The Children's Center for Developmental Therapies ...   

What we know: meeting and treating a child demonstrating potential developmental delays and/or emotional and behavioral challenges is not the pervue of one discipline, rather "it takes a village." 

The Children's Center for Developmental Therapies is a work in progress.  The hope is to create a clinic without walls - a consortium of quality local independent multi-disciplinary professionals who work together.  We hope to collect create a community of quality professionals from the areas of developmental psychology, social work, neuropsychology, nueropsychiatry, physical, occupational, speech and educational therapies and child and adolescent psychiatry.  The goal is to provide outstanding transdisciplinary assessment, team consultation and team treatment. 

What we believe:

•   The child and family come first.  We start where you and your child are. 

•   We are a team.  Parents are the cornerstone and the professional consultants and treatment personnel are the building blocks.

•   Quality assessment best informs quality treatment

•   Developmentally sensitive, relationship-based and clinically sound services tailered to you and your child's individual needs is essential. 

•   Communication between parents and providers and integration of services across professional domains is essential for quality intervention and the best outcomes. 

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Lisa deFaria, Msw, Lcsw, Bcd (Lcs #19285)

Lisa deFaria is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Psychotherapist, Child Development Specialist and Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work.  Ms. deFaria offers a child and family centered approach for supporting the growth, development and learning of young children with special needs, as well as those with emerging emotional, behavioral and learning  challenges.  She also enjoys working with couples, families and individual adults in more traditional pyschotherapeutic fashion.   Ms. deFaria has a private practice in Scotts Valley and Monterey, CA.

Ms. deFaria  has trained and worked extensively with Drs. Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder’s DIR® (“Developmental, Individualized, Relationship-Based”) and “Floortime” models for the last 15 years. She is on the faculty of the Maryland-based Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL), and is an adjunct faculty member of the University of California Santa Cruz, Extension.  A CEITAN grant recipient and former member of the Monterey County Family and Children’s Commission’s First Five Subcommittee on Children with Special Needs, Ms. deFaria has long been an advocate for children with challenges and their families.  

In addition to her private therapy practice, Ms. deFaria offers developmental programming consultation and in-service training to a variety of agencies, state and private preschools, regional center early start or infant intervention programs, school districts and inclusion programs, with a focus on pro-active and positive intervention.  She piloted the Pacific Grove USD’s DIR-based “Floortime Friendship Group,” for elementary age children with neurodevelopmental challenges. In-Service training topics typically include introductory trainings in the DIR/Floortime model, as well as on early identification, intervention, child development, parent and teacher education, learning differences, inclusion, teamwork, classroom management, play and social skills.  

She has provided trainings at Children's Health Council, Palo Alto, the University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County Early Start, No. Monterey County State Preschools, Monterey County Office of Education and Infant Development, Monterey County Family Service Agency, San Jose’s PACE Preschool, and the Pajaro, Carmel and Pacific Grove Unified School Districts. Ms. deFaria is also a consultant to Floortime/DIR based private schools including the Creekside School in San Jose, Ca and the Soaring Eagle Academy, Riverside, Illinois. 
 
Recent speaking engagements have included the ICDL DIR Institute (2008), Children's Health Council, Palo Alto (2008), the California Infant Development association (IDA, 2006) and the International Rett Syndrome association (IRSA 2006).  (Next on board:  Beginning Floortime™ Parts 1 & 2, with Dr. Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok, ICDL 12th International Conference, November 2008, McLean, Virginia)

Ms. DeFaria graduated with honors from the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work. She was also the recipient of a two-year Post Graduate Fellowship in Clinical Social Work at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center’s Thalians Mental Health Center working in both Family and Children's, as well as the Infant and Early Child Development Centers.  Ms. deFaria is an accredited member of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders, the California Infant Development Association, the International Association for Play Therapy, the National Association for Social Work and the California Society for Clinical Social Work.

Please contact Lisa deFaria, LCSW at 831-461-9500

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New associates - Welcome Leslie Whitcomb, B.A., M.A.

Leslie is currently a Ph.D candidate attending the ICDL Graduate School in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Developmental Disorders, and working toward certification as a DIR (R) practitioner. Leslie brings  over twenty-two years of experience working with familes and children.  She was initially drawn to work with parenting issues through her experience as a Childbirth Educator and Post Partum Support Counselor. Leslie trained and taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Her private practice has included extensive work with trauma issues, parenting and family communication, couples counseling and play therapy for children with developmental and learning challenges.

Currently, Leslie is working with a variety of young children and their families, under the clinical supervision of Lisa deFaria, LCSW.  Leslie brings a rich history of rich experience, plus intuitive and compassionate skills with families to her clients. Leslie's extensive experience informs her ability to create a safe and effective change environment for parents and children.

Leslie Whitcomb, B.A., M.A., UMASS/AMHERST, Family Counseling for Social Issues,
Current Doctoral Candidate, ICDL Graduate School in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Developmental Disorders
Current Ph.D. trainee, Process Therapy Institute, Los Gatos and Pacific Grove, CA

Coordinator, WarmHeart Family Foundation 1999-2001
Private Practice in Family Counseling and Education 1986-1998
Workshop and Education Trainings in Family Issues  1986-1998
Educator, Labor and Post Partum Support Professional, Pioneer Valley Childbirth Education Association, 1984-1986.

Please contact Leslie Whitcomb, MA, at (831) 421-2497

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