About the space
Hi, I’m Leah. I support adults and children through a mix of somatic work, art, nervous system regulation work, and behavior support, helping you feel seen and empowered. My work integrates trauma informed approaches with a strong focus on neurodiversity. I offer therapy for clients located in New York, Florida, Georgia and online.
Who I help
Children and Families
With over 20 years of experience in schools and clinics, I have worked and trained as a special educator, education supervisor, licensed behavior analyst and play therapist supporting students with diverse learning and behavioral needs. I integrate evidence-based strategies with trauma-informed, creative therapeutic approaches to support emotional regulation, communication, and social development. My favorite work is sitting on the floor with my young clients and getting into their world with games, imagination and play! My work emphasizes collaboration with families and educational teams to create individualized, practical supports that help children thrive across environments.
Work With Adults
I help those who have highly activated nervous systems. These people may have been called ‘sensitive’ as kids, and may have had difficulty regulating when there was a lot of sensory distractors in their environment. You may have had anxiety or depression as you tried to manage the outside world. For those with highly sensitive systems, we work together to slow down and build capacity. Together, we build awareness of the emotional and physiological triggers underneath the behavior, helping you develop a more compassionate, regulated, and trusting relationship with your body and self.
Sessions are collaborative, paced with care, and grounded in curiosity rather than judgment. The goal isn’t just symptom relief — it’s helping you feel more at home in yourself, more connected in relationships, and more able to live with steadiness, choice, and self-trust.
What we do together.
Art therapy offers a gentle way to understand yourself beyond talking. Sometimes emotions live in the body before they become words. Through creative expression, clients can explore feelings, experiences, and inner parts safely and at their own pace. Art becomes a bridge between body, mind, and emotion: supporting regulation, self-compassion, and deeper connection to oneself.
Art therapy can support many forms of trauma including medical challenges, family conflict or divorce, loss and grief, relocation, bullying, emotional neglect, inconsistent caregiving, exposure to high stress environments, or experiences that feel overwhelming to their developing nervous system. Through creative expression, sensory exploration, and a safe therapeutic relationship, you can begin to externalize feelings, build emotional regulation, strengthen attachment, and gradually make sense of your experience, allowing healing to unfold in a way that feels safe and empowering.
Clinical Art Therapy
Somatic Experiencing supports individuals who have experienced a wide range of trauma, including acute events such as accidents, medical procedures, loss, or frightening experiences, as well as developmental and relational trauma like chronic stress, attachment disruptions, emotional neglect, childhood adversity, anxiety, burnout, and prolonged periods of overwhelm. Trauma is not defined only by what happened, but by how the nervous system responded when an experience felt too much, too fast, or too overwhelming to process.
Somatic Experiencing works by helping the body gently complete unfinished survival responses and restore regulation within the nervous system. Through increased awareness of physical sensations, grounding, breath, and gradual exposure to internal experiences, individuals learn to move out of chronic fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown states and into greater calm, safety, and connection. Rather than focusing solely on talking about the past, this approach helps people feel more present in their bodies, improve emotional regulation, reduce anxiety and reactivity, and develop a stable sense of safety from within.
Somatic Experiencing
About me
I was born and raised in sunny Sydney, Australia. Growing up with parents as Rabbi and Rebbetzin of a large Sydney Jewish community and as the fifth of seven children informed who I was and who I wanted to be: someone who cares for family and deeply cares for the people around me. Surrounded from a young age by helpers, this definitely inspired my passion for supporting children, families and adults with warmth and care. I currently live in South beach Florida after having escaped from New York (lived there for 15 years!) and enjoy the beach, the bay, and many new social experiences. Rooted in my Jewish identity and years in early intervention, education, and therapy, I’ve seen how powerful connection, play, and somatic work can be for healing and development. I integrate trauma informed, evidence-based approaches with a strong focus on neurodiversity and expressive, relationship-centered care. I enjoy painting, drawing, and creative experiences in my spare time.
Masters in Special Education
Masters in Art Therapy and Counseling
PostGraduate Dip in Applied Behavior Analysis
Intermediate Training in Somatic Experiencing
Certification in Eating Psychology from the Mind Body Institute
My training
Licenses and Certifications
Certified Teacher of Students with Disabilities New York
Licensed Behavior Analyst New York and Georgia
Limited Permit Creative Arts Therapist New York
Registered Mental Health Intern Florida
This practice may be a good fit if…
You or your child experience the world deeply and intensely
Big feelings, anxiety, or overwhelm show up in ways that are hard to explain
You want therapy that honors the whole person, body, emotions, and relationships
You value curiosity, and compassion in the healing process and are curious about art therap and the creative process!
You are looking for support that feels attuned, respectful, and individualized
Are open to somatic, creative, and developmentally informed therapeutic work
You want to play with materials, images and meanings
You may want behavioral support together with social emotional and executive strategies
Your Questions, Answered
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Both!
Heart & Play Space is a therapy practice supporting children and families through an integrated approach combining creative arts therapy, child-centered play therapy, and evidence-based behavioral support.
Somatic therapy sessions are specifically designed to support adults (and children when needed) as a therapeutic tool to support sensitivity, trauma, regulation, and high activation states.
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As a licensed behavior analyst and therapist, I support children through play therapy, ABA and collaborative family training or parent training sessions.
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Art therapy is a mental health approach that uses creative expression (drawing, painting, movement, sensory materials, storytelling, etc.) to help children process emotions, build coping skills, and strengthen self-esteem. Children don’t need to be “good at art” — the art is a tool for expression, not performance.
Play therapy is a form of child therapy where a trained therapist uses play (toys, games, art, stories, pretend play) to help children express feelings, process experiences, and learn coping skills—because play is a child’s natural way of communicating. In the therapy space we allow children to manipulate the toys in all sorts of ways and we accept the way they wish to communicate. I use a combination of child led and directive approaches, depending what is needed.
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Yes. Parent coaching is a major part of progress. We work together on:
behavior support strategies
routines and transitions
emotional regulation tools
reducing power struggles
improving communication and cooperation
Parent support is often what creates the biggest change in daily life.
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I completely understand. I started in the field when I was already a play therapist, and so that has always framed the way I see and work with children. My sessions are child-directed and parent supported. In my sessions, I sit on the floor with my clients, play games, and have fun with them! I want kids to feel safe, seen, and motivated, and above all, enjoy their learning. I use the practices I have learned in counseling: attunement, empathy, unconditional positive regard, and co-regulation to guide my sessions.
Feel free to call me to discuss what a session may look like. I aim to be as transparent as possible.
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Common areas include:
anxiety, fears, separation anxiety
emotional dysregulation, meltdowns
aggression, tantrums, elopement
ADHD-style behaviors, impulse control
autism support (social/play/communication skills)
sensory processing challenges
school-related struggles
confidence, social skills, peer challenges
transitions, grief, family stress
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My specialty with adults is nervous system–informed, somatic therapy for stress, trauma, and emotional overwhelm.
I work with adults who may look “high-functioning” on the outside but feel anxious, shut down, burned out, or emotionally exhausted on the inside. Using body awareness, gentle processing, and creative therapeutic tools, I help clients release stored stress, build resilience, and develop a deeper sense of stability and self-trust.This work is especially helpful for those who have tried traditional talk therapy but are looking for a more embodied, experiential approach.
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Working with women and teens to support body dysmorphia and eating concerns (particularly binge eating/overeating) is a passion of mine as it is a highly complex, misunderstood disorder that can also feel shameful and embarassing to the suffererer. I aim to hold space, compassion and kindness to these parts of us and bring awareness, empathy, and help slow the system down so we can target this part of self in a loving and self respecting way.
Professionally, I have over 15 years working in the field with parents, teens and young women. I was a moderator for NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) for many years, and I consulted at BEDA (Binge eating Disorder Association) when it was in existence. I am trained in trauma support in Art therapy, and am in Advanced Somatic Experiencing training.
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It takes one to know one! But seriously, my personal experience in a world that has been too bright and too loud has led me to this work and I am so grateful for it. I am able to use my personal experience in nervous system regulation, as well as use somatic experiencing, art therapy, and other approaches to help the body pendulate and build a bit more capacity to deal with everyday challenges. I also have over 20 years working with neurodivergent children and adults with all types of sensitivities including noise, food, bright lights, too many people, and the like.
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IYou’ll start seeing change through:
fewer intense meltdowns / quicker recovery
improved flexibility
stronger coping skills
better communication of needs
improved participation in routines
increased confidence and social engagement
If ABA/structured services are included, we also track measurable progress using data and goal mastery
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At this time, art therapy and mental health services are offered on a private-pay basis only.
For ABA services, I may be able to provide an out-of-network (OON) superbill, depending on the agreed-upon rate.