Thank you for visiting my website. I have been a psychologist for 26 years, starting out as a play therapist primarily working with children and adolescents from abused and neglectful homes and those who had witnessed marital discord. My additional training and work as a pediatric psychologist expanded my experience of working with a hospital based multi-disciplinary team dealing with medical and developmental issues, such as ADHD and autism.
After discovering that my developmental training was not only helpful in my work with children but also in my work with adults, I enlarged my practice to seeing all ages at an affiliated hospital based outpatient group for 13 years. These experiences deepened my interest in how exploration and understanding of one’s unconscious could be helpful in dealing with more chronic and entrenched difficulties that seemed resistant to other forms of treatment. This led me to pursue and complete adult psychoanalytic training with both the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute and the Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute.
Today, I continue to work as an adult psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist with children, adolescents and adults. My approach to psychotherapy with clients is developmental, psychoanalytic, relational, cognitive-behavioral, and systemic.
Regardless of the age, I strive to provide a personalized psychotherapeutic approach, where clients can get to know themselves, develop the tools for more effective management of their lives, and have opportunities for personal and interpersonal growth.
Over two to four sessions, a thorough evaluation of your specific needs will take place. By the end of the evaluation, I will be able to offer you some first impressions of what our work will include and a basic treatment plan to follow.
Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
Given the developmental, dynamic and relational nature of the psychotherapy that I do with adults, the emphasis of the psychotherapy is to help them gain insight into their inner and even unconscious worlds, and how their early life experiences are related to their present day problems. The psychotherapy will involve recognizing reoccurring patterns of relating to others and of avoiding distress with defenses (coping methods) that are leading to their current difficulties I see clients for adult psychotherapy 1 to 2 times per week.
Psychoanalysis is intimate partnership which leads a client to new freedom based on an awareness of the underlying source of his or her difficulties not simply the intellectually but emotionally by re-experiencing them with the analyst. Typically, the patient comes 4 to 5 times per week and lies on the couch. This is the setting that permits the emergence of aspects of the personality and character not accessible with other methods of observation. After the evaluation period, if I feel a client could benefit more from an intensive psychotherapy, like psychoanalysis, rather than once weekly psychotherapy, I will explore this option with him or her.
6306 Walnut Street
Kansas City, MO 64113-2314
Tel: (734) 673-0082
marikhayesphd@gmail.com