LMFT Supervisor, RPT-S, IMH-E
Dallas, Texas Therapist Specializing in Supporting Families and Children
Helping families thrive at every stage.
I’m Laura Pierce, a child and family therapist supporting parents and families with young children in Dallas, TX. Whether you are proactively seeking guidance, facing challenges as a result of family transitions, or concerned about behavioral issues in a child, I’m here to support you.
My Services:
- Parent support and coaching: Often, I treat children by first supporting their parents and caregivers. I encourage and educate parents as they strive to create and maintain a parenting philosophy that works for their family and contributes to the overall health of their child and the family as a whole. Luckily, this type of intervention is beneficial at many developmental stages of a family’s life.
- Play therapy: Play therapy is an intervention designed specifically for children that encourages them to communicate, express their feelings, develop problem-solving skills, and discover ways of relating to others. I work one-on-one directly with a child in a specially designed play therapy room.
- Training for positive and healthy discipline methods: I help parents develop positive discipline strategies and better communication so they are prepared to handle parenting challenges as they arise, resulting in the development of healthy relationships with their children.
- Family wellness sessions: Many families benefit from including their entire family in periodic wellness sessions to maintain progress, make connections, and focus on healthy communication. I recommend wellness sessions as a home base for ongoing family relationship health.
- Family interaction therapy: Including the entire family, or parts of a family, into the therapeutic process is one way I learn about family dynamics and relationships and then organize effective strategies that are unique to the needs of the particular family.
- Child-parent relationship therapy: Based on the belief that a parent can act as an agent for change (in place of a play therapist), CPRT has shown to generate significant and lasting therapeutic gains for children. During CPRT, I teach parents very specific skills to help them connect with their child through play and child-centered principles.
- Pre-parent preparation sessions: Parents can begin understanding their new roles before their children are ever born in sessions based on the principles of Gottman’s Bringing Baby Home program.
- Parent-child connection and infant mental health counseling: One way I care for new parents is by facilitating sessions where the parents learn to talk to, play with, and care for their baby. This contributes to safety and security in their relationship with their parents.
- School consultation and support: Understanding a child’s experience at school through direct observation allows me to organize feedback for parents and school representatives aimed at providing a child with consistent and intentional guidance from home and school.
- Community speaking engagements: I regularly share my knowledge and energy for understanding and engaging with children by speaking publicly to schools, parent associations, and other community groups. I am available to speak on several topics.
Whether you’re seeking to:
- Learn new strategies for interacting with your family
- Incorporate effective discipline strategies
- Support your child through a specific challenge
- Engage your child in their own therapy
- Prepare your family for a transition like divorce or blending families
- Improve communication in your family
- Navigate a child’s behavior challenges
My approach:
As my practice has grown over the years, so has my realization that today’s parent is eager for support and information regarding the health and wellness of their children and their family. I approach my work from a family-centered perspective because I believe supporting the family system is the strongest way to support the individuals in the family. It is important for me to set mutual goals with my clients and continue to work together until they recognize a strengthened sense of confidence to integrate their new knowledge into their daily lives.
Additional information:
- Since 2016, I have been a partner of Insights Collaborative Therapy Group and sincerely enjoy working alongside our strong team of skilled clinicians.
- I’m a published author of “Little Worm: A Story About Worry.” This children’s book supports my work as a therapist by allowing families to connect and share special time reading together as children learn to communicate, express their feelings, develop problem-solving skills, and discover new ways of relating to others.
- I’m endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Specialist and certified in Perinatal Mental Health. Additionally, I’m a member of various professional associations, including the Texas Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the Association of Play Therapy, and First 3 Years.
- I was born and raised in southern Indiana before I moved to Dallas to start my collegiate career and begin my life in a new city.
- I refresh my energy by connecting with friends, catching up with my favorite sports teams, and serving on boards and committees of various Dallas organizations.
- I am married and have three young children. I regularly see how my professional work is a gift to my personal life, but more often I appreciate how my personal life can offer me perspective and allows compassion and understanding for the families I work with every day. It certainly takes a village!
My rate is $195 for each 45-minute play therapy session; $325 for each 80-minute parent and family consultation session. Texas Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#201973). Click here to request an appointment.
A quote that resonates with me:
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. -- Plato