Therapy that happens where your child's life happens.
I don't have a clinic. I work in your home and out in the community — and remotely, by video, where that suits your family better — because the skills have to work where your child actually lives.
Why not a clinic room?
Clinic-based therapy has real advantages — specialized equipment, a controlled space, no distractions. For some children and some goals, it's the right choice, and I'll say so if it's yours.
But most of what families come to me about is not a clinic problem. It's a getting-dressed problem, a dinner-table problem, a can't-cope-with-the-supermarket problem. A child can do something beautifully in a quiet room with a therapist and still not be able to do it at 7am in their own kitchen with a sibling shouting and shoes to find.
Working in the actual environment skips that translation step. We're not practicing for real life; we're in it.
Which is also why remote sessions work, and why they aren't a lesser version of this. The argument above is against a clinic room — a place your child doesn't live. It isn't an argument for me being physically present. On video we're still in your kitchen, at 7am, with the actual cup and the actual sibling. I lose the ability to hand you something; you lose the drive. For a lot of the work, that's a fair trade, and sometimes a better one.
What that means in practice.
We work with your actual things.
Your kitchen chair, your child's own cup, the coat that always causes trouble, the bathroom that's too echoey. Adaptations get tested on the real object in the real room, not on a version of it.
We work at the time it's hard.
If mornings are the problem, a morning session tells us more than any amount of describing it afterward. Same for mealtimes, bath time, and the end-of-day unravelling.
You're in the room.
There's no waiting area, so there's no handover where the useful part gets summarized into two sentences at the door. You see what I'm doing and why, and we adjust it together.
The setup gets to change.
Home safety and environmental set-up are part of the work — where things are stored, what a child can reach, how a space is lit and organized. That's difficult to advise on from a clinic and obvious from a living room floor.
The steps
-
You call or email
You tell me what's going on. I ask a few questions, and then I tell you honestly whether I think occupational therapy would help and whether I'm the right person for it.
Sometimes the answer is that you'd be better served by a clinic that takes your insurance, or by speech therapy rather than OT, or by waiting a few months. I'd rather say that in a first conversation that costs you nothing than three sessions in.
Costs nothing, takes as long as it takes, and there's no paperwork beforehand. You can be doing something else while we talk.
-
Booking, and a short intake form
If we both think it's a fit, we find a time that suits your family's actual day — including the difficult parts of it, if that's what we're working on.
I'll send a short intake form to fill in beforehand: your child's history, what you've already tried, who else is involved, and what you're hoping for. It's there so the first session isn't spent on paperwork.
-
The first session, in your home
Mostly understanding. We focus on what you need, and I get a feel for your child's skills through observation and through what you and your family tell me. Much of it will look like playing, talking, and following your child around.
By the end we'll have set goals together — in plain terms, describing things you'd actually notice changing.
Nothing to prepare. No need to tidy. A normal-looking day is more useful than a staged one.
-
The sessions after
Activities that work toward those goals — knowing that goals shift and evolve as your child does. If something urgent shows up that day, we can work on that instead; the plan serves your child rather than the other way around.
You're in the room and part of it. What we do is designed to keep working after I've left.
-
Finding a rhythm — and ending well
Weekly, every couple of weeks, or as needed. We agree it together and change it when it stops fitting. There's no commitment to a predetermined package of sessions.
And it should end. When the goals are met, or when what's left is something your family can carry on with alone, we stop — and you can come back if something changes.
A few practical things.
- How long is a session? Individual OT is one hour. Consulting is billed by the hour and can run longer where the conversation needs it.
- Who needs to be home? At least one parent or caregiver. Whether it's useful for siblings or pets to be part of a session depends on the scenario — sometimes they're central to what we're working on, sometimes the session works better without them. We'll work it out as we go.
- What should I have ready? Nothing in particular. If we're working on a specific routine, it helps to schedule the session for when that routine actually happens.
- What do you bring? Whatever the goals call for. A lot of the work uses your own things on purpose, because those are the things your child has to manage after I go.
- What if we're mid-way through an assessment or waiting on early intervention? That's a common place to start, and it doesn't conflict. I'm glad to coordinate with anyone else involved.
Where we might meet.
- Your home — the default, and where most of the work happens.
- Out in the community — the park, the beach, the library, a store. Wherever the activity you're working toward actually takes place.
- Alongside a regular activity — a gymnastics class, swim lessons, an after-school program — whenever the provider is happy to have me along. Any additional cost for me to take part is covered by the family.
- Childcare, preschool, or school — with the program's agreement.
- Remotely, by video — anywhere on the Olympic Peninsula. See below.
Remote sessions.
Sessions over video, covering the same two things as in-person work: direct sessions with your child, and parent and family consulting. Same rate, same approach, no clinic either way.
Remote suits some situations better than others, and I'll tell you which I think yours is. It tends to work well for coaching the adults, for routines that happen at a fixed time of day, for home set-up questions where I need to see the room rather than stand in it, and for keeping momentum when a week falls apart. It's a harder fit where the work is genuinely hands-on.
- When travel doesn't make sense — weather, illness, a car that won't start, a week where getting anyone anywhere is too much.
- When hosting is the barrier — some families would rather not have someone in the house, and that's a legitimate preference rather than something to talk them out of.
- When you're further out — I drive across East Jefferson County, but remote reaches the whole Olympic Peninsula.
All you need is a phone or a laptop and somewhere to prop it up. No app to buy, no setup to do beforehand.
The area I cover.
In-person sessions, based in Port Townsend and working across East Jefferson County:
- Port Townsend
- Chimacum
- Port Hadlock
- Irondale
- Port Ludlow
- Quilcene
- Marrowstone Island
- Nordland
- Discovery Bay
- Cape George
If you're just outside this, ask anyway — it's often workable. And remote sessions cover the whole Olympic Peninsula, so being out of driving range isn't the end of it.
Questions parents usually ask.
Does my house need to be tidy?
No, and I mean that. I've worked in a lot of homes. A house with young children in it looks like a house with young children in it, and if anything, seeing it as it actually is on a Tuesday afternoon is more useful to me than seeing it staged.
If having someone in your home feels like too much right now, we can meet somewhere in the community instead, or work remotely by video. Both are legitimate choices and neither is a compromise.
Do I need to be there? Do I need to take part?
Can you come to daycare, preschool, or school instead?
What about siblings, pets, and general chaos?
How far do you travel?
Can we do sessions remotely?
Yes — both direct sessions with your child and parent and family consulting, at the same rate as in person. All you need is a phone or a laptop.
Remote isn't a lesser version of a home visit. The reason I work in homes rather than a clinic is that skills have to work where your child actually lives, and on video we're still in your kitchen at the time of day that's hard. What I lose is the ability to physically hand you something; what you lose is the drive. For some of the work that's a fair trade, and for some it isn't — I'll tell you honestly which I think yours is. More on how remote sessions work.
How will I know it's working?
We set goals together at the start in terms you'd actually recognize — not scores, but things like “gets his own shoes on before school most mornings” or “can sit with us for the first ten minutes of dinner.” Progress is measured against those.
I'll also tell you if I don't think it's working. A therapy relationship where the therapist can't say that isn't worth paying for.
What if my child won't engage?
What can I do between sessions?
Can I bring in my partner, a grandparent, or a nanny?
Do you write reports?
What if we need to stop?
The best place to start is a conversation.
Call or email me directly — a first conversation costs nothing, and it's the fastest way to work out whether I'm the right person for what's going on.
Get in touch