Over the past twenty years, Emily has worked with children and families as a creative expression educator in both in high schools and elementary schools, and often as a visiting instructor. She has always been especially interested in how each person’s story informs how they express themselves through art and play.
Emily has her LMHC, and is a psychotherapist and owner of Hillcrest Psychotherapy Practice in Amherst, MA. She specializes in using play and art therapy to work with children and adolescents who are encountering emotional challenges at home, school and with identity formation. She also has a strong interest in working with adults seeking support with life transitions, parenting, relationships, anxiety and grief. She practices with a trauma focused lens where she recognizes the way past trauma can manifest both emotionally and physically. She welcomes using art therapy interventions with adults as desired. Emily is an instructor of child and adolescent counseling at The University of Massachusetts Boston and also teaches a creative expression class in the Psychology Department at The University of Massachusetts Amherst.
In her work with children, Emily specializes in using play and art therapy as a means of helping children express and process feelings using symbol and metaphor. Her work is eclectic in that it is grounded in psychodynamic theory, and she also judiciously incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy, expressive arts therapy, and mindfulness practices. She is trained in a Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CF-CBT) approach using art, play, and storytelling to help children process grief and loss of all kinds.
Her Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree from Smith College means that she brings an understanding of children’s wide ranges of educational experiences. She values collaborating and working with the parents and guardians of her clients.
Emily has published two award winning educational creative expression and activity books, Show Me a Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children’s Storytelling and Journal Sparks — both published by Storey Publishing.
In her spare time, Emily spends time in the studio making art. Through this process, she experiments with imperfection and freestyle self-expression. Small moments and unlikely treasures have always felt meaningful to her, and she finds that she documents them in her artwork. This kind of artistic expression is woven into her therapy practice in conjunction with mindfulness practice especially with teens and adults.
