Bring authenticity, playfulness and joy into your family.

Dylan Spradlin, MA, MSW, LCSW
CHILD & FAMILY THERAPIST IN Montana

Here, you won’t find cheap parenting hacks, rules, or someone to “fix” your child or family.

I don’t believe you, your family or your child is broken. I don’t believe any behavior is wrong, or bad.

Behavior is communication. All behavior. And while most therapy for kids and adults focuses on unwanted behavior and tries to change it to make everyone’s life easier, that’s not what happens here.

Instead, we work at a much deeper level, and shift what is underneath and driving those behaviors. We create safety through connection, understanding, and authenticity. Maybe there’s a past event as far back as birth. Maybe it’s generational trauma. Maybe it’s some tweaks in the way your family is operating together and we can shift those together.

Are you ready to let go of the effort of being the perfect parent and allow yourself to relax in to the comfort of having someone to trust?

Whether you are a hardworking professional parent or stay at home caregiver living with a child that is showing behaviors and emotions that frustrate and concern you, a family feeling out of balance, a caregiver struggling to understand their complicated history, or the parents of a child who has suffered an unimaginable trauma and you are terrified about what to do, and who to turn to….

This is a place for you.

I will meet you, your child, and your family where you are today — wherever that may be — and help you shed light onto the patterns and beliefs that are holding you back from the life you deserve.

What it’s like to work with me

My goal is to bring my lifetime of dedicated study, passion and commitment to each child and each family I serve.

My intention is that you will feel welcomed, seen, and understood with me whether online or in person.

My hope is that together we will explore what’s getting in the way of what you want for yourself, what’s preventing your family from being all it can be, and help your child become all they truly are. And do that with grace, some challenging moments perhaps, and some humor and play.

MY GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Authenticity.

When I am not behaving as I truly am, I betray myself. I have learned and spent many years devoted to bringing my whole self into the room, and helping you to learn to do the same. This is how I remain regulated, and congruent and able to do work at this depth.

Safety.

I want you to feel safe - physically and emotionally. I do this by being authentic, by protecting your privacy, by creating a physical space that feels good to be in. I also make sure all my toys are cleaned between each client which is important for the health of my young clients.

Respect.

I have come to understand that we are conscious and aware even before we are born, and have opinions, and feelings, and develop beliefs about ourselves as early as our earliest experiences. With that understanding, I treat all people - no matter their age - with respect and dignity, and afford them agency in our work together.

Play.

Play is one of the great healers and often is unrecognized as such. In play, we can be activated and regulated at the same time, offering a singular place to safely transform nervous system patterns that drive behavior. Through playfulness, it is possible to develop connections that weren’t able to be forged any other way.

TRAINING & EDUCATION

I’m committed to ongoing education & training to best support your family.

    • Master of Clinical Social Work;

      Walla Walla University, Missoula Campus

    • Master of Clinical Psychology;
      Santa Barbara Graduate School
      Specialization in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology (Primary Psychology) & Infant and Child-Centered Play Therapy

    • Bachelor of Arts
      The Evergreen State College;
      focus on Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology.

    • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

    • Cognitive Processing Therapy

    • Brain Injuries and Suicide Risk

    • Working With Native People and Communities

    • Infant and Child-Centered Family Therapy

    • Infant Play Therapy

    • Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach To Integrating Intensity

    • Embodiment & Neurobiology of Secure, Insecure and Disorganized Attachment & How To Heal

    • Grief in Foster and Adoptive Children and Families

    • Playing Perfectly: A Play Therapists Guide to Working with OCD

    • Working With Siblings in Play Therapy

    • Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health since 1993

    • Certified Synergetic Play Therapists

    • National Association of Social Workers + NASW Montana Chapter

    • Association of Play Therapists