Our Team
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Services
Individual
Psychotherapy
We provide therapy for children, teens, and adults, tailoring each treatment plan to the individual or family. Our work integrates a range of approaches—including traditional talk therapy, EMDR, play therapy, expressive arts, and nature-informed therapy—based on developmental needs and therapeutic goals. Effective psychotherapy is rooted in a strong, empathic relationship and evolves through the thoughtful integration of clinical expertise and each client’s lived experience.
Family Therapy
One of the most effective ways to work with individuals is in the context of their families. Involving family members allows for a deeper assessment of interactional patterns, roles, and family dynamics. We approach challenges from a strengths-based, systemic perspective. Family therapy and family play therapy provide opportunities to blend conversation with expressive and play-based experiences, supporting caregivers and children in building communication, emotional attunement, and relational safety.
Teletherapy
We provide teletherapy services in an effort to reduce barriers to access for our new and existing clients, especially in the light of the developments related to the coronavirus pandemic. Teletherapy is provided via a secure and private video platform. Our therapists are committed to delivering the same high quality care as they would in-person.
Walk & Talk
We have found that bringing some movement enriches the counseling session and exposure to nature is widely known to correlate with improvements in mood and wellbeing. It is a mindfulness-based therapy that can make it easier for some clients to relax, mitigate ruminating, release physical tension and breathe deeply while processing experiences. For clients who have trouble opening up in a traditional office setting, walk-and-talk therapy can be an extremely useful treatment tool. Walking in parallel with visual distractions rather than sitting face to face may allow for easier engagement.
Treatment Approaches
Trauma-informed Therapy
Trauma-informed therapy recognizes and emphasizes understanding how the traumatic experience impacts a person’s mental, behavioral, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. Based on the foundational principles of trauma treatment we focus on safety and stabilization in order to ensure an environment conducive to processing trauma material in an intentional and meaningful way. Through the promotion of skills and strategies aimed at assisting in better understanding, coping with, processing emotions and memories tied to traumatic experiences we work towards the goal of enabling the creation of a healthier and more adaptive meaning of the experience that took place in the client’s life.
Attachment Based Therapy
Through attachment based treatment modalities the therapist works through negative internalized relational models and trauma symptoms using the therapeutic relationship that is built on a foundation of attunement, coregulation, and empathy. From an attachment perspective, the therapist responds to the underlying needs of the child within the therapeutic environment serving as a secure base and safe haven for the child. Attachment theory and research is a well-established framework for understanding children's normal and atypical social/emotional development. It is used extensively by clinicians to design interventions, understand interactions, and assess clinical progress.
Play Therapy
Play therapy is a treatment administered by a specially trained professional. This approach centralizes the importance of creating a unique relationship in the playroom to establish a safe, accepting, and permissive environment where the child could experience freedom of expression without judgment. Play is seen as the language of the child client and the metaphors are seen as expressions of certain issues such as trauma. The safety of the play therapy setting allows for children’s representational worlds to be outwardly enacted. The externalization offers a safe distance to process and resolve traumatic memories, beliefs, and feelings. Abundant research supports its effectiveness to treat a whole host of child emotional and behavioral issues.
Expressive Arts Therapy
Expressive arts therapy is the purposeful use of movement, music, play, image-making, performance, writing, and imagination integrated into therapy and wellness. Different cultures have used expressive modalities to regulate themselves for thousands of years, using these types of artistic processes to respond directly to things like trauma and loss. Through cultural anthropology and ethnology we witness how humans have always used these types of practices as a way to return to psychological, physical, and social equilibrium. Through expressive modalities we can support our clients in reimagining new narratives. Often when we can get beyond those traumatic memories and life’s challenges to restore self-compassion and mastery by using imagination. The experiential component of expression is an important part of the healing process leading to a restoration of self.
CBT & TF-CBT - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy & Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT and TF-CBT are evidence-based approaches that help children and teens understand the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These therapies support children in developing healthier thinking patterns, improving emotional regulation, and building effective coping skills.
TF-CBT is a specialized form of CBT designed to help children process and heal from traumatic experiences, including abuse, loss, and other overwhelming events. Through a structured yet flexible process, children are supported in making sense of what they’ve been through, reducing distressing thoughts and memories, and restoring a sense of safety and self-worth. Caregiver involvement is an essential part of this work, helping parents feel supported and equipped to respond to their child’s needs in a trauma-informed way. At The Collective Healing Center, CBT and TF-CBT are delivered in a developmentally attuned and engaging manner—integrating play, expressive arts, and relational approaches to support healing for both children and families.
Nature-informed/
Ecotherapy
Nature-informed Therapy utilizes nature’s multi-sensory items as intervention tools. There is an innate human desire to connect with nature, yet urbanization and technology often distance people from the natural world. On average people are spending close to 90 percent of their time indoors. This disconnect between humans and our ecological world comes at a cost because nature plays a role in our mental health. Richard Louv coined the term "Nature-Deficit Disorder" that highlights the direct exposure to nature as essential for a child’s healthy physical and emotional development. Research is supporting the healing power of nature more all the time with the connection between the health of people and the health of the Earth as inseparable. Our clinicians use directive and non-directive techniques including play, movement, therapeutic storytelling, mindfulness, sensory awareness of outer and inner landscapes, and expressive modalities such as sand, natural clay, stones, feathers, shells, nature sounds and other earth-based components within therapy sessions.
SMART - Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment
SMART is an innovative mental health therapy for children and adolescents who have experienced complex trauma. Treatment engages the sensory motor systems, especially the vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile sensory systems for emotional, psychological, and relational regulation and repair. The blending of movement and relationship to regulate arousal states supports children’s natural ways of regulating their bodies and their emotions to facilitate attachment-building, and to allow for embodied processing of traumatic experiences.
EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
EMDR is a powerful, evidence-based therapy that helps children, teens, and adults heal from the impact of trauma. When a distressing or overwhelming experience occurs—such as abuse, loss, or chronic stress—the brain may not fully process the event. Instead, the memory can become “stuck,” continuing to trigger feelings of fear, shame, anxiety, or dysregulation long after the experience has passed.
EMDR supports the brain’s natural healing process by helping these memories become integrated and less distressing. Through the use of bilateral stimulation (such as gentle eye movements, tapping, or rhythmic movement), EMDR allows the nervous system to reprocess difficult experiences in a way that restores a sense of safety, clarity, and control. At The Collective Healing Center, EMDR is adapted for children and teens through play, expressive arts, movement, and nature-based approaches—allowing healing to unfold in ways that feel safe, engaging, and developmentally appropriate.
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AutPlay
AutPlay Therapy is a neurodiversity-affirming, evidence-based approach designed to support children and adolescents who are autistic or have other neurodevelopmental differences. It integrates play therapy and behavioral strategies to help build emotional regulation, social understanding, and connection in ways that are respectful of each child’s unique way of experiencing the world. We incorporate sensory supports, movement, and expressive modalities to meet each child where they are. Caregivers are also an important part of the process, with guidance and collaboration to help support skills at home and strengthen connection.
AutPlay is not about changing who a child is—it is about helping them feel more regulated, connected, and empowered in their relationships and daily life.
Areas of Specialty
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Children, Adolescents & Families
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Adults
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Anxiety & Depression
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Trauma & PTSD
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Sexual Abuse
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Grief & Loss
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Attachment Disruptions
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Children in and Transitioning from Foster Care
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Adoption
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Problem Sexual Behaviors in Children
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Relationship Issues & Family Conflict
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Life Transitions
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ADHD & Autism
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Gender Diversity
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Sexual Orientation
Getting Started with Collective Healing Center
In serving the Annapolis and Arnold, MD areas, The Collective Healing Center is committed to promoting mental health and well-being through comprehensive services, including trauma-informed therapy, play therapy, and teletherapy. Our location in the scenic Chesapeake Bay region inspires our unique nature-informed treatment approaches, making healing a holistic experience. To get started, call us or contact us online, and explore how we can support you and your family on the path to emotional resilience and psychological health.
Contact Info
Phone
Address
1460 Ritchie Hwy
Suite 201 & 202
Arnold, MD 21012
Land Acknowledgment
We operate on the traditional lands of several indigenous nations —Piscataway and Susquehannock, — the original keepers of the lands we call Maryland. We honor the elders, past and present, and commit to paying a land tax. Make your own contribution here and take the Acknowledgment to Action Pledge.