We recently connected with Aurelie Weinstein and have shared our conversation below.

Aurelie, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I have been working as a full-time lecturer in Psychology teaching undergraduate and graduate students child Psychology courses for several years. Students were learning children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. I also was doing research on resilience in children. I was considering myself as a child development specialist. However, I started to realize that how can I be an expert in child development if I don’t work directly with children. I was missing the experiential work with children on daily basis. I wanted to help children and adolescents thrive by working with them directly. I then decided to change the trajectory of my career by teaching part-time and starting my practice as a child and adolescent therapist. I feel my career is so much more rewarding and complete as I can help children and parents on a daily basis. My students also have been benefited from real stories with my clients about their unique path.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I hold a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology and I am a Child and Family Therapist, I am passionate about helping children and parents work through challenging life circumstances, including serious illness, anxiety, traumas, phobias, self-esteem issues, attachment issues, depression, and divorce-related issues.

My goal is to apply the best research-based treatments to effectively help my clients. For young children, I use Play Therapy and include parents in the sessions to improve secure attachment, which result in best outcomes in the child’s growth. For children and adolescents with anxiety, phobias and OCD, I use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the gold standard treatments for anxiety disorders. For clients who have suffered from trauma or abuse, I use EMDR treatment (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) considered the best treatment for traumas. For children and adolescents with depression and self-esteem issues, I use DBT treatment (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), that is shown to be the most effective for these types of challenges.

As parents and guardians are the central caregivers and support base for children, I work closely with them providing education, coaching, and group workshops to provide them the skills and confidence needed to directly address their children’s challenges. I have been specifically trained in Child-Parent Relationship Therapy and in Positive Discipline.

I am also an author of children’s books. I seek to inspire children to use positive coping strategies by modeling behaviors through relatable characters in my books. My stories are based on my own personal experience from working with many children through the years, making my stories realistic and approachable. I try to bring both fantasy and make-believe into my stories to match the child’s inner world and mind.

In addition to my clinical practice, I am also an Assistant Professor (part-time) in Psychology, teaching typical and atypical child development courses. I have taught at Georgia State University, Georgia Gwinnett College, and Kennesaw State University. I am also a researcher in resilience in children. I have worked with St. Jude Research Hospital to improve life satisfaction and post traumatic growth for childhood cancer survivors, and with Georgia State University researchers to improve coping skills of children suffering from school bullying.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As a mother, I had a tendency to reassure my kids when they had fears. I felt it was my role as a mom to make sure they are never scared or worried. I was always there to come to the rescue and fix their problems. I realized that this was not what my children needed. Rescuing them was feeding their worries, leading them to be more and more scared. I changed by tact towards encouragement and trust in them that they can handle challenging situations. My advice for parents would be “Believe in your children, believe they are capable, let them make decisions and make mistakes, you will give them skills for life.” Children will build confidence and strength when they feel supported, loved, and encouraged.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I believe that empathy is crucial in my career. I try to go to my clients’ subjective world so I can better understand what they are going through. We all see the world in different ways based on our own life experiences. Therefore, if I want to understand my clients, I have to put myself in their shoes. It is not how I would respond if it was happening to Me but instead I need to understand how that person would feel based on what happened to Them. To develop empathy, I spend time to listen to my clients and to give them space to explore their own world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/aurelie-weinstein-atlanta-ga/833992
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/Amy-Rain-How-Overcame-Fears/dp/B09QGB3YB3 https://www.amazon.com/stores/Aur%C3%A9lie-Weinstein-Ph.D./author/B09QRH5GHX?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Image Credits
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