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Sudbury resident and Licensed Mental Health Counselor Caitrin Adelman has brought her expertise closer to home with the opening of Deeply Rooted Counseling in Wayland, a practice dedicated to serving the children, caregivers, and families in the area. After years of commuting, Adelman’s decision to launch a local practice was driven by a desire to be more present for her own children and to help fill the local shortage of therapists who work with children and caregivers.
Adelman brings a unique mix of skills to an area that has an unusually high percentage of households with school-aged children. Her extensive experience practicing in school settings prepared her for this. Knowledge of the schools, the IEP process, and the interplay with supports delivered outside of school, give Deeply Rooted Counseling an uncommon dimensionality and breadth of services and supports.
At a time when social pressures are complex for parents, Adelman brings a healthy dose of empathy as a local parent who experiences similar pressures, challenges and emotions.
There’s no shortage of discussion in public schools about impulse control and executive functioning skills. But how can parents best support their children, especially if they’ve been labeled a “disruptive” student? And what support might the parents need to navigate the situation?
Understanding the Roots of Behavior
The practice’s name, Deeply Rooted Counseling, holds significance for Adelman. “On one level, it speaks to the idea that we are deeply rooted by the people and things that are important to us,” she explains, listing family, nature, and learning as her own personal roots.
More profoundly, the name signifies that what’s visible on the surface doesn’t always represent the whole. Just as the roots of a tree are hidden, human behavior is influenced by many unseen factors, from a lack of sleep to past experiences. Adelman operates on the strong belief that “behavior is communication.” Her aim is to help clients become more aware of the “roots of a particular behavior” and their own inner strength in order to move forward.
Navigating Childhood Struggles with Play and Creativity
Adelman specializes in helping children manage challenges like anxiety, trauma, and ADHD. In today’s high-pressure environment, she’s frequently observing an increase in impulsive behaviors and irritability in children, along with high anxiety often fueled by social pressure.
Her approach is trauma-informed and flexible, using a blend of talk therapy and creative expression. For young or resistant children, bringing in play and creativity is crucial. Play helps lower “defensive walls” and can naturally bring up challenging situations, such as observing a child’s reaction to losing a game to gain insight into their frustration tolerance. This allows them to work on coping strategies together in the moment, providing a “felt experience” the child can draw upon later.
Adelman noted “My blend of talk therapy and creative expression allows me to meet each person where they are at any particular moment. If someone seems stuck in talk based therapy, I like to pivot and try to do something a little differently in order to help hit a reset button of sorts.”
The Essential Role of Caregiver Support
In addition to working with children, Deeply Rooted Counseling offers individual counseling specifically for parents and caregivers. Adelman views this support as a form of self-care, helping to “replenish some of the resources that we pour out of ourselves every day” as parents.
It also benefits the entire family system by helping parents refine strategies for challenging moments. Furthermore, when children who struggle see their parents receiving extra help, it sends a powerful message that “we all have things we need to work on.” Parents may need their own session if they are grappling with feelings of shame or guilt when they react at home; therapy can provide a space to explore reactions and build skills to change them.
Adelman’s experience shines in this area: “I really love working with parents and caregivers. Prior to opening my practice, I spent many years working at a wonderful outplacement therapeutic school, Community Therapeutic Day School. The model that is used there includes a great deal of communication with parents. I think that the entire family system benefits from a model that includes parent and caregiver support for a number of reasons.”
To that point — Adelman has created a space designed to welcome the whole family. “My hope is that when parents and children step into my office, they feel an immediate sense of calm. I love my office! For my own brain, I like to keep things very organized and tidy, so from an environmental standpoint, I hope that the feeling of calm that my office provides me can translate to the parents and kids that come in.”
Practical Guidance for Fostering Resilience
When asked for one practical, actionable tip for Sudbury parents, Adelman shared a two-step technique focused on promoting a child’s self-regulation and resilience.
- Regulate Yourself First: When your child is struggling, take a few slow, deep breaths to ground yourself. This prevents the immediate urge to “fix” the problem, which can teach the child to rely on you for regulation. By regulating your own nervous system, you also model a calm-down skill.
- Collaborative Problem Solving (Later): Once both you and your child are calm, involve your child in problem-solving. Talk about what you both wished you had done differently and how you would like to manage the situation next time. This creates a “team effort” and helps alleviate any shame the child might feel after a meltdown.
The Mind-Body Connection and Digital Communication
Drawing on her personal practices as a yogi and long-distance runner, Adelman incorporates mindfulness and movement into her sessions. She uses deep breathing and body scans, and even integrates yoga poses into games like Jenga to practice impulse control, focus, and attention with kids.
To foster connection in our digital age, Adelman advises parents to:
- Increase Awareness: Start by noticing your own digital device usage and the “why” behind it.
- Incorporate Screen-Free Time: Plan activities like playing a game or going for a walk, and make sure to put all devices out of sight, communicating to your child how long they’ll be put away.
- Connect Through Screens: If screen time is happening, try spending 5-10 minutes sitting with your child without your own phone, watching their show or playing a digital activity together.
A Message for the Overwhelmed
For local families feeling overwhelmed, Adelman offers a final, grounded message: “You’re not alone in this.”
Her advice is to practice “emotional triage,” which starts with self-care… putting on your own oxygen mask first. This could be scheduling 5 extra minutes in the shower or even just taking one deep breath a day. Once you’ve cared for yourself, she recommends consulting your child’s pediatrician or school team for external resources.
Adelman encourages a small, actionable step: “Write it down in the form of an ‘I will’ statement… Start as small as you need to… and build up as you’re able”.
“You’ve got this,” she concludes.
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More information about Deeply Rooted Counseling can be found here.
Contact Information:
Deeply Rooted Counseling
260 Boston Post Road, Suite 1
Wayland, MA 01778
(978) 545-8459