I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist practicing in West Los Angeles, California, with 12 years of experience working as a psychotherapist in the area. Although I have experience working with individuals of all ages, over the years I have developed an area of expertise with children. Whether it is a teenager who has withdrawn from the family or has become defiant; a six year old who refuses to attend school; a toddler with aggressive behavior; or an infant with sleep disturbance, my experience working with these issues along with my style of relating to children, teens, and their parents is of value to create that positive therapeutic experience and to effect change.

Providing therapy for children is not an isolated task. Most times, the parents or caregivers are equally involved in the process, either seen separately, as a couple, or as a family unit. Of course, this depends on the concerns brought to therapy and the goals derived from those concerns. For example, if a teenager needs an adult, other than a parent, to connect with and to discuss day-to-day worries, the focus of therapy would be on the teen. If a five-year-old is aggressive and is getting into trouble at school and home, the family relationships, parenting style, and home environment would play a key role in helping the child improve functioning.

There are so many different reasons to attend therapy or to put a child into therapy. To some, having an actual mental health diagnosis may be the only reason for therapy. To others, having someone to talk to outside of family and friends is very important. In my practice, I welcome all concerns and reasons. And, if it is difficult to figure out why you, your family, or your relationship are not functioning the way you would like, coming in to discuss those worries can be relieving and eventually rewarding, especially when change occurs.

Sometimes the behaviors or symptoms that present can be confusing or confounded, particularly in children. As such, differential diagnosis, or simply figuring out the problem, is a key component in treatment. Let me offer some examples of different mental health diagnoses or problems as potential reasons for therapeutic intervention. Since there are many different possibilities, I am going to focus on the ones I typically see and have developed skill in treating over the years.

MENTAL HEALTH DIAGNOSES IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN
Depressive Disorders
Bipolar Disorder
Anxiety Disorders
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
High Functioning Autism Asperger’s Disorder

MENTAL HEALTH DIAGNOSES IN CHILDREN
Reactive Attachment Disorder
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Conduct Disorder
Oppositional Defiant Disorder

THERAPEUTIC PROBLEMS
Attachment quality
Developmental delay
Behavior
Aggression/Violence
Toilet training (Enuresis/Encopresis)
Sleeping
Feeding

RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS
Family/Couple
Parent-child
Sibling
Peer

Please refer to the links provided on the Resources page to link to other services.

I started my training in Montreal, Canada. In 1993 I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree at Concordia University, specializing in psychology. The focus of this degree was mostly on research so I had the opportunity to participate in studies researching infant language development in a bilingual home and self-esteem development in school aged children, in association with the parent-child relationship.

I learned that psychological research is an important base from which to develop clinical skills. As such, for the next three years, I continued in research at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada as the coordinator of a clinical trial studying infant feeding problems, the parent-child relationship, and attachment.

After conducting many semi-structured parent attachment interviews, observing and rating parent-child play and feeding (ages 0-3) interactions, and presenting at conferences, I felt ready to pursue training as a clinician.

In 1996, I moved to Los Angeles and attended Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology. In 1998 I received my Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. In 2001, I was licensed to practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California.

From 1998 to 2001, I had the privilege of working with pregnant and parenting teenage girls who lived in residential placement. They lived in placement for various reasons but mostly because, without the group home, they would not have a safe place to live or to raise their children.

My role as a the developer and coordinator of an infant mental health and parenting program resulted directly from my previous experience and training addressing developmental and attachment issues inherent in the parent-child relationship. In our program, the teen mothers and their children had the opportunity to participate in parenting classes and Mommy and Me groups. They were offered hands-on education in infant and child development, including cognitive, motor, and language enhancing activities for the infants and toddlers.

For the last 9 years, I have been working as a crisis therapist with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. We help children from ages 2 to 18 who are struggling to function at home, in school, or with their peers. As a supervisor and clinician, I provide counseling to families in crisis.

A few years ago, I combined my previous experience working in attachment and child development and narrowed my area of interest to young children and early intervention, although I do not work with this age group exclusively. In our clinic's newly developed Early Intervention Program, I specialize in treating young children (ages 2-10) experiencing emotional and behavioral disturbances, mild developmental delay and pervasive developmental disorders, and difficulty functioning while in crisis. The goal is to provide intensive parenting, crisis assessment and intervention, diagnosis formulation, and case management for those children and their families.

Two years ago, Psychological Health, Wellness, and Development, Inc. was created and I began to grow my private practice. I am available to see children, families, and individuals in the private sector in West Los Angeles/Santa Monica Area. In addition, I provide outreach and consultation to local schools and day-care centers.

It is my goal to serve as many children and families in need while utilizing my knowledge and skill gained from my experiences over the years. I hope I might be able to help you and your family as well.

PUBLICATIONS
Benoit, D., Green, D., & Arts, D. (1997). Post-traumatic feeding disorders [Letter to the editor]. Journal of the American Academy of Child and adolescent Psychiatry, 36, p. 577.

PRESENTATIONS
Aleong, R., Benoit, D., Green, D., Koulis, C., Arts-Rodas, D., & Coolbear, J. (1997, July). Feeding problems in infancy: A measure of early detection. Poster session presented at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Summer Student Symposium, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Benoit, D., Arts, D., & Green, D. (1996, June). Treatment of feeding problems in tube-dependent children. Poster session presented at the 22nd Annual Harvey Stancer Research Day, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Benoit, D. & Green, D. (1995, October). The Infant Feeding Behaviors-Rater checklist: Preliminary data. Poster session presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New Orleans, LA.
Benoit, D., Green, D., & Arts, D. (1996, June). The management of infant feeding problems: A pilot study. Poster session presented at the 22nd Annual Harvey Stancer Research Day, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Coolbear, J., Benoit, D., & Green, D. (1996, June). Maternal representations of relationships with their infants: Their relation to mother-infant feeding interactions. Poster session presented at the 22nd Annual Harvey Stancer Research Day, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Goodz, N. S., Goodz, E., & Green, D. (1990, October). Paper presented at the meeting of the Societe quebecoise pour la recherche en psychologie, Montreal, Canada.
Goodz, N. S., Goodz, E., & Green, D. (1991, April). Mothers’ and fathers’ conversations with their young bilingual children. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.