A New Face...

The new face at ACC is Mrs. Teresa Tindall. She joined our clinical staff in June and specializes in play therapy and substance abuse counseling.

At first glance, these two areas of counseling seem to have nothing in common. When asked how they came to be her focus, Teresa shared, “My first involvement with play therapy came by working in Hospice’s Kids Path Program. I saw children work out difficulties through art, sand trays, etc. As for substance abuse, both abusers and children of abusers, often smother their inner child which keeps them from growing and maturing. Expressive therapies, such as art or music, can allow them to reconnect with the place where emotional development stopped in order to heal and grow. So for me, there are a lot of connections.”

Play therapy is a technique which works well with children ages 3-11. A child may be dealing with grief, a loss such as divorce, trauma, anxiety or fear, a negative self-concept, or some problems at school. “Play for a child is the equivalent of adult conversation,” Tindall explained. “When a child expresses him/herself in play therapy, I try to respect their trust by sharing themes or patterns with parents. Often I am able to coach the parents in ways they may help their son or daughter.” [For additional information on play therapy, please see our June E-Newsletter, Play: The Universal Language]

While play therapy is often short-term following a specific event, substance abuse counseling is a long-term process. “By definition, addiction/abuse is characterized by the repetitive, compulsive use of a substance such as drugs, alcohol, or food or an event such as sex, gambling, or shopping despite negative consequences to the user,” described Tindall. “Within that abuser there is a small child who is scared, hurt, miserable, and wants to be revealed and loved. The person, however, has been in a relationship with their substance of choice for a long time and when they break off the relationship, many times they will go through the steps of the grieving process. The mask they have worn for so long has been removed and now they don’t know who they are. The awesome part about having a relationship with Christ is finding out who you are in Him. To me that is when the real healing and recovery takes place.”

For more information regarding play therapy or substance abuse counseling, please contact Associates in Christian Counseling at 336-896-0065.