My background in education has allowed me to observe children through their lens rather than the lens of others that may sometimes be foggy. My specialties are closely related to the students I supported in the classroom. I have worked closely with children and adolescents struggling to understand the “why” and “it is not your fault” while dealing with parents divorcing, coping with grief due to a significant loss, ADHD, anxiety, as well as those struggling with learning disabilities, and those in need of anger management.

Play Therapy is one method I use to build strategies for addressing the concerns of children and coping with their challenges. Children communicate through play. Toys are their words, and play is their language. Through Play Therapy, children explore and express feelings using play, toys, and games. Successfully, I help children to realize they have the natural ability from within to be their own problem solver. Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, children and adolescents learn to understand the relationship between their mind and body; what they think can often affect how they feel. They learn to manage their behavior by changing their thoughts and emotions.

From a child’s view, life is not always seen as sunshine and rainbows. Partner with me and together we can make their future seem so bright, they will need a new pair of sunglasses.