Welcome to Umbrella Bay Therapy, I am so glad you have found your way here.

My name is Erin Roberts, and I am a child psychotherapist. I specialize in providing counseling services to children aged 3 through 12 and their families.

Umbrella Bay Therapy is a place where children are given the opportunity to express themselves in developmentally appropriate ways. Using the medium of play and other expressive modalities, children are able to make sense of their world while learning coping strategies, such as emotional regulation to handle the challenges they are facing.

It has been my experience as a mental health professional and parent, that whether it is a clinical issue or simply the common stresses and demands of parenting, it can often feel like a lonely experience. My hope is that parents/caregivers will feel supported and empowered throughout the treatment process and walk away feeling as though they have created a deeper connection with their child.

I believe that individuals are the experts of themselves and I see my role as a helper, a way to widen the lens of observing and understanding a situation. A lens that has been colored by specific training and experience. Together, we can work to bring a sense of greater emotional well-being within your family.

Traditional psychotherapy is generally viewed as a process that is dependent upon the verbal exchange between client and therapist. However, children have not yet developed the cognitive capability of engaging verbally with an adult in a manner required by traditional psychotherapy. Play therapy utilizes the child’s natural medium of self-expression – play – to provide a therapeutic approach that is child-centered, evidenced-based, and very effective for treating trauma, anxiety, depression, life changes and stressors, to name a few. In play therapy, toys are like the child’s words and play is the language. As a therapist trained in play therapy, I facilitate this process by providing an environment where children experience safety so that they may fully express and explore themselves through play and engage their own potential for optimal growth and development.