Therapy for Ages 0-5, the Brainstem, and the Session That Started It All
In this episode of Therapeutically Aligned, I sit down with Laura Todd, LPCC, founder of Early Bonds Therapy in Campbell, California, who blends perinatal mental health (fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum) with therapy for children ages zero to five. She works with the parent, the child, and the relationship between them.
A 12-Year-Old Swaps Seats with Her Therapist
Laura’s path started at age six, when her family began therapy together to support an older sister who was struggling. She stayed with the same therapist, off and on, into her early 20s. In middle school she told him she wanted to do what he did, and he handed her the chair: he sat on the couch and she played therapist for the session.
Child-Parent Psychotherapy and Play
Laura’s core approach for the youngest kids is Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), a play-based trauma treatment. She also uses art projects, bibliotherapy (stories that give little ones words for big feelings), and, with parents, somatic work and EMDR. One detail I appreciated: sometimes kids play out the “righteous justice” they never got, and the story ends the way they needed it to.
Why Babies Feel Trauma Too
We got into the brain science behind her work. Drawing on Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model, Laura explains that the brain develops from the bottom up and inside out, so early trauma is coded in the brainstem. That’s why the youngest kids are more affected than we’d expect, and why her work with them is body-based first.
What a Session with a Toddler Looks Like
Part play, part improv. With two- and three-year-olds, Laura might bring blocks to practice frustration tolerance, regulating the child in the moment while the parents watch and learn what to repeat at home. For anxious older kids, it might be a decorated worry box. And because you can’t do this kind of work through a screen, her birth-to-five sessions are in person.
The Five Finger Breathing Trick
Laura walks us through a tool you can try tonight. Tracing each finger of one hand while breathing in and out can break what she calls the “escalation trap,” the spiral where a child gets upset, the parent gets upset, and both keep piling on. Even a fast version interrupts the pattern, and then you can move toward slower breathing, a sip of water, and talking about what happened.
Same Platitudes, Still
Laura says she’s still surprised by how unique every birth story is, and by how many postpartum moms are still hearing the same guilt-laden platitudes. For anyone working with new families, it’s a reminder of how much narrative work remains.
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Learn more about Laura’s practice at Early Bonds Therapy.
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